Search results for "meaning"
showing 10 items of 756 documents
Can meaning buffer work pressure? An exploratory study on styles of meaning in life and burnout in firefighters
2016
Aim of the studyThe purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between different dimensions of meaning in life and burnout among firefighters. The relationships between personal meaning, presence of meaning, search for meaning, and burnout are to be examined. In addition, the differences in the firefighters’ level of burnout are to be evaluated within three styles of meaning in life.Subject or material and methodsParticipants were 189 Polish firefighters who participated in the study voluntarily. The age ranged from 20 to 50 years and the mean age was 33.04 years (SD = 7.87). The participants were randomly recruited from twelve fire stations located in southern parts of Poland. T…
How do presenters engage with their audience? Speakers multimodal interpersonal behaviour in research dissemination talks
2020
Abstract Speakers in research dissemination talks are challenged with the need to connect with an audience that does not necessarily share their knowledge and expertise. This communicative situation can be particularly challenging for speakers using English both as a foreign language and for academic purposes. This study combines multimodal and ethnographic methods to explore how speakers of dissemination talks engage with their public. It focuses on four presenters’ use and combination of language, paralanguage, kinesics, proxemics and gaze during intensive moments of engagement. The results show that these interpersonal rich points consist of dense multimodal ensembles that serve to short…
Prosodic modulation as a mark to express pragmatic values: The case of mitigation in Spanish
2021
Abstract One of the functions of prosody in discourse is to convey pragmatic values that add up to the core semantic meaning of spoken units or segments. Regarding mitigation, Caffi (1999: 890) specifically discusses “the very important prosodic and kinesic means of mitigation, such as changes in pitch prominence, rhythm, speech rate, as well as eye-contact, gaze, gaze aversion, smile, particular postures, etc.” In this paper, I focus on some prosodic factors such as pitch, intensity, duration and speech rate that can be used in European Spanish, in combination with pragmatic meanings. The first aim is to establish a theoretical deliberation on prosody as a clear marker to convey pragmatic …
The language game of lost meaning: Using literal meaning as a metalinguistic resource
2019
AbstractBy literal meaning (LM) we usually refer to a theoretical notion which is at the center of a big debate involving philosophers and linguists with various orientations. At the same time, LM is rooted in a linguistic intuition of the speaker, which we could formulate as follows: words taken in isolation have a meaning. Adopting this general take on LM, we are using a notion of LM that seems incompatible with any research program of a contextualist type; I will show, instead, that in a radically contextualist (and Wittgensteinian) perspective, this notion of LM can have legitimate circulation in particular types of language games. I will propose a recovery of the notion of LM saving th…
Provoke or encourage improvements? On semantic prosody in English-to-Polish translation
2021
Originally defined as an aura of meaning associated with words used together in a particular context, semantic prosody is a complex linguistic concept, and there is no agreement among researchers as to its precise definition and level of operationalization (word, phrase, text or discourse). Although there have been some studies on semantic prosody in translation, their findings are rather inconclusive and limited to individual words and phrases. Also, there has been no research on semantic prosody conducted so far in Polish-English translation. Intending to fill in this gap, this paper, grounded in corpus linguistics, showcases the role of semantic prosody in a selected English-to-Polish tr…
“Do you understand (me)?” negotiating mutual understanding by using gaze and environmentally coupled gestures between two deaf signing participants
2020
Abstract In this paper we explore the use of multimodal and multilingual semiotic resources in interactions between two deaf signing participants, a researcher and an asylum seeker. The focus is on the use of gaze and environmentally coupled gestures. Drawing on multimodal analysis and linguistic ethnography, we demonstrate how gaze and environmentally coupled gestures are effective semiotic resources for reaching mutual understanding. The study provides insight into the challenges and opportunities (deaf) asylum seekers, researchers, and employees of reception centres or the state may encounter because of the asymmetrical language competencies. Our concern is that such asymmetrical situati…
The Structured Assessment Dialogue
2017
The two key purposes of assessment, formative and summative, are often in a contradictory position if they are used concurrently. The summative assessment of learning will often prevent the formative assessment for learning to be realised (Butler, J Educ Psychol 79(4):474, 1987), meaning that the learning potential of the assessment will often be minimal. It is therefore a central challenge to find ways to combine the dual use of assessment. The structured assessment dialogue (SAD) is a candidate for such a combination.
The Semiotics of Test Design: Conceptual Framework on Optimal Item Features in Educational Assessment Across Cultural Groups, Countries, and Languages
2021
This paper offers a conceptual framework on test design from the perspective of social semiotics. Items are defined as arrangements of features intended to represent information, convey meaning, and capture information on the examinees’ knowledge or skills on a given content. The conceptual framework offers a typology of semiotic resources used to create items and discusses item representational complexity—the multiple ways in which the semiotic resources of an item are related to each other—and item semiotic alignment—the extent to which examinees share cultural experience encoded by items. Since the ability to make sense of items is shaped by the examinees’ level of familiarity with the s…
What Dimension of Meaning in Life is the Stronger Predictor of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptom?
2019
Researchers seem to view meaning in life as consisting of different dimensions: coherence, purpose, and significance. Meaning in life has been found to be a protective factor against several mental...
2020
Abstract A coach-guided Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention that uses a blended approach of two face-to-face and five online sessions (iACT; N = 33) has been found to be more effective than a waiting-list control condition (WLC; N = 35) at enhancing the wellbeing of university students while also reducing stress and depression. The present study explored possible mediators of change that may account for the outcomes of the study. Mediation analyses revealed that changes in the non-reactivity subscale of mindfulness mediated changes in wellbeing, depression, and stress in the iACT group. In addition, changes in the sense of coherence subscale of meaningfulness mediated chang…