Browsing by master's degree program "Magisterprogrammet i engelska språket och litteraturen"

Tutkielma käsittelee englannin kielen roolia kansainvälisenä kommunikaation kielenä, lingua francana (ELF), ja sen ilmenemistä lukion pitkän (A1) englannin oppimateriaaleissa. Englanti on globaali kieli, jota puhutaan enemmän toisena ja vieraana kielenä kuin äidinkielenä. Tämän vuoksi on tärkeää, että oppilaat kuulevat myös muiden kuin englantia äidinkielenään puhuvien henkilöiden aksentteja ja heidän välisiään keskusteluja (ELF-tilanteita). Lisäksi englannin kansainvälistä roolia painotetaan vuoden 2015 opetussuunnitelmassa, joten sen tulisi näkyä opetusmateriaaleissa. Tutkielman tarkoitus on selvittää, mitä aksentteja opetusmateriaalien äänitteillä kuullaan ja millaisissa tilanteissa. Tutkielman aineistona ovat kolmen kurssin oppikirjat kahdesta englannin oppikirjasarjasta, Otavan julkaisemasta Insights-sarjasta sekä Sanoma Pro:n julkaisemasta On Track-sarjasta. Aineistoksi valikoituivat näiden kuuden kirjan tekstit sekä tehtävät ja niiden äänitteet. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan sekä kvalitatiivinen että kvantitatiivinen. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä osassa esitellään oppikirjojen sisältöanalyysi, jossa selvitetään, mitä aksentteja kirjojen äänitteillä voidaan odottaa kuultavan ja millaisissa konteksteissa. Toisessa osassa kuvataan äänitteiden aksenttianalyysi. Analyysissa tunnistettiin ja luokiteltiin äänitteillä kuultavat aksentit ja tilanteet, joissa niitä kuullaan. Aksentit kategorisoitiin Kachrun (1985) englannin käytön piirien mukaan sisä- ulko-, ja laajenevaan piiriin. Kategorisoinnin tulokset esitetään kvantitatiivisesti, mutta kontekstit, joissa aksentteja kuullaan analysoidaan kvalitatiivisesti. Tutkimuksen pohjalta voidaan todeta, että molemmissa sarjoissa sisäpiiriin kuuluvat aksentit ovat selkeässä enemmistössä ulko- ja laajenevaan piiriin kuuluviin aksentteihin nähden. Tämä osoittaa, että molemmat sarjat painottavat englantia äidinkielenään puhuvien henkilöiden aksentteja. ELF-tilanteita on molemmissa sarjoissa erittäin vähän ja kaikissa tilanteissa on sisäpiiriin kuuluva puhuja yhtenä osapuolena. Nämä tulokset osoittavat, että oppikirjat eivät täysin ota huomioon opetussuunnitelman korostamaa englannin kielen kansainvälistä roolia. Tämä lisää opettajien työmäärää, sillä heidän täytyy tuottaa lisämateriaaleja kursseille, mikä vie aikaa muulta opetukselta.

In this thesis, I study intensifiers, which are the adverbs that either strengthen or weaken the modified word. The intensifiers that strengthen the meaning of the following lexeme are called amplifiers, whereas the intensifiers that weaken the following lexeme are called downtoners. In turn, these groups of intensifiers are divided into various categories. In particular, I concentrate on maximizers, a category of amplifiers, and mitigators, a category of downtoners. The study is limited to the American variety of English. The aim of this research is twofold. Firstly, I analyze the frequency distributions of maximizers and mitigators across different registers in American English. Secondly, I discuss the reasons for the possible register variation between the different categories of intensifiers. Therefore, I conduct both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data. I use the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) as my data. I chose it for the current research due to its large size of around 1 billion words, as well as the fact that its contents are fairly evenly divided by register. Consequently, it enables the comparison of the studied lexemes across the registers in American English. Furthermore, COCA has a function of viewing a sample in the expanded context, thus making possible the qualitative analysis of the samples. The most significant finding was the preference for maximizers in informal written registers and for mitigators in formal written registers. Further, the formal spoken register, represented by unscripted TV and radio show conversations, clearly preferred maximizers to mitigators. On the contrary, the informal spoken language of TV shows and movies had a low frequency of both categories of intensifiers. As concerns the reasons for this variation, there can be several theories. One of them is the collocational patterns of the intensifiers. Another reason is the stylistic and functional characteristics of the registers. For example, academic prose style favors hedging, or tentative language. Therefore, the academic register has a high frequency of mitigating adverbs. Instead, radio show hosts may have a preference for using definitive, attention-catching phrases and thus are more likely to use maximizers such as incredibly or extremely.

With the construction of the largest water dam in the world, China’s Three Gorges Dam, many severe environmental problems have emerged along the Yangtze River. Its constructor, the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), publishes an annual environmental report (AER) to address the ecological problems. This study aims to investigate these reports from the perspective of ecolinguistics under the Story Theory put forward by Arran Stibbe (2015). This study addresses three questions: 1) Are there any beneficial, ambivalent, or destructive discourses in China Three Gorges Corporation's annual environmental reports? 2) If so, how is each story being constructed? 3) What suggestions and implications can we obtain from the analyses of these stories? To answer these questions, 10 English AERs published from 2008 to 2017 by CTGC were collected to compile a corpus with a size of 114,770 tokens. Six story types, including frame, metaphor, evaluation, identity, erasure, and salience, were then chosen for analysis with the combination method of ecolinguistics, corpus linguistics, and critical discourse analysis. The results show that, within the frame story, the sustainable development frame and the green development frame were ambivalent discourses. Within the metaphor story, RIVER AS A TOOL FOR MAKING MONEY, NATURE IS A MACHINE, ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IS AN ACCIDENT, and COMPANY IS A HUMAN were destructive discourses; NATURE IS A COMPETITION and CLIMATE CHANGE IS A WAR were ambivalent discourses. Within the evaluation story, using three purr-words (clean, new, and renewable) to describe energy formed a destructive discourse. Within the identity story, the use of the pronouns we and our distanced more-than-human participants from human participants, which formed a destructive discourse. Within the erasure story, the nominalization of the word pollute formed a destructive discourse. Within the salience story, describing endangered fish species with abstract words and describing fish as a type of resource formed two destructive discourses, and using the basic level word fish formed a beneficial discourse. Based on these judgments, this study concludes that the beneficial discourse should be promoted, the destructive discourses should be resisted, and the positive parts of the ambivalent discourses should be highlighted while their negative parts should be rejected. These findings can contribute to our understanding of the ecological discourse of the water dam.

This thesis examines the use of alchemical imagery in selected love poems and religious verse by John Donne. Donne’s alchemical imagery has been argued to represent a blend of eschatology and alchemy, and the mystical imagery can be interpreted as a psychological representation of what Jung calls the “projection of the process of individuation”. The intersection of mystical alchemy, eschatology, and psychological integration materializes as a rich literary concoction in the following poems: “A Litanye”, “Resurrection. Imperfect”, “A Nocturnall vpon St Lucies Day”, “An Elegie vpon the death of the Ladie Marckham”, and “The Extasie”. Through close reading, this thesis employs a combination of textual criticism and Jung’s psychoanalytic treatment of alchemy. This thesis demonstrates the purpose of alchemy in Donne’s poetry to clarify, first, “why alchemy?”, and second, “what makes alchemy a potent tool for the poet?”. The alchemical influence in Donne’s poetry has been broadly recognized by literary critics, but an integrated Jungian analysis provides a more substantial and psychologically informed understanding of Donne’s poetic conceits and images. In this thesis, I present textual and historical readings within the context of the Jungian theory of individuation. The purpose of using Jung’s psychoanalytic concepts is to deepen our critical understanding of the spiritual and physical experiences of Donne as psychologically descriptive and significant. This thesis shows that Donne’s use of alchemical imagery illustrates his psycho-spiritual processes and self-formation in textual form. Close reading and the integration of Jungian alchemical theories help bring these processes to the surface, making what is concealed manifest in Donne’s words. While staying rooted in Christian doctrine, Donne utilizes alchemy as a tool for textual mappings of the internal motion of his soul. By appropriating alchemy as a poetic tool, Donne also participates in a diachronic thread of alchemical thinking from the wake of Hermeticism to 20th-century psychoanalysis and modern-day embodied schemata in cognitive science. The chosen imagery serves as a culturally appropriate vehicle for making sense of abstract subject matter during the golden age of alchemical developments. Furthermore, Donne’s verse shows that for the poet no union and wholeness can be achieved without love as the proverbial alchemist, and neither can he experience redemptive transmutation without God as the “Arch-Chymist”. By turning to psychoanalysis and Jungian concepts, this thesis shows that the process of individuation, and mystical union – coniunctio – is lodged in his verse. The unification of conscious and unconscious mind is textually illustrated in Donne’s reflections on the nature of love and spirituality. Indeed, the selected poems carry a distinct consciousness that seeks moral-intellectual refinement and purification to emulate the divine and to endure the transmutation process to become unified with the divine. Finally, the connection between love and alchemical transmutation lies in the union Donne seeks on spiritual and physical levels.

This qualitative study examines multimodal storytelling in online corporate stories. Corporate stories are realized in a particular genre, the About page, and moral discourse is conveyed through references to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To examine how CSR has been incorporated into corporate storytelling and how it functions within the About page, the study begins with an examination of the About page as a genre. The research data consists of stories from five Finnish companies working in the textile and apparel industry: Aarre, Vimma, Kaiko, Uhana, and Pure Waste. The companies were chosen as they share similarities regarding multiple aspects (e.g., company size, product range, and target audience). The stories were firstly analyzed for their schematic components and expressive resources (Bateman 2008, 2014), and then further subjected to critical multimodal discourse analysis (Machin and Mayr 2012) to critically examine the expressive forms used in the components. Although the layout structure varied among the stories of the data, the presence of several schematic components was constant in all stories. Based on the current analysis, the components which were present in most of the stories constitute the core components of the genre of About page: mission, essence, founder(s), foundation, products, production, and social responsibility. The analysis revealed that not only is CSR present on the pages as its own schematic component, but direct and indirect references to CSR themes were used as justification and motivation within other schematic components as well, thus framing CSR as an essential component of the corporate identity. These corporate stories cater to the consumer narrative in which social responsibility plays a central role by establishing an environment in which one can keep on purchasing new clothes while adhering to those values. The products are laden with socially responsible attributes, framing social responsibility as a fashion statement.

The research focuses on the productive e-learning exercises in upper secondary school English learning materials provided by four publishers in their e-textbooks. Digital learning materials have become increasingly common, and the introduction of the new National Core Curriculum for general upper secondary schools has prompted publishing houses to publish new materials, with an even bigger focus on the digital version. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive description and a critical evaluation of the variety of productive e-learning exercises that the publishers provide. Previous research on this topic in the Finnish context is very limited and learning materials in general have mostly been studied by master’s students in universities. The materials for the analysis come from the productive e-learning exercises that are related to text chapters in the four publishers’ (Sanoma Pro, Otava, Edita, and Studeo) e-textbooks. All the analysed materials are brand new and have not been researched before. The research method for this study is content analysis, which is conducted through both quantitative and qualitative methods. The analysis was conducted by coding the data based on three main categories that are What is the learner expected to do?, Who with?, and With what content?, and in several subcategories under them. The findings show that the available published materials provide a wide variety of different e-learning exercises for the upper secondary school students. Most often the results of the comparative analyses showed similarities, rather than dramatic differences between the four publishers’ materials. With regards to the four characteristics of learning, the results of the study showed that one of them was supported especially well (students’ activity and initiative), two were supported well (sense of community and clear, authentic, and demanding exercises), and only one characteristic was not supported well enough (learning skills) by the analysed e-learning exercises. The current study provides useful data for the, still lacking, learning material research in the Finnish context. The presented findings give insight to the publishers into what factors should be considered when designing exercises for new products. For teachers, the findings can be useful when making use of one of the e-textbooks in the classroom, whilst planning lessons and courses, or when choosing which publisher’s material they would like to use next.

This thesis examines the role of the three female protagonists in Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun. The thesis argues against the interpretation of the play as pro-integration and assimilationist and posits instead that there is an inherent radicalism in the play that reflects the feminist and political views of its author. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the feminist themes are highlighted through the three female protagonists of Raisin: Ruth, Beneatha and Lena Younger. In order to further assess these themes, the 1959 play is contrasted with three screen adaptations, by Daniel Petrie (1961), Bill Duke (1989), and Kenny Leon (2008). This comparison is carried out with a particular focus on how the protagonists are represented in these adaptations. The thesis begins with a discussion of the historical context in which the play was written, set and performed for the first time. This is followed by a discussion of Hansberry’s biographical background, in order to contextualise and clarify her political beliefs so as to better support the main arguments in the thesis. These arguments are also supported by the works of the Black feminist scholars Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks, and Tricia Rose. The thesis examines the play and each of the three screen adaptations separately, presenting a close literary analysis of the play before contrasting it with the three films. The literary analysis discusses three core aspects of the play that serve as a rejection of racist and patriarchal values: the rejection of the American dream; the domestic sphere of the play; and the subversion of racialised gender roles and stereotypes. This analysis highlights the ways in which Black women experience a specific form of double oppression due to their race and gender, an experience that is reinforced by the use of racialised gender roles and stereotypes. This thesis argues, however, that Hansberry uses the female protagonists to reject these roles and the racist and sexist ideology from which they stem. The film analysis places the films within their temporal and socio-cultural contexts to observe how they reflect, highlight or undermine the three core aspects discussed in the literary analysis. This analysis reveals the significant role played by context in producing starkly different representations of the female protagonists. The analysis of these works, written and visual, demonstrates the enduring significance of Hansberry’s famous play, which continues to be revived and performed. The conclusion underlines the importance of challenging representations that perpetuate racist and sexist ideologies, and of granting agency to groups that have long been under- or misrepresented across mediums.

Avhandlingens syfte är att undersöka hur orenhet, äckel och hot skapar konstskräck i utvalda berättelser från Clive Barkers Books of Blood och Thomas Ligottis Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Båda verken är novellsamlingar från 1980-talet, och kan klassificeras som skräcklitteratur. Min analys koncentrerar sig på hotfulla utrymmen och omgivningar i novellerna och beskrivningar av abjekta och äckliga kroppar. Min analys grundar sig på Noël Carrolls teori om hur konstskräck, en sorts fiktiv skräckkänsla som kan uppstå genom att läsa skräcklitteratur, alltid består av en kombination av både äckel och hot. Äcklet innehåller alltid någon form av orenhet, och det orena skapas då någon kategorisk gräns överträds. Jag använder mig dessutom av Julia Kristevas koncept om abjektet, som också beskriver något orent och innebär en sorts gränsöverträdelse; abjektet är någonting som är en blandning av vanligtvis skilda kategorier och kan skapa en våldsam chock för den som vittnar en blandning eller störning av dessa kategorier. Jag använder också Martha Nussbaums teori om äckel för att analysera det orena i verken. Min analys visar hur karaktärernas trygga utrymmen som beskrivs i verken invaderas av olika monster och väsen som är orena, och förvandlar dem till hotfulla omgivningar genom sin närvaro. Dessa inkräktare kan vara olika varelser, som spöken, demoner och mördare, eller mer abstrakta varelser och krafter som symboliserar ett mer ogripbart hot. I Barkers noveller sker invasionen ofta stegvis i större, allmänna utrymmen som storstäder, och i Ligottis verk i mer privata omgivningar som det egna hemmet. Avhandlingen undersöker också varför äckliga och orena kroppar ses som abjekt: kropparna bryter någon sorts kategorisk gräns och orsakar en djup och radikal störning i vår världsbild eller självbild som följd. I Barkers noveller skapas olika kroppsabjekt bl.a. via skildringar av kroppar med sjukliga egenskaper och drag som påminner om lik, genom att beskriva överträdelser av accepterade gränser gällande fysisk kontakt med djur och detaljerade beskrivningar av lidande människokroppar. I Ligottis verk riktas abjektet och äcklet i stället mot den egna kroppen, då karaktärerna eller deras kroppsdelar ofta genomgår olika formskiftningar och förvandlingar eller smittas ner med främmande substanser. De abjekta monsterkropparna kan symbolisera delar i olika förtryckande samhällssystem, och dessa system tvingar ofta karaktärerna att bli en del av dessa hierarkier. Hotet som monstren och de abjekta kropparna skapar kan vara enbart fysiskt, men också ha moraliska, psykologiska eller politiska nivåer och kan rikta sig mot enskilda karaktärer eller större samhällen och gemenskaper. De orena skräckfigurerna representerar och förkroppsligar alla dessa hot, och när de möts i skräcklitteratur, fungerar de som fysiska manifestationer och spegelbilder av karaktärernas rädslor och skapar konstskräck.

This thesis examines Finnish upper secondary school English teachers’ practices and beliefs regarding authenticity and autonomy in the EFL classroom. The aim of the study is to find out how EFL teachers promote experiences of authenticity and learner autonomy in the classroom and this way create connections to students’ use of English outside school. The study is also interested in English teachers’ attitudes towards authenticity and autonomy as well as the teachers’ support for students’ Extramural English use. Research on EFL learners’ Extramural English use has reported of a gap between formal and informal language learning settings, and this thesis investigates the applicability of experiences of authenticity and learner autonomy in bridging this gap. The data of the study consists of qualitative classroom observations and interviews with English teachers. Four upper secondary school English teachers participated in the study. Three lessons were observed from each teacher, which adds up to twelve observed lessons in total. The observations focused on the teachers’ motivational practice and teaching materials. In addition, semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted with the teachers after the classroom observations. Qualitative content analysis was applied to both sets of data to describe the teachers’ practices and attitudes towards authenticity and autonomy in language learning. The data analysis shows that while the teachers used a variety of motivational strategies to promote authenticity and autonomy in the classroom, each teacher also had their preferred motivational practices that characterised their teaching. Comparing the classroom observation data and the interview data revealed a connection between the teachers’ practices and their definitions and attitudes towards authenticity in language learning. While the teachers considered authenticity and autonomy important in language learning, they perceived promoting them in class as difficult due to constraints such as available time and materials. Authenticity and autonomy were promoted in the classroom mostly by using strategies of teacher discourse, which aimed at arguing for the relevance or purpose of the learning tasks and connecting the learning to students’ everyday lives. Interestingly, the teachers were not especially keen on supporting their students’ Extramural English practices and questioned whether students desire experiences of authenticity and autonomy at all in school. The results of the study shed light on the complex relationship between formal and informal language learning settings from the EFL teachers’ perspective.

This thesis argues for an ethical reading of Miriam Toews’ Women Talking. Based on real-life events that happened in the Mennonite colony of Manitoba in Bolivia between 2005 and 2009, the novel is a response to those acts of violence. This thesis investigates the diversity of processes in the narrative that present strategies of oppression. The narrative reveals that those who do not fit the normative category of a man who acts according to the masculine hegemony are deprived of privileges and lower in the hierarchy. The goal is to show that revealing the processes of oppression contributes significantly to the ethical reading of the novel. Through close reading, I analyze three ethical dilemmas I have discerned from the narrative. I analyze the dilemmas, characters and events through an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that consists of an ecofeminist perspective to gender violence, the Mennonite Christian principles, and James Phelan’s narrative ethics (2013). I argue that the presentation of the ethical dilemmas in the narrative contributes to the reader’s ethical reflection that is necessary for ethical reading. The main result of this thesis is that both readers and authors have ethical responsibilities in relation to the text. In addition to creating believable characters, relationships, and events, it is part of the ethical responsibilities of the author and reader not to reproduce readings that are not consciously ethical. Moreover, it is part of the ethical reading to recognize that as a literary work of fiction, Women Talking is not fully independent from the world and from the real-life events to which it is a reaction.