Legitimising Knowers’ Multiple Voices in L2 Postgraduate Writing

Legitimising Knowers’ Multiple Voices in L2 Postgraduate WritingA Case Study

CHEUNG Lok Ming EricDepartment of EnglishHong Kong Polytechnic University

[email protected]

“Power is Struggle.”Struggling for power through discourse (Fairclough and Wodak, 1997) to become “like-minded peers” in a society (Ivanic, 1998).

Motivations• Previously focus on dynamic variation of evaluative lexis

in postgraduate written genres

• Doctorate longitudinal study on postgraduate student’s identity construction – More than just text production• Shell-shocked students• Identity crisis in under new context• Not proficiency/inadequacy issue anymore (Ivanic, 1998)

• Current study focus on the discourse strategies and lexicogrammatical resources successful students’ use as legitimate knower – deconstructing good models

Theoretical Background• Identity and self(Clark and Ivanic, 1998)

• Stance and voice as registerial key (Hood, 2012; Hyland, 2005; Hunston, 2010)

• APPRAISAL (Martin and White, 2005)

• Discourse structure and code theory (Bernstein, 1990, 2000)

• Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) (Maton, 2000, 2009)

Knowledge Structures & Semantic GravitySemantic Gravity

Discourse Knowledge structures

Learning

Weaker

Stronger

Vertical

Horizontal

Hierarchical

Horizontal

Cumulative

Segmented

(Maton, 2009, p.46)

Legitimisation of Specialisation Codes

ER+

ER-

SR- SR+

knowledge

relativist

elite

knower

(Maton, 2010, p.45)

Legitimisation of Specialisation Codes

ER+

ER-

SR- SR+

Science

Social Sciences

Humanities

(Hood, 2011, p.125)

Analytical observation

Testimonial observations

Observer’s visibility

Observer’s invisibility

SG-, SD+

SG+, SD-

Legitimisation of Specialisation Codes

ER+

ER-

SR- SR+

Science

Social Sciences

Humanities

(Hood, 2011, p.125)

Analytical observation

Testimonial observations

Observer’s visibility

Observer’s invisibility

Building of knowledge over time

Topology of Knowers’ GazeSubR+

IR- IR+

Social

Cultivated

(Maton, 2014)SubR-

Born

Trained

Lenses of Cultivated Knowers’ GazeTOR+

IDR- IDR+

Interpretative

Rhetorical

TOR-

Elitist

Novice

(Luckett et al., 2012)

Using SFL to understand LCT• Transitivity analysis

• (Un)packing of grammatical metaphor

• Appraisal analysis• Focusing on Engagement

strategies for voice sourcing

• Explicit self-reference

• Interpersonal meaning traversing the information waves of theme-rheme (Adapted from karlmaton.com)

Knowers’ ProcessesProcess Types

Examples N

Material Meanwhile, I, and other colleagues, teach preparation courses for standardized tests…

86

Mental Understanding the meaning behind a text is difficult if we don't understand the register…

101

Behavioural I will examine how the words are used in the concordance…

27

Verbal I shall discuss the listening activities designed from the top-down interpretation view…

45

Relational Although we are unable to decipher the intonation of the comments…

29

APPRAISAL (Martin and White, 2005)

APPRAISAL

ENGAGEMENT

ATTITUDE

GRADUATION

monoglossic

heteroglossic

appreciation

judgement

force

focus

affect

ENGAGEMENT up-close

ENGAGEMENT

monoglossic

heteroglossic

expand

contract

disclaim

proclaim

entertain

attribute

acknowledge

distance

deny

counter

concur

pronounce

endorse

The Corpus (ALPC)• 90 written texts from 30 students

• 170,000 words approx (still growing)

• Assignments including research-based papers, literature reviews, commentaries (dissertations to be added)

• Transitivity analysis: how students represent themselves as they are explicitly present in the writing

• Suggesting the types of gaze students may have towards their objects of study

Knowers’ Processes

Material Behavioural Mental Verbal Relational0

20

40

60

80

100

120

86

45

101

29 27

Frequency

The Case Study: Flo• From China – Non-native English speaker

• Had teaching experience – TOEFL private tutoring in China

• Enrolled in MA English Language Teaching;

• Did not opt for dissertation but performed constantly outstanding in various coursework throughout

• Two high-graded assignments from same subject selected from the corpus

• Active participant among the volunteers

The Assignments

• Both from “Second Language Teaching”

• Requirement: Summary, Synthesis, Evaluation• Linking theories to practice

• Assignments:• 1st: Research-based paper – Solutions to avoid sentence fragments and run-ons • 2nd: Literature review – Using listening comprehension to teach oral English

Teacher Perspective• Making the theories appliable for teachers’ further

development (Knowledge Elite)

• Critical discussion is essential (Elitist lens)• Assignment topics and arguments identified and justified with

literature and data

• Independence of student writers (developing cultivated gaze with an elitist lens)

• Term papers over exams or quizzes• Reflective of academic writing/genres• Advancement of career and academic pursuit

Methods

Appraisal Analysis with UAM CorpusTool

(O’Donnell, 2008)

Examining other texts (readings, lecture notes,

etc.)

Student and teacher

interviews (15-min each)

Construction of Voice in Writing: Flo

• Note taking as unpacking device and basis of integration

• Explicit self-mention to recount on teaching experience and evaluation

• Backgrounding other voices using non-integral citations

• Foregrounding her own critique or affiliating sources with integral citations

APPRAISAL (Martin and White, 2005)

APPRAISAL

ENGAGEMENT

ATTITUDE

GRADUATION

monoglossic

heteroglossic

appreciation

judgement

force

focus

affect

ENGAGEMENT up-close

ENGAGEMENT

monoglossic

heteroglossic

expand

contract

disclaim

proclaim

entertain

attribute

acknowledge

distance

deny

counter

concur

pronounce

endorse

Voice Sourcing: ENGAGEMENT  

Research Paper Literature ReviewFeature N % N %

monoglossic 119 60.4 37 27.6

heteroglossic 78 39.6 97 72.4

Total 197 100.0 134 100.0

ENGAGEMENT in Research Paper

ENGAGEMENT

monoglossic (N=119; 60.4%)

heteroglossic

expand

contract

disclaim

proclaim

entertain

attribute

acknowledge

distance (N=0; 0%)

deny (n=1; 12.5%)

counter (n=7; 87.5%)

concur (n=0; 0%)

pronounce (n=1; 20%)

endorse (n=7; 80%)

Sentence fragments and run-on sentences break the structural rule of forming a correct sentence.

Fitzpatrick and Ruscica (2000) once pointed out that

However; although; but

It is clear that

Syntactic variety can hardly be achieved

This evaluation is, of course, based on individual teaching context

(N=78; 39.6%)

(N=13; 16.7%)

(N=65; 83.3%)

(N=8; 61.5%)

(N=5; 38.5%)

(N=42; 64.6%)

(N=23; 35.4%)

(N=23; 100%)They might misunderstand sentence variety

This research indicates the strong relationship

ENGAGEMENT in Lit Review

ENGAGEMENT

monoglossic (N=37; 27.6%)

heteroglossic

expand

contract

disclaim

proclaim

entertain

attribute

acknowledge

distance (N=0; 0%)

deny (n=5; 45.5%)

counter (n=6; 54.5%)

concur (n=3; 33.3%)

pronounce (n=3; 33.3%)

endorse (n=3; 33.3%)

Spoken language is increasingly demanded by learners in EFL classroom…

Tavil (2010) points out…

It seems feasible…

However; although; but

Flowerdew and Miller show…

I found…

Teaching speaking is not just the matter of teaching how to speak fluently and accurately.

Contextural guesswork in top-down model is commonly used

(N=97; 72.4%)

(N=20; 16.7%)

(N=77; 83.3%)

(N=11; 55%)

(N=9; 45%)

(N=43; 55.8%)

(N=34; 44.2%)

(N=34; 100%)

Semantic Profile/Wave

Time

SG-, SD+

SG+, SD-

High-stake reading

High-stake writing

Unpacking (e.g. definitions, examples, observation, lectures)

Congruent, commonsense knowledge

Repacking (e.g. paraphrasing, framing concepts, research papers)

Semantic Profile: Research Paper

Time

SG-, SD+

SG+, SD-

Unpacking terms, e.g. sentence variety; relating problems to literature Summary of

study

Repeated un-/re-packing in each section with personal experience

General education context: identifying problems in student TOEFL writing

Recontextualise problem and how the solution operates in a wider context

||This study reveals ||that the students tended to combine two simple sentences with coordinating conjunction and a comma, ||or add a semicolon between two independent clauses, ||and even tried to expand the sentence into a more complex one. ||

e.g. …while students’ performance in the independent written task was of considerable problems, one of which was the frequent emergence of sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

e.g. This article has investigated the teaching approach of avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences to address the problem of lack of syntactic variety in the independent written task of TOEFL iBT.   

Semantic Profile: Literature Review

Time

SG-, SD+

SG+, SD-

Unpacking with note-taking

Paraphrasing by locating similarities in literature

Repeated un-/re-packing in each section with personal experience

Tavil (2010), Nunan (2002) notions related to the role of listening in spoken language

Benefits and challenges of top-down processing

e.g. “Although grasping actual content… it might be difficult to realise the goal…”

e.g. “… the bottom-up processing (…) and top-down interpretation (…)(Nunan, 2002).”

e.g. “… a number of contradictions and inapplicabilities have been revealed in the practice of teaching…”

Minute-by-minute Variations

Time

SG-, SD+

SG+, SD-

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

Teachers adopting the top-down model are encouraged to think about whether the teaching materials help learners to focus on top-down listening skills.  In developing materials for top-down processing, it is important to teach students to use context and situation as prior knowledge of the topic to comprehend the upcoming listening task (Nunan, 2002). … Nunan (2002), for example, suggested that teachers can use students’ speech which includes their own background knowledge and personal experience as listening materials… It seems [ent] feasible in classrooms where students’ level are relatively similar, supported by Wilson (2003) while choosing listening text [concede].  In my present TOEFL training course, however [count], advanced-level students may find it so easy to respond speech from less-advanced students. Thus, the teaching and learning becomes inefficient. One possible solution is that teachers can select speech from students of higher level, which may benefit students of different levels.

High semantic density awaiting the writer to unpack.

Unpacking the concept through scholarly works.

Concede-counter pairing: contract the dialogic space by saying the approach is less feasible in a certain context.

Realign with readership with solutions.

Academic reader: Cultivated: Elitist(SubR-, IR+; TOR+, IDR+)

Teacher: Social (SubR+, IR-)

Teacher: Social

Academic reader: Cultivated: Rhetorical(SubR-, IR+; TOR+, IDR-)

Align/Disalignment strategy• [ent●(ack)● count ● grad] ^ app

• This approach sounds [ent] adoptable, but [count] in the

practice of question 6 in TOEFL speaking which includes

academic topics [grad], it is too difficult [app]...

• It seems [ent] feasible… supported by Wilson (2002)

[ack]. In my present TOEFL training course [grad], however

[count], advanced-level students may find it so easy [app]

…

Evaluate as an “insider”: Flo

This approach sounds adoptable [app: val], but in the practice

of question 6 in TOEFL speaking which includes academic

topics, it is too difficult [app: comp] for students to discuss

especially when they do not acquire the knowledge [-jud: cap]

of particular areas. Usually, it is the teacher who plays a role in

introducing the background, but in the real test, such activity

will not occur. Therefore, brainstorming of the topic sometimes

cannot help [-app: val] to provide prior knowledge.

What the Successful Writer Tells Us

• Manipulate voice sources according to the task nature

• Dynamic variation of knower’s gazes and voices within single text instance

• Sensitive to language features achieving appropriate voices• Material processes as a researcher/teacher• Mental as a commentator/critic

• Use (dis-)alignment strategies eloquently to propose new ideas

“But I don’t wanna do research…”

• In reality, Flo disengages herself from further research works – e.g. a dissertation

• Still assumes researcher and academic voice in writing

• Currently employed as Teaching Assistant in an international school

• Moving down from Elite Code (ER+, SR+) to Knower Code (ER-, SR+) to contextualise her study into practice

Thank You!