This thesis analyses competing discourses around the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. Taking a quantitative approach, several distinct text-mining techniques are applied to political speech...Show moreThis thesis analyses competing discourses around the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. Taking a quantitative approach, several distinct text-mining techniques are applied to political speech transcripts and newspaper opinion pieces of pro-independence and pro-union elites in order to identify broad lexical patterns in discourse. These results are then interpreted with the guidance of previous literature and within the theoretical framework of discursive institutionalism. The analysis finds that the most salient patterns are a pro-union emphasis on law and the constitution, and a pro-independence focus on the symbolic imagery produced by the referendum, such as polling stations, ballot boxes, and police violence. The results also find differing representations of the relationship between Catalonia and Spain, and to a lesser degree, the role of Europe within the dynamic. Taken together, these findings illuminate broad discursive strategies employed by both sides of the independence debate as they seek to either provoke or prevent institutional change.Show less
Fidel Castro’s leadership and legacy in Cuba has been a fascinating and mystifying topic of matter in the field of International Relations. Much has been written and contended on how Fidel came to...Show moreFidel Castro’s leadership and legacy in Cuba has been a fascinating and mystifying topic of matter in the field of International Relations. Much has been written and contended on how Fidel came to be the charismatic leader of Cuba and how he was able to maintain staying power and achieve legitimacy. The concepts of authority and legitimacy are attributed to the phenomenon of leadership and development of a society. This thesis will look at the roles of society, of Cuba in the twentieth century, and discourse and visual elements in the social construction of charisma in Fidel’s leadership. In addition, there will be an overview of Fidel’s background and how the approaches of gender, age, class, and race facilitated the social construction of Fidel’s charismatic leadership and the social reality of Cuba. The theoretical framework of constructivism and the methodological approach of content analysis will be utilized in order to examine how Fidel go to be the charismatic leader of Cuba.Show less
Feedback has much potential for learning, when it also gives students guidance to bridge the gap between performance and goals. Effective feedback is more than telling students what criteria there...Show moreFeedback has much potential for learning, when it also gives students guidance to bridge the gap between performance and goals. Effective feedback is more than telling students what criteria there are to meet and appraising their performance. Teachers should also give suggestions or proposals for the best course of action to bridge the gap between performance and goal. Whether the student accepts this feedback and is willing to follow recommendations depends on the teacher approach to communicate this feedback and on students’ goal orientation. This study investigated to what extent the approach of the teacher and the goal orientation of the student had influence on student's use of feedback. Distinctions were made between directive and reflective approaches and between performance goal orientation and learning goal orientation. The study also tested if higher feedback use led to higher performance. Several dialogs were registered and their content was analysed on the balance between discussing the criteria to meet, appraising performance, and giving recommendations. This study partially confirmed that the conversation between teacher and student exerts influence on the student acceptance of and compliance with feedback. The teacher approach appeared to make little difference. The performance goal orientation of students, unexpectedly, had a negative impact both on the acceptance of feedback and on the use of recommendations. Students who followed recommendations had, as expected, a higher performance in the second-stage. The content analysis revealed that teachers mainly appraise the performance of student and give little recommendations on how to improve performance.Show less
