- Email: [email protected]
Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education
194
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 22 (2016) 191e198
Chapter 12 addresses designing Business English teaching materials. Firstly, it discusses the use of needs analysis surveys, communication audits, corpus-based approaches, and surveys of published materials. Secondly, it points out that assessment of Business English may take different forms depending on specific contexts, and not just through the internationally recognized Business English language tests. The authors illustrate the issue with two examples. The first example examines how business professionals assess the texts written by Business English students in China, while the second describes the development and use of an oral performance assessment instrument in a Filipino context. Chapter 13 provides a list of a wide range of resources for Business English research and teaching including books and textbooks, journals, professional associations, conferences and workshops, corpora of Business English, and online teaching resources. This book covers a wide range of Business English topics and provides a comprehensive picture of Business English research. Though it contains abundant references for Business English researchers, there are still two possible improvements that could be added to this volume. Firstly, the fourth section in Chapter 2 only embodies a study concerning BELF (LouhialaSalminen et al., 2005) and misses the topic of International Business English, which is also an important topic in Business English research. Secondly, in spite of the growing importance of new media in business, this book only gives limited space to a discussion of the relationship between new media and Business English. Although Chapter 10 discusses the current use of new media in a small company and employers' attitude toward employees' competence of new media, the important impacts of the new media upon different business genres are left unexplored. Despite these limitations, Introducing Business English makes a significant contribution to Business English research and teaching. Among other aspects, this book provides a broad analysis of Business English literature including up-to-date research. It serves as a reference for future Business English studies. This book also indicates that ESP theories and research are highly relevant to Business English, as they provide an important source for conducting relevant research and teaching. Finally, it offers many useful and practical strategies for Business English teaching in terms of materials development, assessment, content of teaching, and course design. Overall, this book is a comprehensive resource for Business English readers who can draw upon the knowledge of this book to develop their learning, teaching, and research. References Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language in professional settings. London: Longman. Devitt, A. J. (1991). Intertextuality in tax accounting: generic, referential and functional. In C. Bazerman, & J. Paradis (Eds.), Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in professional communities (pp. 336e357). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Dow, E. (1999). Negotiation comes of age: research in non-native contexts and implications for today's business English materials. In M. Hewings, & C. Nickerson (Eds.), Business English: Research into practice (pp. 83e99). London: Longman. Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2006). Genre analysis of tax computation letters: how and why tax accountants write the way they do. English for Specific Purposes, 25(2), 133e153. Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2010). The linguistic and the contextual in applied genre analysis: the case of the company audit report. English for Specific Purposes, 29(2), 78e93. Gimenez, J. (2014). Multi-communication and the business English class: research meets pedagogy. English for Specific Purposes, 35, 1e16. Handford, M. (2010). The language of business meetings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jones, C. (2011). Written and computer-mediated communication skills: an employer perspective. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(3), 247e270. Koester, A. (2012). Workplace discourse. London: Continuum. LouhialaeSalminen, L., Charles, M., & Kankaanranta, A. (2005). English as a lingua franca in Nordic corporate mergers: two case companies. English for Specific Purposes, 24(4), 401e421. Turner, T., Qvarfordt, P., Biehl, J., Golovchinsky, G., & Back, M. (2010). Exploring the workplace communication ecology. In CHI ’10: Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 841e850). New York: ACM. Warren, M. (2013). “Just spoke to … ”: the types and directionality of intertextuality in professional discourse. English for Specific Purposes, 32(1), 12e24. Zhang, Z. (2013). Business English students learning to write for international business: what do international business practitioners have to say about their texts? English for Specific Purposes, 32(3), 144e156.
Jieyun Feng *, Junkai Huangfu School of International Studies, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China Corresponding reviewer. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Feng); [email protected] (J. Huangfu)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.12.001
Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education, Mary Jane Curry, David I. Hanauer (Eds.). John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2014). 180 pp., ISBN: 978-9027-2575-05. SUS135.00, EUR90.00.
The book Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education belongs to the series entitled Language Studies, Science and Engineering. The primary goal of this book series, as stated in the preface, is to provide useful and interdisciplinary insights
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 22 (2016) 191e198
195
and knowledge generated from the collaboration between STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) professionals and applied linguists (pp. xv-xvi). This book is a collection of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces certain underpinning theoretical orientations whereas the other 9 chapters are grouped into four parts, corresponding to the concepts mentioned in the goal, as follows: Part Part Part Part
I: Research studies in science (Chapters 2e4). II: Research studies in engineering (Chapters 5e6). III: Research studies in mathematics (Chapters 7e9). IV: Final words: Facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration (Chapter 10).
With reference to the content of the whole book, all of the chapters focus on the interaction between applied linguistics and the various fields of STEM. Considering the variety of the issues in applied linguistics and STEM, the reader will gain an extensive insight into these interdisciplinary endeavors. Part I, focusing on research studies in science, consists of three chapters. Chapter 2, entitled “Drawing upon Applied Linguistics to Attain Goals in an Interdisciplinary Chemistry-Applied Linguists Project” and written by Fredricka L. Stoller and Marin S. Robinson, is a study that designs instructional materials and develops a discipline-specific course aimed at developing students' literacy through collaboration between chemists and applied linguists. The second chapter of this part or Chapter 3, entitled “A Genre Analysis of Student Microbiology Laboratory Notebooks” and written by David H. Hanauer, explores the genre characteristics of laboratory notebooks. The results show that the laboratory notebook is a multifaceted literary object that performs multiple functions. The chapter argues that the laboratory notebook can be exploited as a learning tool to enhance students' understanding of science at both cognitive and emotive levels. The final chapter of this part or Chapter 4 is “Writing and Becoming a Scientist: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Three Science Undergraduates”, written by Neal Lerner and Mya Poe. The three case studies presented reveal the intertwined relationship between students' developing scientific knowledge and their shifting identities as students/scientists/engineers/ writers. The findings highlight the need to design instructional material that accommodates students' developmental levels and readiness to communicate in STEM. Part II, which focuses on engineering, consists of two chapters. Chapter 5, “Writing as Social Practice in Engineering: Views from a Cross-Disciplinary Study” by Julio Gimenez presents a qualitative study which examines academic and professional writing in four schools of the Engineering Faculty at a British university. The findings show that both applied linguists and engineers can employ pedagogical approaches to disciplinary writing practices. Chapter 6, “Graphics and Invention in Academic Engineers' Writing for Publication” by Mary Jane Curry, depicts an ethnographic study of three engineering research groups. The author argues that engineers construct their arguments of a paper through the use of graphics or visuals. The study found that visuals are used not only as illustrations of research findings but also as a means to socialize group members into the practice of research dissemination. Part III concerns research studies in mathematics. It consists of three chapters. Chapter 7 is entitled “Mathematics Education, Cultural Practices, and Communication” and is written by Darlinda Moreira and Joana Latas. It represents an ethnographic study conducted in Portugal, focusing on low-income children in the class of mathematics. The implementation of tasks developed from the students' local culture of surfing provides contexts for solving mathematical problems. The author concludes that mathematical tasks connecting the students' everyday world and mathematics enhance the students' ability to understand and articulate mathematics. Chapter 8, the second chapter of Part III, is entitled “Learning while Teaching: How Classroom Discourse Practices Mediate Mathematics Teachers' Learning about Student Thinking” and written by Jeffrey Choppin. Based on a mixed-method approach, this study aims to discover how discourse practices affect what teachers know about how students learn mathematics in classrooms. The chapter highlights the value of discourse analysis to understanding mathematics classroom practice in both teaching and learning. The third chapter in this section or Chapter 9 is “Improving Girls' Interest in Mathematics through Writing: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study” by Edel M. Reilly. It addresses the issue of incorporating writing activities as a tool for learning mathematics when teaching middle school students. Based on a survey instrument to elicit the students' attitudes toward writing in mathematics classes, the students' attitudes are explored. The author concludes that writing can be used as a way of encouraging students to study mathematics. The book concludes with Chapter 10, which is entitled “Facilitating STEM Education through Interdisciplinarity: Funding, Science, and Applied Linguists” and is written by Cynthia Buerle, Graham Hatfull, and David Hanauer. This chapter focuses on the need for the integration of STEM education with applied linguistics. As exemplified by the success of the Phage Hunting Integrating Research and Education (PHIRE) program, the four aspects that facilitate STEM education through interdisciplinary approach include: recognizing the need for change in STEM education, the importance of assessment, engaging in issue-driven projects and being open to disciplinary methodological answers, and being open to shared learning and the distribution of knowledge. As an English teacher and an applied linguist, Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education will enable me to apply various kinds of knowledge and insight to my classroom setting with the hope of success. That is, applied linguists can work
196
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 22 (2016) 191e198
with STEM professionals by designing language tasks that are authentic, taking into consideration the impact of STEM in students' daily life and activities (such as shopping, changing tires, weather forecast that requires mathematical, engineering, and science knowledge, respectively). The use of reader-friendly writing styles, illustrations, and graphs will make this book accessible to novice teachers, practitioners, and readers with limited background knowledge in the application of applied linguistics in STEM. The 10 chapters of this book present studies of diverse language skills using different approaches. Moreover, the learners focused upon in these reported studies are from diverse disciplinary contexts and language backgrounds. These features of the book satisfy the needs of various groups of potential readers, offering a crucial contribution to STEM education disciplinary development through applied linguistics expertise. This book demonstrates efforts to emphasize the fact that applied linguistics is crucial in the attempt to improve interdisciplinary education. The awareness of interdisciplinary interaction among language researchers, science and engineering educators, and scientists will in turn benefit our students, who can meet the expectations of their courses, school policies, and also the discourse community. The integration of applied linguistics with STEM will be particularly useful in strengthening their learning. Any language teacher and scientist who aims to engage their students in the process of learning would benefit from reading Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education. In conclusion, this book provides substantial knowledge and an insight into the relationship between applied linguistics and STEM disciplines. The book is also successful in exemplifying the power and potential of using linguistic approaches to address STEM inquiries. The dissemination of collaborative endeavors as reported in this book is useful, benefiting STEM professionals, applied linguists, and other language professionals. Budsaba Kanoksilapatham Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, 73000, Thailand E-mail address: [email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.11.002
Corpus-based Research in Applied Linguistics. Studies in Honor of Doug Biber, Viviana Cortes, Eniko Csomay (Eds.), Studies in Corpus Linguistics 66. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2015). xix þ 219 pp., ISBN: 978 90 272 0374 8, US$135, UK£65.
This volume is the second one of two recent books published in honour of Douglas Biber, the other one being entitled MultiDimensional Analysis, 25 Years on: A Tribute to Douglas Biber, edited in 2014 by Tony Berber Sardinha and Marcia Veirano Pinto and also published in Benjamins' Studies in Corpus Linguistics series. Unlike this earlier book, the present one does not specifically focus on multi-dimensional analysis (although some chapters do apply this methodology). What brings its nine chapters together is that, as indicated by the title, they are all corpus-based (a term that should be taken in its more general sense, some studies being actually corpus-driven rather than corpus-based in the strict sense) and concern more applied areas of linguistics. In addition, the notion of register is central to all chapters, either because the authors investigate a particular register or because they compare several of them. Academic registers, in particular, are the focus of seven out of the nine chapters. The volume opens with a foreword by Michael McCarthy, who provides an overview of what he calls the Northern Arizona (or Flagstaff) school, describing its origin and main features, among which its special contribution to “the study of register and variation using corpus-analytical techniques” (p. x). This foreword is followed by an introduction, written by the editors of the volume, Viviana Cortes and Eniko Csomay. As former students of Douglas Biber, they explain what they learnt from their “teacher and mentor” (p. xv), namely the fundamental principles of corpus-based research, computer programming skills, and the combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The introduction also offers a brief summary of each chapter in the volume. In the first chapter, one of the editors, Eniko Csomay, compares corpora of academic presentations by teachers (university class sessions) and by students (ten-minute symposium presentations). Her objective is to situate these two types of presentations on the four dimensions of academic language use identified in Biber and Conrad (2009), using multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) techniques. The analysis reveals that teacher and student presentations differ significantly on three of the four dimensions: teacher presentations display more features of oral discourse and content-focused discourse and more stance features than student presentations; no statistically significant differences are found on the dimension linking ‘reconstructed accounts of events’ and ‘concrete current information’. Interestingly, the dimension scores of teacher and student presentations not only make it possible to compare them with each other, but also to relate them to other registers found in the academic context. The second chapter is similar to the first one in its methodology (MDA) and its structure (presentation of the dimensions and their linguistic features, situation of the text types on the dimensions and illustration by means of representative text samples). The text type investigated by Eric Friginal, however, is that of telephone-based interactions. He compares customer
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 22 (2016) 191e198
Chapter 12 addresses designing Business English teaching materials. Firstly, it discusses the use of needs analysis surveys, communication audits, corpus-based approaches, and surveys of published materials. Secondly, it points out that assessment of Business English may take different forms depending on specific contexts, and not just through the internationally recognized Business English language tests. The authors illustrate the issue with two examples. The first example examines how business professionals assess the texts written by Business English students in China, while the second describes the development and use of an oral performance assessment instrument in a Filipino context. Chapter 13 provides a list of a wide range of resources for Business English research and teaching including books and textbooks, journals, professional associations, conferences and workshops, corpora of Business English, and online teaching resources. This book covers a wide range of Business English topics and provides a comprehensive picture of Business English research. Though it contains abundant references for Business English researchers, there are still two possible improvements that could be added to this volume. Firstly, the fourth section in Chapter 2 only embodies a study concerning BELF (LouhialaSalminen et al., 2005) and misses the topic of International Business English, which is also an important topic in Business English research. Secondly, in spite of the growing importance of new media in business, this book only gives limited space to a discussion of the relationship between new media and Business English. Although Chapter 10 discusses the current use of new media in a small company and employers' attitude toward employees' competence of new media, the important impacts of the new media upon different business genres are left unexplored. Despite these limitations, Introducing Business English makes a significant contribution to Business English research and teaching. Among other aspects, this book provides a broad analysis of Business English literature including up-to-date research. It serves as a reference for future Business English studies. This book also indicates that ESP theories and research are highly relevant to Business English, as they provide an important source for conducting relevant research and teaching. Finally, it offers many useful and practical strategies for Business English teaching in terms of materials development, assessment, content of teaching, and course design. Overall, this book is a comprehensive resource for Business English readers who can draw upon the knowledge of this book to develop their learning, teaching, and research. References Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language in professional settings. London: Longman. Devitt, A. J. (1991). Intertextuality in tax accounting: generic, referential and functional. In C. Bazerman, & J. Paradis (Eds.), Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in professional communities (pp. 336e357). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Dow, E. (1999). Negotiation comes of age: research in non-native contexts and implications for today's business English materials. In M. Hewings, & C. Nickerson (Eds.), Business English: Research into practice (pp. 83e99). London: Longman. Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2006). Genre analysis of tax computation letters: how and why tax accountants write the way they do. English for Specific Purposes, 25(2), 133e153. Flowerdew, J., & Wan, A. (2010). The linguistic and the contextual in applied genre analysis: the case of the company audit report. English for Specific Purposes, 29(2), 78e93. Gimenez, J. (2014). Multi-communication and the business English class: research meets pedagogy. English for Specific Purposes, 35, 1e16. Handford, M. (2010). The language of business meetings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jones, C. (2011). Written and computer-mediated communication skills: an employer perspective. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(3), 247e270. Koester, A. (2012). Workplace discourse. London: Continuum. LouhialaeSalminen, L., Charles, M., & Kankaanranta, A. (2005). English as a lingua franca in Nordic corporate mergers: two case companies. English for Specific Purposes, 24(4), 401e421. Turner, T., Qvarfordt, P., Biehl, J., Golovchinsky, G., & Back, M. (2010). Exploring the workplace communication ecology. In CHI ’10: Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 841e850). New York: ACM. Warren, M. (2013). “Just spoke to … ”: the types and directionality of intertextuality in professional discourse. English for Specific Purposes, 32(1), 12e24. Zhang, Z. (2013). Business English students learning to write for international business: what do international business practitioners have to say about their texts? English for Specific Purposes, 32(3), 144e156.
Jieyun Feng *, Junkai Huangfu School of International Studies, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China Corresponding reviewer. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (J. Feng); [email protected] (J. Huangfu)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.12.001
Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education, Mary Jane Curry, David I. Hanauer (Eds.). John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2014). 180 pp., ISBN: 978-9027-2575-05. SUS135.00, EUR90.00.
The book Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education belongs to the series entitled Language Studies, Science and Engineering. The primary goal of this book series, as stated in the preface, is to provide useful and interdisciplinary insights
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 22 (2016) 191e198
195
and knowledge generated from the collaboration between STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) professionals and applied linguists (pp. xv-xvi). This book is a collection of 10 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces certain underpinning theoretical orientations whereas the other 9 chapters are grouped into four parts, corresponding to the concepts mentioned in the goal, as follows: Part Part Part Part
I: Research studies in science (Chapters 2e4). II: Research studies in engineering (Chapters 5e6). III: Research studies in mathematics (Chapters 7e9). IV: Final words: Facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration (Chapter 10).
With reference to the content of the whole book, all of the chapters focus on the interaction between applied linguistics and the various fields of STEM. Considering the variety of the issues in applied linguistics and STEM, the reader will gain an extensive insight into these interdisciplinary endeavors. Part I, focusing on research studies in science, consists of three chapters. Chapter 2, entitled “Drawing upon Applied Linguistics to Attain Goals in an Interdisciplinary Chemistry-Applied Linguists Project” and written by Fredricka L. Stoller and Marin S. Robinson, is a study that designs instructional materials and develops a discipline-specific course aimed at developing students' literacy through collaboration between chemists and applied linguists. The second chapter of this part or Chapter 3, entitled “A Genre Analysis of Student Microbiology Laboratory Notebooks” and written by David H. Hanauer, explores the genre characteristics of laboratory notebooks. The results show that the laboratory notebook is a multifaceted literary object that performs multiple functions. The chapter argues that the laboratory notebook can be exploited as a learning tool to enhance students' understanding of science at both cognitive and emotive levels. The final chapter of this part or Chapter 4 is “Writing and Becoming a Scientist: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Three Science Undergraduates”, written by Neal Lerner and Mya Poe. The three case studies presented reveal the intertwined relationship between students' developing scientific knowledge and their shifting identities as students/scientists/engineers/ writers. The findings highlight the need to design instructional material that accommodates students' developmental levels and readiness to communicate in STEM. Part II, which focuses on engineering, consists of two chapters. Chapter 5, “Writing as Social Practice in Engineering: Views from a Cross-Disciplinary Study” by Julio Gimenez presents a qualitative study which examines academic and professional writing in four schools of the Engineering Faculty at a British university. The findings show that both applied linguists and engineers can employ pedagogical approaches to disciplinary writing practices. Chapter 6, “Graphics and Invention in Academic Engineers' Writing for Publication” by Mary Jane Curry, depicts an ethnographic study of three engineering research groups. The author argues that engineers construct their arguments of a paper through the use of graphics or visuals. The study found that visuals are used not only as illustrations of research findings but also as a means to socialize group members into the practice of research dissemination. Part III concerns research studies in mathematics. It consists of three chapters. Chapter 7 is entitled “Mathematics Education, Cultural Practices, and Communication” and is written by Darlinda Moreira and Joana Latas. It represents an ethnographic study conducted in Portugal, focusing on low-income children in the class of mathematics. The implementation of tasks developed from the students' local culture of surfing provides contexts for solving mathematical problems. The author concludes that mathematical tasks connecting the students' everyday world and mathematics enhance the students' ability to understand and articulate mathematics. Chapter 8, the second chapter of Part III, is entitled “Learning while Teaching: How Classroom Discourse Practices Mediate Mathematics Teachers' Learning about Student Thinking” and written by Jeffrey Choppin. Based on a mixed-method approach, this study aims to discover how discourse practices affect what teachers know about how students learn mathematics in classrooms. The chapter highlights the value of discourse analysis to understanding mathematics classroom practice in both teaching and learning. The third chapter in this section or Chapter 9 is “Improving Girls' Interest in Mathematics through Writing: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study” by Edel M. Reilly. It addresses the issue of incorporating writing activities as a tool for learning mathematics when teaching middle school students. Based on a survey instrument to elicit the students' attitudes toward writing in mathematics classes, the students' attitudes are explored. The author concludes that writing can be used as a way of encouraging students to study mathematics. The book concludes with Chapter 10, which is entitled “Facilitating STEM Education through Interdisciplinarity: Funding, Science, and Applied Linguists” and is written by Cynthia Buerle, Graham Hatfull, and David Hanauer. This chapter focuses on the need for the integration of STEM education with applied linguistics. As exemplified by the success of the Phage Hunting Integrating Research and Education (PHIRE) program, the four aspects that facilitate STEM education through interdisciplinary approach include: recognizing the need for change in STEM education, the importance of assessment, engaging in issue-driven projects and being open to disciplinary methodological answers, and being open to shared learning and the distribution of knowledge. As an English teacher and an applied linguist, Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education will enable me to apply various kinds of knowledge and insight to my classroom setting with the hope of success. That is, applied linguists can work
196
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 22 (2016) 191e198
with STEM professionals by designing language tasks that are authentic, taking into consideration the impact of STEM in students' daily life and activities (such as shopping, changing tires, weather forecast that requires mathematical, engineering, and science knowledge, respectively). The use of reader-friendly writing styles, illustrations, and graphs will make this book accessible to novice teachers, practitioners, and readers with limited background knowledge in the application of applied linguistics in STEM. The 10 chapters of this book present studies of diverse language skills using different approaches. Moreover, the learners focused upon in these reported studies are from diverse disciplinary contexts and language backgrounds. These features of the book satisfy the needs of various groups of potential readers, offering a crucial contribution to STEM education disciplinary development through applied linguistics expertise. This book demonstrates efforts to emphasize the fact that applied linguistics is crucial in the attempt to improve interdisciplinary education. The awareness of interdisciplinary interaction among language researchers, science and engineering educators, and scientists will in turn benefit our students, who can meet the expectations of their courses, school policies, and also the discourse community. The integration of applied linguistics with STEM will be particularly useful in strengthening their learning. Any language teacher and scientist who aims to engage their students in the process of learning would benefit from reading Language, Literacy, and Learning in STEM Education. In conclusion, this book provides substantial knowledge and an insight into the relationship between applied linguistics and STEM disciplines. The book is also successful in exemplifying the power and potential of using linguistic approaches to address STEM inquiries. The dissemination of collaborative endeavors as reported in this book is useful, benefiting STEM professionals, applied linguists, and other language professionals. Budsaba Kanoksilapatham Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom, 73000, Thailand E-mail address: [email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2015.11.002
Corpus-based Research in Applied Linguistics. Studies in Honor of Doug Biber, Viviana Cortes, Eniko Csomay (Eds.), Studies in Corpus Linguistics 66. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2015). xix þ 219 pp., ISBN: 978 90 272 0374 8, US$135, UK£65.
This volume is the second one of two recent books published in honour of Douglas Biber, the other one being entitled MultiDimensional Analysis, 25 Years on: A Tribute to Douglas Biber, edited in 2014 by Tony Berber Sardinha and Marcia Veirano Pinto and also published in Benjamins' Studies in Corpus Linguistics series. Unlike this earlier book, the present one does not specifically focus on multi-dimensional analysis (although some chapters do apply this methodology). What brings its nine chapters together is that, as indicated by the title, they are all corpus-based (a term that should be taken in its more general sense, some studies being actually corpus-driven rather than corpus-based in the strict sense) and concern more applied areas of linguistics. In addition, the notion of register is central to all chapters, either because the authors investigate a particular register or because they compare several of them. Academic registers, in particular, are the focus of seven out of the nine chapters. The volume opens with a foreword by Michael McCarthy, who provides an overview of what he calls the Northern Arizona (or Flagstaff) school, describing its origin and main features, among which its special contribution to “the study of register and variation using corpus-analytical techniques” (p. x). This foreword is followed by an introduction, written by the editors of the volume, Viviana Cortes and Eniko Csomay. As former students of Douglas Biber, they explain what they learnt from their “teacher and mentor” (p. xv), namely the fundamental principles of corpus-based research, computer programming skills, and the combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The introduction also offers a brief summary of each chapter in the volume. In the first chapter, one of the editors, Eniko Csomay, compares corpora of academic presentations by teachers (university class sessions) and by students (ten-minute symposium presentations). Her objective is to situate these two types of presentations on the four dimensions of academic language use identified in Biber and Conrad (2009), using multi-dimensional analytical (MDA) techniques. The analysis reveals that teacher and student presentations differ significantly on three of the four dimensions: teacher presentations display more features of oral discourse and content-focused discourse and more stance features than student presentations; no statistically significant differences are found on the dimension linking ‘reconstructed accounts of events’ and ‘concrete current information’. Interestingly, the dimension scores of teacher and student presentations not only make it possible to compare them with each other, but also to relate them to other registers found in the academic context. The second chapter is similar to the first one in its methodology (MDA) and its structure (presentation of the dimensions and their linguistic features, situation of the text types on the dimensions and illustration by means of representative text samples). The text type investigated by Eric Friginal, however, is that of telephone-based interactions. He compares customer