Tool selection strategy for software-based visualization in technical academic argument work

1. 33 Tool selection strategyfor software-based visualizationin technical academic argument work Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/

2. Please download this ppt from lawriehunter.com Many more are available at http:/lawriehunter.com/cv/presns/

3. Tool selection strategy for software-based visualization in technical academic argument work Lawrie Hunter, Kochi University of Technology, Japan Logic and argument have proven to be significant obstacles to second language English academic writing success, markedly so for research students from East Asian cultures. The technical research paper is a masked facsimile of an argument; thus novice technical academic writing tends to be formulaic, following document structure rather than argument structure. In this frame, novice writing of abstracts is problematic at the design level. Linear text is not a particularly supportive medium for technical academic argument work. Relations between concepts can be marked in text by rhetorical signals, but the conceptual load economies of visualization are not available. Mind maps, concept maps and rhetorical structure maps, which all embody a number of visual metaphors, are promising tools for the support of novice technical academic argument work. Software embodiments of the above mapping types are usually marketed without discussion of the information-structure related choices involved in the selection of map type and software. This paper, referring to Hunter's (2009) decision matrix, presents a negotiated strategic pathway to the selection of map type and software for technical academic writing task, taking the example of inferred argument of an informally reported study. Reference points in this pathway include Toulmin (1958), Cañas & Novak (2006) and Kowalski (2011). Cañas, A. J., & Novak, J.D. (2006) Re-examining the foundations for effective use of concept maps. In Cañas, A. J., & Novak, J.D. (Eds.), Concept Maps: Theory, Methodology, Technology. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Concept Mapping. Hunter, L. (2009) A Decision Matrix for the Use of Mapping and Mapping Software. Presented at EuroCALL 2009. http://www.lawriehunter.com/presns/eurocall09/ Kowalski, R. (2011) Computational logic and human thinking. Cambridge UP. Toulmin, S. (1958) The Uses of Argument, Cambridge University Press.

4. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Marking relations Map types Mapping software design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

5. Background Maths teacher Guidance counsellor ESL maths teacher (Vancouver) EFL teacher Technical editor Super translation ESP professor (Tokyo, Tokushima, Kochi) Maths teacher trainer (Rabaul) ESL maths teacher (Cairns)

6. KUT scenario • Since 2002: • - Japanese government scholarships • - for foreign students • - in technical doctoral programmes. • ! Graduation requirements: • - 2+ refereed papers in top journals in 3 years • - NO extensions • - dissertation in English Further L2 acquisition to the point of near-independence during the study period is NOT a realistic strategy.

7. Design Scenario ESP EAP EY EZ EX TAW EAP HUMANITIES English for specific purposes English for academic purposes Technical academic writing

8. 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

9. Possible approaches: 1. Process Once the researcher has followed the research design and gotten results, it is time to expand the argument supporting the original research claim, and write it in the prescribed document format, obeying the relevant usage and other conventions, including grammar. 9

10. Possible approaches: 1. Process research design/results argument supporting claim document format usage/convention grammar/surface features

11. Possible approaches 2. layer view grammar/surface features usage/convention document format argument supporting claim research design/results 11

12. Possible 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 12

13. KUT design 2012 Hunter, L. (2012) Technical Academic Writing. Minaminokaze Press.

14. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

15. Argument Logic and argument - significant obstacles to - second language English academic writing success - in East Asian cultures. The technical research paper - masked facsimile of an argument Novice technical academic writing – formulaic, following document structure -not argument structure Novice writing of abstracts - problematic at the design level.

16. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

17. Argument in linear text Linear text: Not a particularly supportive medium for technical academic argument work. TAW learners are predominantly -reading for information -in a genre structure

18. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

19. Marking relations in text Relations between concepts -can be marked in text by rhetorical signals. Text signalling of relations: -lacks the conceptual load economies of visualization.

20. Marking relations in text: example Tennis Players’ Grunts Slow Opponents Down Those loud grunts could give players an extra edge by slowing their opponents’ reaction time. The loud grunts tennis players make when hitting the ball could be distracting for their opponents. These noises can actually slow an opponent’s reaction time. Some players’ grunts register at 100 decibels. Players such as Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal are notorious for their grunting. Those loud grunts some tennis players make when hitting the ball could actually have a negative effect on their opponents by distracting them and slowing their reaction time, scientists said Friday. Players such as Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal are notorious for their grunting, a practice which often triggers complaints in professional tennis, said Scott Sinnett, lead author of the report that appeared in the journal Public Library of Science ONE. Researchers played 384 video clips of a tennis player hitting a ball to either the left or right of a video camera, to 33 students at the University of British Columbia in western Canada. The students were asked to quickly determine whether the ball was hit to the right or left. For some of the shots, a loud white noise was played as the racquet hit the ball. “When an additional sound occurs at the same time as when the ball is struck, participants are significantly slower… and make significantly more decision errors,” said the study. A growing body of research shows that noise “distracts you from your ability to pay attention to what is going on,” said Sinnett in a telephone interview. “A grunt doesn’t allow you to place all your attention on what’s happening. It blocks the ability to pay attention to a multi-sensory event.” Grunting could cause a tennis player to perceive a ball traveling 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour to be “two feet (60 centimeters) closer to the opponent than it actually is,” said Sinnett. “This could increase the likelihood that opponents are out of position and make returning the ball more difficult.” “A lot of people have complained about grunting in the tennis world, that it’s distracting, and even some professionals have said it’s pretty much cheating,” said Sinnett, who conducted the research as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, and is now an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii at Mnoa. “The study raises a number of interesting questions for tennis. For example, if Rafael Nadal is grunting and Roger Federer is not, is that fair?” he added. Scientifically regulating tennis-players’ grunts — some of which register at 100 decibels — “could be looked toward, because if it’s distracting to opponent, then it’s basically cheating,” he said. http://news.discovery.com/human/tennis-players-grunting-distraction.html

21. Marking relations in text: example 1. isolate argument content 2. infer procedure,observations, conclusions

22. 1. isolate argument content Tennis Players’ Grunts Slow Opponents Down Those loud grunts could give players an extra edge by slowing their opponents’ reaction time. The loud grunts tennis players make when hitting the ball could be distracting for their opponents. These noises can actually slow an opponent’s reaction time. Some players’ grunts register at 100 decibels. Players such as Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal are notorious for their grunting. Those loud grunts some tennis players make when hitting the ball could actually have a negative effect on their opponents by distracting them and slowing their reaction time, scientists said Friday. Players such as Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal are notorious for their grunting, a practice which often triggers complaints in professional tennis, said Scott Sinnett, lead author of the report that appeared in the journal Public Library of Science ONE. Researchers played 384 video clips of a tennis player hitting a ball to either the left or right of a video camera, to 33 students at the University of British Columbia in western Canada. The students were asked to quickly determine whether the ball was hit to the right or left. For some of the shots, a loud white noise was played as the racquet hit the ball. “When an additional sound occurs at the same time as when the ball is struck, participants are significantly slower… and make significantly more decision errors,” said the study. A growing body of research shows that noise “distracts you from your ability to pay attention to what is going on,” said Sinnett in a telephone interview. “A grunt doesn’t allow you to place all your attention on what’s happening. It blocks the ability to pay attention to a multi-sensory event.” Grunting could cause a tennis player to perceive a ball traveling 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour to be “two feet (60 centimeters) closer to the opponent than it actually is,” said Sinnett. “This could increase the likelihood that opponents are out of position and make returning the ball more difficult.” “A lot of people have complained about grunting in the tennis world, that it’s distracting, and even some professionals have said it’s pretty much cheating,” said Sinnett, who conducted the research as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, and is now an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii at Mnoa. “The study raises a number of interesting questions for tennis. For example, if Rafael Nadal is grunting and Roger Federer is not, is that fair?” he added. Scientifically regulating tennis-players’ grunts — some of which register at 100 decibels — “could be looked toward, because if it’s distracting to opponent, then it’s basically cheating,” he said. http://news.discovery.com/human/tennis-players-grunting-distraction.html

23. 1. isolate argument content

24. 2. infer observations, conclusions Researchers played 384 video clips of a tennis player hitting a ball to either the left or right of a video camera, to 33 students at the University of British Columbia in western Canada. The students were asked to quickly determine whether the ball was hit to the right or left. For some of the shots, a loud white noise was played as the racquet hit the ball. “When an additional sound occurs at the same time as when the ball is struck, participants are significantly slower… and make significantly more decision errors,” said the study.

25. Scaffolding for inferred abstract writing: -use only these verbs as main clause subjects.

26. 2. infer observations, conclusions Learner inference of observations and conclusion: -slow -inarticulate -unstructured -text-based scaffolding ineffective

27. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

28. Map types Mind maps Concept maps Rhetorical structure diagrams - embody a number of visual metaphors -promising tools for support of novice TAW* work. *TAW = technical academic argument

29. Map types and relations

30. Mind mapping á la Tony Buzan Mindmap links are all associations -i.e. zero granularity

31. Mind mapping Mindmap links are all associations -i.e. zero granularity

32. http://freemind.sourceforge.net/ FreeMind software

33. FreeMind software View online Mindmap links are all associations -i.e. zero granularity

34. Directed-link maps http://www.inspiration.com/

35. Textured-link* maps Boil a liquid Make steam Rotate turbines Generate electricity seawater heat fossil or N-heat boil NH3 boil H2O ! OTEC plants older type plants steam 20C steam 500C ! low power high power ! zero energy cost high energy cost *graphically textured (here: Hunter’s Ismap system)

36. Textured-link* maps *textually textured

37. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software: design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

38. Mapping software: design Software embodiments of Mind maps Concept maps Rhetorical structure diagrams are usually marketed without discussion of the information-structure related choices involved in the selection of map type and software.

39. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software: design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools

40. Task design: inferred argument using mapping Researchers played 384 video clips of a tennis player hitting a ball to either the left or right of a video camera, to 33 students at the University of British Columbia in western Canada. The students were asked to quickly determine whether the ball was hit to the right or left. For some of the shots, a loud white noise was played as the racquet hit the ball. “When an additional sound occurs at the same time as when the ball is struck, participants are significantly slower… and make significantly more decision errors,” said the study.

41. Sample argument map 41

42. 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

43. Target behavior? Grounds Modality Claim since Warrant on account of Toulmin model of argument Backing

44. Target behavior? Grounds Modality Claim since unless Warrant Rebuttal on account of Enhanced Toulmin model of argument Backing

45. Target behavior? Receiver makes more errors and is slower Server grunts during stroke in tennis It is highly likely that since White noise in video caused reaction error and slowness unless Video reaction is not equivalent to tennis reaction because White noise has the same effect as grunting Toulmin model of argument in Sinnett (2010)

47. Exploratory constraint: use only these links in your argument map

48. Suggests that Demonstrates Wrapping of pine tree during winter Burning straw mats after beneficial insects leave Chikaku Niiho Reveals Infers that The ineffectiveness of wrapping pine tree during winter Himeji Castle officers Effective for trapping harmful insects reveals Is in agreement with Is supported by reveals Is supported by 55 Percent of beneficial insects 4 Percent of harmful insects Implies Implies Implies Implies Long-horn Beetles Moth Caterpillars Spiders Assassin bugs Is supported by A pine wilt tree decease Nematodes inhibition in trunk Is supported by Traditional Pest Control W S-U Technical Writing II HW 6.0 May 22, 2008

49. Target behavior Sinnett (2010) Novakian rhetoric map of argument in Sinnett (2010) claims that Server grunts during stroke in tennis cause receiver slowness and error assumes that is supported by Video reaction is equivalent to tennis reaction White noise is equivalent to grunts Subject error and slowness in video response with white noise bursts

50. Outline Background Argument Argument in linear text Identifying argument elements in text Map types Mapping software design Task design: inferred argument Design choices: mapping types / tools