Voices, Discourse, and Transition: In Search of New Categories in EAP

Thesen, Lucia

doi:10.2307/3587835

Cited by 91 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The academy itself has a long way to go in terms of finding ways to enrich the social science debate By acknowledging students' 'autobiographical' voices and experiences, as well as engaging critically with the effects of its discourses (see Thesen, 1997 andJanks, 2010). Academia continues to perpetuate a form of colonisation in that excellence is measured by norms set outside the country, even though its context and resources render this a fiction.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A longitudinal study of students’ negotiation of language, literacy and identity

Kapp

Bangeni

2011

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

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IntroductionThis article is based on a longitudinal, qualitative case study (2002 to 2004) of 20 Social Science students at a historically 'white',1 English-medium, South African university. The participants in our study are all from disadvantaged educational backgrounds and/ or are speakers of English as a second language.2 They were (with the exception of one student) the first in their families, sometimes the first in their communities, to attend university. The project tracked their shifts in language and literacy attitudes and practices and in constructions of self over the course of their undergraduate years.There is by now a considerable body of literature which analyses the linguistic challenges and writing development processes of first-year university students from second-language/ marginalised/ disadvantaged educational backgrounds (see for example Clark & Ivanič, 1997;Herrington & Curtis, 2000; Thesen & Van Pletzen, 2006;Granville & Dison, 2009;Stacey, 2009). These studies have shown that becoming proficient in academic literacy is intimately connected to identity. However, aside from Herrington and Curtis' (2000) path-breaking longitudinal study of student writing in the US context, such studies have tended to be confined to the first-year experience. Our study has attempted to situate students' language and literacy attitudes and practices in time and space. We trace the felt experience of negotiating the accepted ways of 'saying-doing-beingvaluing-believing' (i.e. Discourses) of both the institution and home over time (Gee, 1990: 142). Our data reveal students' ambivalence as they found themselves straddling multiple, often conflicting discourses between home and the institution. In this article, we attempt to highlight key moments in students' journeys in order to illustrate how this process unfolds. Although our participants' trajectories through the institution are by no means uniform, there were discernable patterns in their language and literacy attitudes and practices that are intimately linked to their changing notions of self over the course of their undergraduate years.3

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A longitudinal study of students’ negotiation of language, literacy and identity

Kapp

Bangeni

2011

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

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“…The point I want to make here is simply that, to date, little explicit attention has been paid to exploring how an academic literacies stance might inform the theory and practice of student writing pedagogy. Perhaps the nearest example yet of what might be considered a design response to academic literacies critique can be found in the notion and practice of critical language awareness (CLA), coined by Clark et al (1990) and developed in the work of higher education teacher-researchers in the UK and by others in different parts of the world, notably in South Africa (for UK developments see Clark, 1992;Clark & Ivanic, 1997;Wallace, 1999; for South Africa, see Janks, 1999;Thesen, 1997; for Singapore, see Kramer-Dahl, 2001). This pedagogical approach, drawing explicitly on critical discourse analysis, involves consciousness-raising amongst learners about power and ideology in relation to language use (for recent overview see Clark & Ivanic, 1999).…”

Section: Academic Literacies As Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

Student Writing as 'Academic Literacies': Drawing on Bakhtin to Move from Critique to Design

Lillis¹

2003

Language and Education

311

141

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A body of research has recently emerged in the UK which adopts an 'academic literacies' stance towards student writing. An 'academic literacies' stance conceptualises student writing as a socially situated discourse practice which is ideologically inscribed (Jones et al., 1999; Lea & Street, 1998). Whilst powerful as an oppositional frame, that is as a critique of current conceptualisations and practices surrounding student writing, academic literacies has yet to be developed as a design frame (Kress, 1998, 2000) which can actively contribute to student writing pedagogy as both theory and practice. My aim in this paper is to work towards opening up a design space built on academic literacies critique. To do so, I draw on Bakhtin's work on dialogism (Bakhtin, 1981(Bakhtin, , 1984 and my research with a group of 'non-traditional' student-writers and their specific experiences of academic writing within a number of academic disciplines (Lillis, 2001). I map out the different levels of dialogism in Bakhtin's work and illustrate the way these are, and are not, enacted currently in student writing pedagogy. I conclude by calling for dialogue, rather than monologue or dialectic,to be at the centre of an academic literacies stance and briefly outline some design implications of a dialogic approach to student writing pedagogy. Context and Aims of This PaperIn the UK we are in the process of shifting from an elite to a mass higher education system where there is greater cultural, linguistic and social diversity than in the past. Current students in higher education have a wide range of life experiences and interests, as well as different reasons for wanting to participate in higher education and complex patterns of participation (for official figures and brief overview, see HEFCE, 2001). Given the changing nature of the student body within the context of official support for widening access and lifelong learning, there is an opportunity to develop a higher education premised upon the explicit aims of inclusion and diversity. Existing institutional and pedagogical practices, however, do not necessarily meet these aims. Indeed, the focus of this paper is on the ways in which one key higher education practice, student academic writing and the pedagogy in which it is embedded, seems to thwart opportunities for a higher education premised upon inclusion and diversity.Drawing on work within the area of 'academic literacies', which has provided a significant critique of the dominant discourse on academic writing in higher education, in this paper I set out to do the following:· To offer a brief overview of the different approaches to student academic writing in higher education in the UK, the conceptualisations of language implicit in them and their relationship to the broader institutional goals of

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“…Thesen's (1997) view is that naming is inevitable and potentially useful because equitable educational policy cannot happen without it. I use the term ESL in this paper, albeit with caution.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The In-between Crowd”: Contrasting Representations of Minority Language Students

Wiltse

2011

L & L

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This paper examines contrasting representations of minority language students in a linguistically diverse junior high classroom in an urban area of Western Canada. The majority of the research participants was of Asian heritage, and spoke English as a second language. Drawing on the construct of learner identity, I explore how these minority language learners' identities affected their experience in school. The study points to hybrid language practices, with particular attention to academic discourse, as a solution to developing English literacy in schools with students from multilingual backgrounds. "The In-between Crowd": Contrasting Representations of Minority Language Students

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Voices, Discourse, and Transition: In Search of New Categories in EAP

Cited by 91 publications

References 17 publications

A longitudinal study of students’ negotiation of language, literacy and identity

A longitudinal study of students’ negotiation of language, literacy and identity

Student Writing as 'Academic Literacies': Drawing on Bakhtin to Move from Critique to Design

“The In-between Crowd”: Contrasting Representations of Minority Language Students

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