Hi!
You will find here the announcement of a doctoral program on argumentation in context: Argupolis, organized by the Universities of Lugano, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Amsterdam, with the support of the Swiss National Foundation for Research. You will also find a call for two PhD students in a specific area of the psychology of learning.
Anne-Nelly
Prof. Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont
Institut de psychologie et éducation
Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines
Université de Neuchâtel
Espace L. Agassiz 1 CH 2000 Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
tel.:+41 32 718 18 56 fax: +41 32 718 18 51
email: anne-nelly.perret-clermont@unine.ch
http://www2.unine.ch/psy/page7842.html
An invitation to apply to
ARGUPOLIS
A DOCTORAL PROGRAM ON
ARGUMENTATION PRACTICES IN CONTEXT
Argupolis (www.argupolis.net <http://www.argupolis.net><http://www.argupolis.net> ) is a doctoral program, jointly designed and developed by scholars of the Universities of Lugano, Neuchâtel, Lausanne and Amsterdam[1] <#_ftn1> and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, that is specifically devoted to argumentation practices in context. The interdisciplinary research and teaching network of Argupolis, though largely representative of the Swiss academic environment, is strongly connected with the international research community in the field. At the Swiss level, this doctoral program constitutes the only systematic offer of postgraduate education in the domain of argumentation and coordinates various scientific efforts currently developing in this territory. Its special focus on argumentative practices in different social contexts distinguishes it among all doctoral schools at international level.
Four research institutes are responsible for the scientific direction of the program: the Institute of Linguistics and Semiotics at the University of Lugano (Eddo Rigotti, Andrea Rocci), the Institute of Psychology and Education at the University of Neuchâtel (Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont), the Institute of Psychology of the University of Lausanne (Michèle Grossen) and the Department of Speech Communication, Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric of the University of Amsterdam (Frans H. van Eemeren).
The scope of the program
Argupolis is constituted by a research and teaching endeavor focused on the study of argumentation practices as embedded in different social contexts. Argumentation, in fact, is a form of communicative interaction by means of which social realities - institutions, groups and relationships - are construed and managed. People develop argumentation in numerous purposeful activities: to make sound and well-thought decisions, to critically found their opinions, to persuade other people the validity of their own proposals and to evaluate others' proposals by means of a reasonable weighting of arguments. These activities are bound to the contexts in which they take place and are significantly determined by these contexts; thus argumentation too, as the bearing structure of these activities, moulds its strategies in connection with these very different contexts: from family to social and political institutions, from financial markets to media, schools, courts and so on.
Argupolis aims at providing PhD students with adequate conceptual and methodological tools for developing rigorous and innovative investigations of the specific manners in which argumentation is used in human interaction within different contextual spheres. Significantly, it helps on the one hand, to extend argumentation theory towards a consideration of the relevance of context; on the other hand, it helps researchers studying specific contexts to discover the importance of argumentation - not only in fields where its relevance is traditionally taken for granted, like law and political discourse, but also in fields like financial communication and conflict resolution practices. In addition, Argupolis builds on the principle that argumentation is a constitutive dimension for knowledge construction for both the growing child's and the adolescent's development of socio-cognitive competences, which makes it an important object of concern in education.
Numerous research activities are already linked to Argupolis developing along different research directions and projects, in which PhD students are involved and which bring to the elaboration of their doctoral dissertations. A first set of the considered projects will examine how specific argumentative practices and moves work in different contexts of interaction: for example, how evaluative premises can be used strategically in policymaking parliamentary debates; or what role modality plays in predictions in Italian economic-financial newspapers. Thus, the structure of the context is taken here as a necessary background to analyze communication practices and the focus is on drawing general results concerning argumentation theory.
A second stream of research starts from the study in the different contexts - focusing in particular on children and education contexts (family and classroom discussions, conflict and peer mediation, science education) - and considers under which conditions the relational or institutional context can afford and foster spaces for argumentation and how argumentation co-constructs the context, for instance in relation to collaborative work in multidisciplinary teams, socialization in the family, conflict mediations in school, development of logical reasoning in infant school children.
Organization of the program
The three-year learning curriculum PhD students will be involved in will start on January 8, 2009; it encompasses courses and seminars taught by a largely international faculty composed of scholars working on the crucial issues of argumentation theory and context analysis. PhD students will be offered personal tutoring with faculty members in relation to their PhD project throughout the program.
Argupolis will also promote the constitution of a learning community by inviting PhD students to engage in discussion and comparison with their colleagues and to be involved in a fruitful dialogue with the national and international research community.
Courses, summer school and winter school, conferences
Title Teaching staff N. of hours Location
First year
Fundamentals of argumentation theory: strategic maneuvering and the analysis and evaluation of argumentative discourse F.H. van Eemeren
B. J. Garssen 20 Lugano
Seminar on strategic manoeuvring F.H. van Eemeren
B. J. Garssen 10 Lugano
Logic and formal dialectics E. C. W. Krabbe 20 Lugano
Context, dialogue and cognition M. Grossen 16 Lausanne/Lugano
Argumentation as situated practices N. Muller Mirza 4 Lugano
Topics and argumentation schemes E. Rigotti 20 Lugano
Seminar on argumentation analysis E. Rigotti 10 Lugano
Bridging argumentation and computer science D. Walton
C. Reed 15 Lugano
Colloquium Amsterdam-Lugano. PhD students are required to attend the colloquium - Lugano
Summer school "Methodological issues in the analysis of verbal interactions". Handling of data and construction of corpora of argumentation in context. L. Mondada & M. Grossen 1 week Sept. 2009 Lugano
Second year
Toward a social psychology of argumentative situations and knowledge practices A.-N. Perret-Clermont
F. Clément 25 Neuchâtel
Manipulation and fallacies F. H. van Eemeren
B. J. Garssen 20 Lugano
Argumentation and verbal communication A. F. Snoeck Henkemans 20 Lugano
Winter school "Methodological issues: semantic and pragmatic instruments for argument analysis" A. Rocci, S. Jacobs
D. Perrin, L. de Saussure 1 week (11-16 January 2010) Ascona or Brissago
Dialogue games E. Krabbe 10 Lugano
From difference of opinion to conflict M. Dascal 15 Lugano
Seminar on visual communication supporting argumentative interaction M. Eppler
N. Muller-Mirza 10 Lugano
L'analyse linguistique du discours argumentatif dans les médias J.-M. Adam, M. Burger
A. Rocci 15 Lugano
Colloquium Amsterdam-Lugano.
PhD students are required to present their research. - Lugano
ISSA Conference -- Amsterdam
Third year
Standard and extended Pragma-dialectics in relation to other approaches to argumentation F.H. van Eemeren B. J. Garssen 20 Lugano
Seminar on rhetoric C. Tindale 5 Lugano
Seminar on argumentation and persuasion D. J. O' Keefe 5 Lugano
Colloquium Amsterdam-Lugano.
PhD students are required to present their research. -- Lugano
PhD conference. PhD students are required to submit a paper. Sept. 2011 Amsterdam
Applications
Besides the PhD students who will follow the full program, some places are also open to PhD students who are only interested in the attendance of one or a few Argupolis modules. All are invited to apply for admission to the program by sending to the Argupolis coordinator, Sara Greco Morasso (sara.greco@lu.unisi.ch) a letter of application, a CV, a short description of their PhD project and a letter of presentation by their thesis supervisor. Their acceptance will be evaluated by the steering board of Argupolis..
Contact
Sara Greco Morasso
Argupolis Coordinator
Istituto Linguistico-Semiotico
Facoltà di Scienze della comunicazione
Università della Svizzera Italiana
Via G. Buffi 13
CH 6900 Lugano
Tel. +41 58 666 4791
sara.greco@lu.unisi.ch
________________________________
[1] <#_ftnref1> Four research institutes are responsible for the scientific direction of the program: the Institute of Linguistics and Semiotics at the University of Lugano (Eddo Rigotti, Andrea Rocci), the Institute of Psychology and Education at the University of Neuchâtel (Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont), the Institute of Psychology of the University of Lausanne (Michèle Grossen) and the Department of Speech Communication, Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric of the University of Amsterdam (Frans H. van Eemeren).
Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
An invitation to apply to
ARGUPOLIS
A DOCTORAL PROGRAM ON
ARGUMENTATION PRACTICES IN CONTEXT
Argupolis (www.argupolis.net <http://www.argupolis.net><http://www.argupolis.net> ) is a doctoral program, jointly designed and developed by scholars of the Universities of Lugano, Neuchâtel, Lausanne and Amsterdam[1] <#_ftn1> and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, that is specifically devoted to argumentation practices in context. The interdisciplinary research and teaching network of Argupolis, though largely representative of the Swiss academic environment, is strongly connected with the international research community in the field. At the Swiss level, this doctoral program constitutes the only systematic offer of postgraduate education in the domain of argumentation and coordinates various scientific efforts currently developing in this territory. Its special focus on argumentative practices in different social contexts distinguishes it among all doctoral schools at international level.
The scope of the program
Argupolis is constituted by a research and teaching endeavor focused on the study of argumentation practices as embedded in different social contexts. Argumentation, in fact, is a form of communicative interaction by means of which social realities - institutions, groups and relationships - are construed and managed. People develop argumentation in numerous purposeful activities: to make sound and well-thought decisions, to critically found their opinions, to persuade other people the validity of their own proposals and to evaluate others' proposals by means of a reasonable weighting of arguments. These activities are bound to the contexts in which they take place and are significantly determined by these contexts; thus argumentation too, as the bearing structure of these activities, moulds its strategies in connection with these very different contexts: from family to social and political institutions, from financial markets to media, schools, courts and so on.
Argupolis aims at providing PhD students with adequate conceptual and methodological tools for developing rigorous and innovative investigations of the specific manners in which argumentation is used in human interaction within different contextual spheres. Significantly, it helps on the one hand, to extend argumentation theory towards a consideration of the relevance of context; on the other hand, it helps researchers studying specific contexts to discover the importance of argumentation - not only in fields where its relevance is traditionally taken for granted, like law and political discourse, but also in fields like financial communication and conflict resolution practices. In addition, Argupolis builds on the principle that argumentation is a constitutive dimension for knowledge construction for both the growing child's and the adolescent's development of socio-cognitive competences, which makes it an important object of concern in education.
Numerous research activities are already linked to Argupolis developing along different research directions and projects, in which PhD students are involved and which bring to the elaboration of their doctoral dissertations. A first set of the considered projects will examine how specific argumentative practices and moves work in different contexts of interaction: for example, how evaluative premises can be used strategically in policymaking parliamentary debates; or what role modality plays in predictions in Italian economic-financial newspapers. Thus, the structure of the context is taken here as a necessary background to analyze communication practices and the focus is on drawing general results concerning argumentation theory.
A second stream of research starts from the study in the different contexts - focusing in particular on children and education contexts (family and classroom discussions, conflict and peer mediation, science education) - and considers under which conditions the relational or institutional context can afford and foster spaces for argumentation and how argumentation co-constructs the context, for instance in relation to collaborative work in multidisciplinary teams, socialization in the family, conflict mediations in school, development of logical reasoning in infant school children.
Organization of the program
The three-year learning curriculum PhD students will be involved in will start on January 8, 2009; it encompasses courses and seminars taught by a largely international faculty composed of scholars working on the crucial issues of argumentation theory and context analysis. PhD students will be offered personal tutoring with faculty members in relation to their PhD project throughout the program.
Argupolis will also promote the constitution of a learning community by inviting PhD students to engage in discussion and comparison with their colleagues and to be involved in a fruitful dialogue with the national and international research community.
Courses, summer school and winter school, conferences
Title Teaching staff N. of hours Location
First year
Fundamentals of argumentation theory: strategic maneuvering and the analysis and evaluation of argumentative discourse F.H. van Eemeren
B. J. Garssen 20 Lugano
Seminar on strategic manoeuvring F.H. van Eemeren
B. J. Garssen 10 Lugano
Logic and formal dialectics E. C. W. Krabbe 20 Lugano
Context, dialogue and cognition M. Grossen 16 Lausanne/Lugano
Argumentation as situated practices N. Muller Mirza 4 Lugano
Topics and argumentation schemes E. Rigotti 20 Lugano
Seminar on argumentation analysis E. Rigotti 10 Lugano
Bridging argumentation and computer science D. Walton
C. Reed 15 Lugano
Colloquium Amsterdam-Lugano. PhD students are required to attend the colloquium - Lugano
Summer school "Methodological issues in the analysis of verbal interactions". Handling of data and construction of corpora of argumentation in context. L. Mondada & M. Grossen 1 week Sept. 2009 Lugano
Second year
Toward a social psychology of argumentative situations and knowledge practices A.-N. Perret-Clermont
F. Clément 25 Neuchâtel
Manipulation and fallacies F. H. van Eemeren
B. J. Garssen 20 Lugano
Argumentation and verbal communication A. F. Snoeck Henkemans 20 Lugano
Winter school "Methodological issues: semantic and pragmatic instruments for argument analysis" A. Rocci, S. Jacobs
D. Perrin, L. de Saussure 1 week (11-16 January 2010) Ascona or Brissago
Dialogue games E. Krabbe 10 Lugano
From difference of opinion to conflict M. Dascal 15 Lugano
Seminar on visual communication supporting argumentative interaction M. Eppler
N. Muller-Mirza 10 Lugano
L'analyse linguistique du discours argumentatif dans les médias J.-M. Adam, M. Burger
A. Rocci 15 Lugano
Colloquium Amsterdam-Lugano.
PhD students are required to present their research. - Lugano
ISSA Conference -- Amsterdam
Third year
Standard and extended Pragma-dialectics in relation to other approaches to argumentation F.H. van Eemeren B. J. Garssen 20 Lugano
Seminar on rhetoric C. Tindale 5 Lugano
Seminar on argumentation and persuasion D. J. O' Keefe 5 Lugano
Colloquium Amsterdam-Lugano.
PhD students are required to present their research. -- Lugano
PhD conference. PhD students are required to submit a paper. Sept. 2011 Amsterdam
Applications
Besides the PhD students who will follow the full program, some places are also open to PhD students who are only interested in the attendance of one or a few Argupolis modules. All are invited to apply for admission to the program by sending to the Argupolis coordinator, Sara Greco Morasso (sara.greco@lu.unisi.ch) a letter of application, a CV, a short description of their PhD project and a letter of presentation by their thesis supervisor. Their acceptance will be evaluated by the steering board of Argupolis..
Contact
Sara Greco Morasso
Argupolis Coordinator
Istituto Linguistico-Semiotico
Facoltà di Scienze della comunicazione
Università della Svizzera Italiana
Via G. Buffi 13
CH 6900 Lugano
Tel. +41 58 666 4791
sara.greco@lu.unisi.ch
________________________________
The Institute of psychology and education of the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, invites applications for
TWO PhD POSITIONS (100%) FOR 3 YEARS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARGUMENTATION IN 4-7 years old CHILDREN
The candidates are expected to begin their work as soon as possible, preferably in January 2009
The doctoral school "Argumentation Practices in Context" (Argupolis)
The positions are opened at the Institute of psychology and education of the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), within the framework of the doctoral School "Argumentation Practices in Context" (Argupolis), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The doctoral school is organized by the University of Lugano (Institute of linguistics and semiotics), in collaboration with the University of Neuchâtel (Institute of psychology and education), the University of Lausanne (Institute of psychology) and the University of Amsterdam (Department of Speech Communication, Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric). In this framework, the PhD students will become part in an important international research community. Their study program will include a series of courses covering the theoretical foundation of argumentation, the study of argumentation in context, methodological advances on argumentative text analysis and on logical, as well as rhetorical and linguistic tools for argumentation.
The research project
Each selected PhD student will conduct a research project to explore how argumentation can emerge as a context-bounded activity in 4-7 years old children. The objectives of the projects are: to understand under which psychological and institutional conditions children invest themselves in argumentative moves; to analyse the quality of the arguments and strategies of the discussants; to design experimental and educational settings that sustain the learning of argumentation; and to contribute, through minute psycho-social descriptions, to a better understanding of what argumentation in context is. A particular attention will be paid to the contribution that such studies, inspired by socio-cultural research, can make to the post-Piagetian tradition.
One of the student's project will concentrate on quasi-experimental research on argumentative activities organized in laboratory situations (i.e., in controlled settings organized by the researcher out of the classroom).
The second student's project will concentrate on classroom situations designed in collaboration with the teacher. Careful attention will be paid to the implicit rules that structure the classroom context, to the teacher's representations of his/her role, and to the integration of newly designed argumentative activities into the natural functioning of the classroom.
The two students will collaborate on their projects and take part in the activity of the institute.
Requisites
- A master degree, a four-year degree or equivalent, preferably in psychology and/or educational studies; eventually in linguistics, argumentation theory or speech therapy.
- Fluency in oral and written English and French.
Ideal profile
The ideal candidates for the positions have a background in psychology and education and are interested in the study of argumentation and dialogical interactions among adults and children. Candidates should have a strong interest in the doctoral school program, and a willingness to engage in an interdisciplinary research network.
Working tasks
- To participate in all the phases of the research projects. The doctoral students will be in charge of co-designing the interventions, collecting, coding and analyzing the data.
- To develop a PhD thesis in relation to the contents of the research project.
- To actively participate in the study program and in the other activities offered within the frame of the doctoral school "Argumentation Practices in Context" (Argupolis).
- To collaborate with the other members of the research team in the organization of scientific activities within the academic and teacher training institutions.
- To contribute to the psycho-social understanding of argumentation.
- To work with professionals (researchers, teachers, teacher trainers) in the design of proper settings to foster learning via argumentation
Financial support
The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Its financial and social conditions are applied. In particular, the annual salary is: CHF 39'600.- (first year), CHF. 42'600.- (second year) and CHF. 45'600.- (third year).
(see http://www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/allg_doktorierende_f.pdf).
Applications
Applications must include a cover letter, a complete CV, and a list of publications (if available). The candidates will submit a two to three-pages proposal for a research in the area defined by the call. A letter written by the master thesis supervisor is also welcome.
Please submit your application preferably by November 30th, 2008 (electronic or paper format) to the following address:
Prof. Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont
email: anne-nelly.perret-clermont@unine.ch
Institut de psychologie et éducation
Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines
Université de Neuchâtel
Espace L. Agassiz 1 CH 2000 Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
fax: +41 32 718 18 51
Additional information can be found at www.unine.ch/ipe <http://www.unine.ch/ipe><http://www.unine.ch/ipe> and informal requests can be
addressed to anne-nelly.perret-clermont@unine.ch
General research plan summary
We will conduct observational and quasi-experimental studies to explore how argumentation emerges as a context-bounded activity in children who are invited to interact in an ad hoc designed setting in which they have to reach a joint decision or solve a common task. This project takes place at the crossroads of different lines of research: a neo-piagetian and neo-vygotskian concern for the socio-cognitive development of higher psychological processes; a socio-cultural approach of participative interactions within goal-directed activities, supported by communication frames aiming at developing children's reasoning and language skills; and the recent advances of argumentation theories that call the educationalists' and psychologists' attention to alternative modes of reasoning, transacting and socializing than those they usually study. Presently, the rising interest among the classical studies of argumentation for argumentation in context is starting to produce new analytical frameworks that can help to better
understand what argumentation is, how central it is in social life, and as a consequence also in children's environments. Learning to argue and learning via argumentation are important challenges. Research is needed to better understand the processes by which children (and adults) acquire argumentative skills and how this learning can be supported; and why this activity of argumentation, that is present almost everywhere in social life, is often limited to very poor forms of argumentation and constrained by social factors that seem to partly prevent it in schools (and in families, professional life, etc.).
The objectives of this project are to observe the implementation of settings for producing argumentation in children with several aims: 1) to understand under which psychological and institutional conditions children invest themselves in argumentative moves; 2) to analyse the quality (in the light of the present theories of argumentation) of the arguments and strategies of the discussants; 3) to learn to design experimental and educational settings that sustain the learning of argumentation; and 4) to contribute minute psycho-social descriptions of what a context is for a learner in order to better understand what argumentation in context is.
Drawing on socio-cultural psychology, our general hypothesis is that the context is a socially shared reality constructed by the dynamics of communication within given (yet adaptatively re-negotiated) institutional frames. Thinking develops as a means to reach certain goals; and learning to think is an inescapable part of the program of a child (and adult)'s growth. But thinking does not take place in a social vacuum, nor is it the product of an a-historical individual: thinking is always situated; it has its roots in social interactions and conversations, and argumentation is an important dimension of these processes. These social and conversational processes are at work even in wrongly called "cognitive" or "socially neutral" experimental settings of task resolution. While theories of argumentation are rediscovering the importance of argumentation in context, educationalists and psychologists are reconsidering their traditional objects as talk in context, learning in context, thinking in context. The scope
of this project is to contribute (small) steps towards an interdisciplinary rejoinder on this issue.
To contribute empirically to the above specific question of the development of argumentation competencies in context, we choose to rely on a well-investigated area of child cognitive psychology and adopt an informed design strategy around a well-known task that is meaningful for science education also and hence turn back to a very classical question of piagetian psychology: How do children learn to rely for their thinking and argumentation on the notion of conservation? "Conservation among transformations" is a central concept in modern scientific thinking (and beyond). Piaget made it the symptom of a major turn in the child's cognitive growth. To investigate this process, Piaget developed a method, "the critical interview", whereby he claimed to elicit and assess the child's capacity to produce arguments.
It seems the proper moment to revisit these classical studies, as well as the post-piagetian studies of conservation in conversation, with the possibility, now available, to reconsider the argumentation in children's talk beyond Piaget's own reductionistic logicism on these matters. Gaining a better knowledge of argumentation around conservation tasks in two different contexts (laboratory and school) will then open up to us the way to the design and observation of other argumentative settings in science education and beyond.
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Received on Mon Nov 24 04:55:51 2008
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