An overview of the interdisciplinary themes studied across the Institute www.its.leeds.ac.uk/research/themes

This was an IET event at the University of Leeds organised with Northern Powergrid.

In this paper, I argue that Arabic diglossia is represented in the native speaker’s mind (Giolfo and Sinatora, 2011) through mental categorisations of the different functions that the language varieties fulfil. I also rely on recent findings showing that Standard and Colloquial Arabic vocabularies are neurophysiologically separated (Khamis-­Dakwar and Froud, 2014) in the speaker’s mind. This reconceptualisation of diglossia greatly affects the field of the Teaching of Arabic as a Foreign Language (TAFL). It implies that it is necessary to teach both the formal and the colloquial varieties, and that students of Arabic need to develop linguistic skills that allow them to perform a native-­like diglossic level of differentiation. Since vocabulary is the major contributor to proficiency and the strongest predictor of proficiency ratings (Iwashita et al., 2008), the development of diglossic vocabulary is the requisite for proficiency in Arabic. Inasmuch as it implies a potential overload for students, it is necessary to make sure that they are able not only to enlarge their vocabulary quickly and efficiently, but also to reduce the efforts required to memorise it. This can be achieved through cognitive linguistic approaches based on explicit vocabulary instruction, focus on form and focus on phonetic variation between formal and vernacular Arabic. Moreover, diglossic vocabulary building can be accelerated by drawing students’ attention on regular changes that occur comparatively within word patterns and features of both varieties. References Giolfo, M.E.B., Sinatora, F. (2011). “Rethinking Arabic Diglossia. Language Representations and Ideological Intents” in P. Valore (ed.), Multilingualism. Language, Power and Knowledge. Edistudio, Pisa, pp. 103-­128. Iwashita, N., Brown, A., McNamara, T. and O’Hagan, S. (2008). “Assessed Levels of Second Language Speaking Proficiency: How Distinct?”. Applied Linguistics 29. 24-­49. Khamis-­Dakwar, R., Froud K. (2014). “Neurocognitive modeling of the two language varieties in Arabic Diglossia” in R. Khamis-­Dakwar and K. (eds.) Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVI: Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic Linguistics. John Benjamins, New York, 2012. pp. 285–302.

Piers Sellers 2018 Prize winner Professor Mark New, director, ACDI, University of Cape Town, delivers a talk on the Cape Town water crisis at University of Leeds, Monday 19 March 2018 ABSTRACT: Cape Town has been in the news over the last few months because of its water crisis. A multi-year “drought” has progressively depleted reservoirs in the water resource system that supplies the city, nearby towns and agriculture. After the 2017 rainfall season, it became clear that – under current patterns of water use – the water resource system would fail before the start of 2018 rainfall season, and the term “Day Zero” was coined – the day at which the reservoirs would have no more extractable water. In this talk, I’ll discuss the physical nature of the drought, and the possible influence of climate change on drought risk, assessing whether the last three years are indeed the “new normal” the City is talking about. I’ll then discuss the supply-side and demand-side interventions the City instigated to postpone day zero, and the effect these had. I’ll also talk about the impacts of decisions about water allocation to agricultural sector and their potential longer term economic impacts. Finally, I’ll comment on how a political crisis within the City executive, and poor management of within the national Department of Water and Sanitation, led to a weakened governance setting that most likely exacerbated the severity of the impact of the drought.

Professor Chris Megone: "Pre-empting an ethical backlash" Dr Jon Fistein: "Me and my (digital) shadow" Baroness Onora O'Neill: "Data ethics and the ethics of communication"

Mr Thomas Higgins: "An age-period-cohort analysis under rapidly changing circumstances" Dr Mark Webster: "Modelling and calibration for human cell dynamics" Professor David Leslie: "Thompson sampling for website optimisation"

In the new era of digital technology, the use of microblogging networks such as Twitter became a common practice among youth learners and digital natives across language classes. In the presence of VLE across all universities, do we really need to add Twitter to language classroom? Researchers suggest that Twitter as a tool outside the classroom can be a good support for language learning. In this study, we discuss the students’ perceptions regarding the use of Twitter in an Arabic for Media classroom, and how Twitter could be used as facilitator to maximise the students’ motivation. The data of this paper is based on a questionnaire that has been given to final year students of Arabic at the University of Westminster. The students took “Arabic for Media” as a major module in their Undergraduate Programmes. Students were asked to answer questions about their usage of and opinion on Twitter, and how they felt about the whole experience. From their answers, it was concluded that Twitter can be used as an effective tool and a practising collaboration among learners of Arabic for specific purposes.

Talk to make students aware the possibilities of working for the above employers and the skills they need to develop when applying for them.

The first Equality and Social Justice lecture was delivered by Professor Tom Shakespeare on 9th November 2017. A world-leading expert in disability studies, medical sociology and the social and ethical dimensions of genetics, Professor Shakespeare has been highly influential in contributing towards the disabled people’s movement in the UK and internationally. Beyond this, Professor Shakespeare has had longstanding involvement in improving public understandings of disability, as well as the policies, institutions and practices that shape its experience. The title of Professor Shakespeare’s lecture was: “Levers of success; understanding the achievements of African people with disabilities”. Drawing on data from over 100 in-depth interviews with disabled people across rural and urban settings, Professor Shakespeare explored the category and experience of disability across four developing countries in Africa. Professor Shakespeare argued that the barriers facing and opportunities of disabled people in developing contexts could only be effectively understood if questions concerning culture, religion, resilience and structural expectation are fully incorporated into mainstream debates and social action surrounding disability and development. Professor Shakespeare also highlighted the need to re-think the relationship between relative inequality and disability at a global level in light of the structural and institutional conditions faced within developing countries.