Health and social care professionals entering academia: Using functional linguistics to enhance the learning process
Issued Date: 30 Dec 2013
Abstract
The first year university Health and Social Care course examined here introduces students from diverse backgrounds into the academic discourse of health and social care in the UK (see Northedge 2003). The course providers were concerned about students’ written engagement in these discourses, and invited academic literacy specialists to work with them. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics-based genre analysis (Martin and Rose 2007, 2008), the genres of assignment tasks were mapped. This confirmed that there was a correlation between the grades awarded to students, the organization of their assignment texts, and how they moved between abstract HSC concepts and case study details. Ways of enhancing assignment design, guidance and feedback were suggested. However, interviews with students revealed variations in students’ ways of using language and of thinking that influenced how they interpreted and applied assignment design, guidance and feedback. It is proposed that responding to such ‘semantic variation’ among students can further enhance students’ access to the academic discourses of HSC.
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DOI: 10.1558/japl.v9i1.37
References
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Coffin, C. (2006) Historical Discourse: The Language of Time, Cause and Evaluation. London: Continuum.
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Drury, H. (2001) Short answers in first-year undergraduate science writing: What kind of genres are they? In M. Hewings (ed.) Academic Writing in Context: Papers in Honour of Tony Dudley-Evans, 104–121. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press.
Dudley-Evans, T. (1994) Genre analysis: An approach to text analysis in ESP. In M. Coulthard (ed.) Advances in Written Text Analysis, 219–228. London: Routledge.
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Freedman, A. and Medway, P. eds (1994) Genre and the New Rhetoric. Bristol: Taylor and Francis.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Mathiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.
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Martin, J. R. and Rose, D. (2007) Working with Discourse: Meaning Beyond the Clause. London: Continuum.
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McNamara, M. (2010). What lies beneath? The underlying principles structuring the field of academic nursing in Ireland. Journal of Professional Nursing 26 (6): 377–384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2010.08.004
Miller, C. (1984) Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech 70: 151–167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00335638409383686
North, S. (2005) Different values, different skills? A comparison of essay writing by students from arts and science backgrounds. Studies in Higher Education 30 (5): 517–533. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070500249153
Northedge, A. (2003) Enabling participation in academic discourse. Teaching in Higher Education 8 (2): 169–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1356251032000052429
Paltridge, B. (1997) Genre, Frames and Writing in Research Settings. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Rai, L. (2004) Exploring literacy in social work education: A social practices approach to student writing. Social Work Education, 23 (2): 149–162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0261547042000209170
Ravelli, L. (2004) ‘Signalling the organization of written texts: Hyper-Themes in management and history essays’. In L. Ravelli and R. Ellis (eds) Analysing Academic Writing: Contextualised Frameworks, 104–130. London: Continuum.
Rose, D., Rose, M., Farrington, S. and Page, S. (2008) Scaffolding academic literacy with indigenous health sciences students: An evaluative study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 7 (3): 166–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2008.05.004
Russell, D. (1997) Rethinking genre in school and society: An activity theory analysis. Written Communication 14 (4): 504–554. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088397014004004
Swales, J. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, C. and Drury, H. (2007) An integrated approach to teaching writing in the sciences. In A. Brew and J. Sachs (eds) Transforming a University: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Practice, 117–125. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Webb, C., English, L. and Bonnano, H. (1995) Collaboration in subject design: Integration of the teaching and assessment of literacy skills into a first year accounting course. Accounting Education 4 (4) 335–350. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09639289500000038
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932
Wignell, P. (2007) On the Discourse of Social Science. Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press.
Wingate, U. (2006) Doing away with study skills. Teaching in Higher Education 11 (4): 457–465. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510600874268
Woodward-Kron, R. (2004) ‘Discourse communities’ and ‘writing apprenticeship’: An investigation of these concepts in undergraduate Education students’ writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 3: 139–161. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2003.09.001
Woodward- Kron, R. (2009) ‘This means that’…: A linguistic perspective of writing and learning in a discipline. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 8: 165–179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2009.07.002
Bazerman, C. (1988) Shaping Written Knowledge. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Berkenkotter, C. and Huckin, T. (1993) Rethinking genre from a sociocognitive perspective. Written Communication, 10 (4): 475–509. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088393010004001
Bernstein, B. (1990) The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203011263
Bernstein, B. (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity. London: Taylor and Francis.
Bhatia, V. (1993) Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V. (2004) Worlds of Written Discourse. London: Continuum.
Coffin, C. (2006) Historical Discourse: The Language of Time, Cause and Evaluation. London: Continuum.
Coffin, C. and Donohue, J. P. (2012) Academic literacies and systemic functional linguistics: How do they relate? Journal of English for Academic Purposes 11 (1): 64–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.004
Coffin, C., Donohue, J. and North, S. (2009) Exploring English Grammar: From Formal to Functional. London: Routledge.
Donohue, J. (2012) Using systemic functional linguistics in academic writing development: An example from Film Studies. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 11 (1): 4–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.003
Drury, H. (2001) Short answers in first-year undergraduate science writing: What kind of genres are they? In M. Hewings (ed.) Academic Writing in Context: Papers in Honour of Tony Dudley-Evans, 104–121. Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press.
Dudley-Evans, T. (1994) Genre analysis: An approach to text analysis in ESP. In M. Coulthard (ed.) Advances in Written Text Analysis, 219–228. London: Routledge.
Flowerdew, J. (2002) Genre in the classroom: A linguistic approach. In A. Johns (ed.) Genre in the Classroom: Multiple Perspectives, 91–102. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Freedman, A. and Medway, P. eds (1994) Genre and the New Rhetoric. Bristol: Taylor and Francis.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Mathiessen, C. M. I. M. (2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Arnold.
Hasan, R. (1995) The conception of context in text. In P. H. Fries and M. Gregory (eds) Discourse in Society: Systemic Functional Perspectives, 183–285. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Hasan, R. (2009) Semantic Variation. London: Equinox.
Hasan, R. (2011) Language and Education: Learning and Teaching in Society. London: Equinox.
Hewings, A. (2004). Developing discipline-specific writing: An analysis of undergraduate geography essays. In L.Ravelli and R. Ellis (eds) Analysing Academic Writing: Contextualised Frameworks, 131–152. London: Continuum.
Hyon, S. (1996) Genre in three traditions: Implications for ESL. TESOL Quarterly 30: 693–722. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3587930
Ivanic, R. (1998) Writing and Identity: The Discoursal Construction of Identity in Academic Writing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kress, G. (1993) Genre as social process. In B. Cope and M. Kalantzis (eds) The Powers of Literacy, 22–38. Basingstoke: Falmer Press.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815355
Lea, M. (2004) Academic literacies: A pedagogy for course design. Studies in Higher Education, 29 (6): 739–756. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0307507042000287230
Lea, M. R. and Street, B. V. (2006) The ‘academic literacies’ model: Theory and applications. Theory into Practice 45 (4): 368–377. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4504_11
Lillis, T. (2001) Student Writing: Access, Regulation, Desire. London and New York: Routledge.
Lillis, T. (2003) Student writing as ‘academic literacies’: Drawing on Bakhtin to move from critique to design. Language and Education, 17 (3): 192–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500780308666848
Lillis, T. and Scott, M. (2008) Defining academic literacies research: Issues of epistemology, ideology and strategy. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4: 5–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/japl.v4i1.5
Macken-Horarik, M., Devereux, L., Trimingham-Jack, C. and Wilson, K. (2006) Negotiating the territory of tertiary literacies: A case study of teacher education. Linguistics and Education 17, 240–257. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2006.11.001
Martin, J. R. (1992) English Text. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. and Rose, D. (2007) Working with Discourse: Meaning Beyond the Clause. London: Continuum.
Martin, J. R. and Rose, D. (2008) Genre Relations: Mapping Culture. London: Equinox.
McNamara, M. (2010). What lies beneath? The underlying principles structuring the field of academic nursing in Ireland. Journal of Professional Nursing 26 (6): 377–384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2010.08.004
Miller, C. (1984) Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech 70: 151–167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00335638409383686
North, S. (2005) Different values, different skills? A comparison of essay writing by students from arts and science backgrounds. Studies in Higher Education 30 (5): 517–533. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070500249153
Northedge, A. (2003) Enabling participation in academic discourse. Teaching in Higher Education 8 (2): 169–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1356251032000052429
Paltridge, B. (1997) Genre, Frames and Writing in Research Settings. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Rai, L. (2004) Exploring literacy in social work education: A social practices approach to student writing. Social Work Education, 23 (2): 149–162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0261547042000209170
Ravelli, L. (2004) ‘Signalling the organization of written texts: Hyper-Themes in management and history essays’. In L. Ravelli and R. Ellis (eds) Analysing Academic Writing: Contextualised Frameworks, 104–130. London: Continuum.
Rose, D., Rose, M., Farrington, S. and Page, S. (2008) Scaffolding academic literacy with indigenous health sciences students: An evaluative study. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 7 (3): 166–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2008.05.004
Russell, D. (1997) Rethinking genre in school and society: An activity theory analysis. Written Communication 14 (4): 504–554. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741088397014004004
Swales, J. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, C. and Drury, H. (2007) An integrated approach to teaching writing in the sciences. In A. Brew and J. Sachs (eds) Transforming a University: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Practice, 117–125. Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Webb, C., English, L. and Bonnano, H. (1995) Collaboration in subject design: Integration of the teaching and assessment of literacy skills into a first year accounting course. Accounting Education 4 (4) 335–350. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09639289500000038
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932
Wignell, P. (2007) On the Discourse of Social Science. Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press.
Wingate, U. (2006) Doing away with study skills. Teaching in Higher Education 11 (4): 457–465. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510600874268
Woodward-Kron, R. (2004) ‘Discourse communities’ and ‘writing apprenticeship’: An investigation of these concepts in undergraduate Education students’ writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 3: 139–161. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2003.09.001
Woodward- Kron, R. (2009) ‘This means that’…: A linguistic perspective of writing and learning in a discipline. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 8: 165–179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2009.07.002
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