Technical HyperText and the Non-native Reader: Information Structures and Rhetorical Framings

1. Technical HyperText and the Non-native Reader: Information Structures and Rhetorical Framings Lawrie Hunter Kochi University of Technology http://www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/ lawrie_hunter@kochi-tech.ac.jp

2. Technical hypertext design: user-specs Brown and Duguid's "Stolen Knowledge" Lave's Situated Learning Pre-prototyping: Learner design for deepened "architectural" vision -low-tech cognitive apprenticeship

3. The non-native reader/writer a.k.a. the L2* reader/writer This target user group has a full set of intellectual skills in L1, but linguistic differences and differences in practice make L2 technical English difficult to access or imitate. * second language

4. How do readers read? Reading models Chun & Plass (1997) Metaphoric approach Reading components approach Grabe (1991) Automatic recognition skills Bottom-up processing Top-down processing Interactive processing Vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge (Text-driven processing) (knowledge-driven processing) World background knowledge Synthesis/evaluation skills, strategies Discourse structure knowledge Metacognitive knowledge, skills monitoring

5. How do readers read? The reader’s understanding of text Text accessibility Reader resources Background knowledge Structure knowledge Text structure knowledge Knowledge structure knowledge

6. How do non-native readers read? Non-native reader Native reader Jumps more readily from dense text to -titles -lists -graphics Better at holding in mind the construction of a piece of text while reading Much of attention goes to higher level processes e.g. generating inferences e.g. knowledge associations Pays more attention to low level processes -e.g. word identification Cognitive load increased by -unsure meanings -complex syntactical structures -unknown rhetorical devices

7. The NNR/W and academic text The non-native writer (NNW) of technical English, for example the Japanese engineering student, is attempting a multi-level orchestration of rhetorical moves and information elements, where information is framed by such moves as citation, observation, and analysis, which are in turn framed by overarching moves such as accepting, rejecting, questioning and proposing.

8. Considerate texts The NNW typically acquires 1. English technical writing knowledge through the observation, analysis and mimicry of model texts, and 2. English technical writing skill through the monitored application of that knowledge. This points to a need for 'considerate' model texts which distinguish between information elements and rhetorical moves.

9. A need for academic hypertext: It is better toexperience the truth of something than to be told ofthe truth of something.

10. A need for academic hypertext: David Kolb* re using hypertext to present scholarly text: "...the easiest ways of making a complex argument available in HT tend to move the text toward linear structures that do not take full advantage of the possibilities of linked text." "...what the HT can do is present the argument, but also use linkage and juxtaposition to make the reader’s engagement with the argument more creative, self-conscious, and self-critical." *in a talk to KMI at the Open University

11. A need for academic hypertext: Lawrie Hunterre using hypertext to present technical text:: For the L2 reader, engagement can only be enhanced if the rhetorical and information structures are articulated. What the HT can do for the NNR/W is present simultaneously the various faces of a research paper: the text; necessary glosses; the bits of structured information; the rhetorical moves. And if the NNR/Ws each design their personal interface, a negotiated pattern language of NNR/W EAP will emerge.

12. A need for academic hypertext: • extensive reading • to allow the NNR/W* to develop • global comprehension • *Non-Native Reader/Writer (of English • Hypertext as a • thinking-aloud-about-structure-and-rhetoric • device. • NNR/Ws discovering a • pattern language for EAP

13. A need for academic hypertext: "Tomorrow's literacies...need to be process and systems literacies." -John Thackara, In the Bubble: designing in a complex world. MIT Press 2005.

14. A need for academic hypertext: enhance L2 reader involvement For the L2 reader, engagement can only be enhanced if the rhetorical and information structures are articulated. Thus: Needs analysis Wants analysis

15. L2 reader needs analysis Language skills Argument sequencing Info-structured sentence generation Model mimicry Knowledge Niche grammar structures Niche rhetorical structures General register repertoires (distinguishing formal academic from informal academic) Research Paper text structure and information structure Facilities Concordance & collocation resource Bank of model research papers (annotated*) *c.f. Brown and Brown’s ‘annotation’

16. L2 reader wants analysis In a technical hypertext, L2 reader/writers want*: 1. Glossing (of 'difficult' terms and phrases) 2. Moves indicator 3. Lexia position indicator 4. PDF drawer-like phrase recurrence tab 5. Register converter (e.g. research paper <=> presentation script) 6. Information structure maps for atomic utterances (similar to Horn's argument maps or Rhetorical Structure Analysis?) 7. Overall argument map on every lexia (unlike Socrates in the Labyrinth) *Based on a survey of 22 PhD engineering students

17. Technical hypertext design: NEEDS A pattern language? www.patternlanguage.com WANTS • …The language, and the processes which stem from it, merely release the fundamental order which is native to us. They do not teach us, they only remind us of what we know already, and of what we shall discover time and time again, when we give up our ideas and opinions, and do exactly what emerges from ourselves. • Christopher Alexander, • The Timeless Way of Building

18. < $$$ ! Do humans have a GRAPHIC THOUGHT FACILITY? The knowledge structure map is a matrix (confluence) for the situated learner* and the situated mentor to confirm context and the nature of "stolen property."** *Jean Lave **Duguid and Brown

19. HT design: Glossing vs. feature signalling Research suggests that L2 readers overuse glossing and even click extensively on unmarked text which may or may not be links. Research suggests that L2 readers frequently exit, go back excessively, and give up on complex hypertexts. Strategy: specific instruction in text structures, rhetorical structures and information structure signals. Strategy: "extensive reading" of heavily annotated* sample hypertexts. *cf. Brown and Brown

20. Current project: design level • Now Hunter's EEAP* students are working on HT designs • for the analysis of technical academic papers. • Our brainstormed prototype layout is shown below. • Student hypertexts will be on the web at • lawriehunter.com before long. • *Engineering English for Academic Purposes, • a subset of EAP • which is a subset of ESP (English for Specific Purposes)

21. Considerate hypertexts? • The difficulty of decoding text models can be further eased • by presenting the information elements in a model text • as low-text information maps. • At this point in the development of model text, • hypertext is a useful mode of presentation, • given its flexibility of manipulation of (multiple) views. • However, informal user surveys suggest that • successful use of hypertext for considerate technical text • calls for some degree of explicit signalling • not only of content structure • but also of both utterance intent (rhetorical move) • and lexia position within the greater document.

22. TEXT STRUCTURE Introduction Background Question Methods and materials Results Observations Conclusion RHETORICAL MOVES Common knowledge Cite Report Explain Claim Question Qualify Evaluate Decide Infer Project INFO STRUCTURE Describe Classify Compare Sequence Cause-effect Contrast INFOMAP(s) UTTERANCE(s) In general, power plants boil some liquid to make steam, which rotates turbines, which generate electricity. Power plants boil a liquid to produce steam, which is used to rotate turbines, which in turn generate electricity.

23. TEXT STRUCTURE Introduction Background Question Methods and materials Results Observations Conclusion RHETORICAL MOVES Common knowledge Cite Report Explain Claim Question Qualify Evaluate Decide Infer Project INFO STRUCTURE Describe Classify Compare Sequence Cause-effect Contrast INFOMAP(s) UTTERANCE(s) Traditional power plants use fossil fuel heat or heat from nuclear fission to boil water and produce steam at 500°C. Older type power plants boil water with heat from fossil fuel combustion or nuclear fission to produce steam with a temperature of 500°C.

24. TEXT STRUCTURE Introduction Background Question Methods and materials Results Observations Conclusion RHETORICAL MOVES Common knowledge Cite Report Explain Claim Question Qualify Evaluate Decide Infer Project INFO STRUCTURE Describe Classify Compare Sequence Cause-effect Contrast INFOMAP(s) UTTERANCE(s) OTEC power plants use seawater heat to boil ammonia and produce steam at 20°C. OTEC type power plants boil ammonia with the heat of the sea to produce steam with a temperature of 20°C.

25. TEXT STRUCTURE Introduction Background Question Methods and materials Results Observations Conclusion RHETORICAL MOVES Common knowledge Cite Report Explain Claim Question Qualify Evaluate Decide Infer Project INFO STRUCTURE Describe Classify Compare Sequence Cause-effect Contrast INFOMAP(s) UTTERANCE(s) Traditional power plants use fossil fuel heat or heat from nuclear fission to boil water and produce steam at 500°C, whereas OTEC type power plants boil ammonia using the heat of the sea to produce steam with a temperature of 20°C. Older type power plants boil water with heat from fossil fuel combustion or nuclear fission to produce steam with a temperature of 500°C, while OTEC power plants use seawater heat to boil ammonia and produce steam at 20°C.