Item Details

Deconstructing written genres in Undergraduate Biology

Issue: Vol 7 No. 1-3 (2011)

Journal: Linguistics and the Human Sciences

Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics

DOI: 10.1558/lhs.v7i1-3.29

Abstract:

This paper reports on research which has investigated key genres of Undergraduate Biology. This investigation was conducted as part of the SLATE research project (Mahboob et al., 2010), a joint research project between the University of Sydney and City University Hong Kong (CityU) to support undergraduate students at CityU to achieve successful outcomes in their tertiary programme of study. Our research has focused on profiling genres concerned with doing and researching biology in the core courses of the undergraduate programme. The analysis is informed by perspectives from systemic functional linguistics and ‘Sydney School’ genre theory (Veel, 1997; Halliday, 2004; Martin and Rose, 2008; Hood, 2010) and draws on the analytical tool of the 3 × 3 matrix developed from SFL informed studies of academic discourse (Humphrey et al., 2010). The analysis has enabled key genres to be mapped in relation to learning across courses to build a spiral curriculum and for the linguistic resources which construe the genres to be made visible within the Deconstruction step of the Sydney school pedagogy known as the Teaching Learning Cycle. These understandings have enabled SLATE tutors to effectively support students in making the shift from ‘doing’ science in their first year of the biology programme to ‘extending’ scientific knowledge in their final Honours project.

Author: Sally Humphrey, Jing Hao

View Original Web Page

References :

Bazerman, C. (1998) Emerging perspectives on the many dimensions of scientific discourse. In J. R. Martin and R. Veel (eds), Reading Science: Critical and Functional Perspectives on Discourse of Science, 15–29. London and New York: Routledge.
Bernstein, B. (1975), Class, Codes and Control, Volume 3: Towards a Theory of Educational Transmissions. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203011430
Bernstein, B. (1999) Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. British Journal of Sociology of Education 20 (2): 157–173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425699995380
Bernstein, B. (2000) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique (revised edn). Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
Bhatia, V. K. (1993) Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
Christie, F. and Derewianka, B. (2008) School Discourse: Learning to Write Across the Years of Schooling. London and New York: Continuum
Dudley-Evans, T. (1989) Genre analysis: An investigation of the introduction and discussion sections of MSc dissertations. In M. Coulthard (ed.) Talking about Text, 128–145. Birmingham: English Language Research, University of Birmingham.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1998). Things and relations: Regrammaticising experience as technical knowledge. In J. R. Martin and R. Veel (eds) Reading Science: Critical and Functional Perspectives on Discourse of Science, 185–236. London and New York: Routledge.
Halliday, M. A. K. (2004) The Language of Science (Vol. 5 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday) (J. Webster ed.). London: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Martin, J. R. (1993) Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power. London: Falmer.
Hao, J. (2010) Exploring ‘doing biology’: A multifunctional investigation of undergraduate Honours’ and related published research warrants. Unpublished M.A. thesis. University of Sydney.
Hao, J. and Humphrey, S. (2012) The role of ‘coupling’ in biological research warrant. Linguistics and Human Sciences 5 (2): 169–194.
Hood, S. (2004) Appraising research: Taking a stance in academic writing. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Technology, Sydney.
Hood, S. (2005) What is evaluated and how in academic research writing?: The co-patterning of attitude and field. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics Series S, No. 19: 23–40.
Hood, S. (2006) The persuasive power of prosodies: Radiating values in academic writing. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5 (1): 37–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2005.11.001
Hood, S. (2010) Appraising Research: Evaluation in Academic Writing. London: Palgrave Macmillian. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230274662
Humphrey, S. Martin, J., Dreyfus, S., and Mahboob, A. (2010). A 3x3 toolkit for academic writing. In A. Mahboob and N. Knight (eds) Directions in Appliable Linguistics. London: Continuum.
Hyland, K. (2002) Genre: Language, context and literacy. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 22: 113–135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0267190502000065
Kuhn, Thomas S. (1962 [1996]) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (3rd edn). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Macken-Horarik, M. (1996). Literacy and learning across the curriculum: Towards a model of register from secondary school teachers. In R. Hasan and G. Williams (eds.) Literacy in Society, 232–278. London: Longman.
Mahboob, A., Humphrey, S., Martin, J. and Dreyfus, S. (2010) The 3x3: Setting up a linguistic toolkit for teaching academic writing. In A. Mahboob and N. Knight (eds) Directions in Appliable Linguistics. London: Continuum.
Martin, J. R. (1992) English Text. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. (2011) Bridging troubled waters: Interdisciplinarity and what makes it stick. F. Christie and K. Maton (eds) Disciplinarity: Systemic Functional and Sociological Perspectives, 35–61. London, Continuum.
Martin, J. R. and Halliday, M. A. K. (1993) Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power. London: Falmer.
Martin, J. R., Maton, K. and Matruglio, E. (2010) Historical cosmologies: Epistemology and axiology in Australian secondary school history. Revista Signos 43 (74): 433–463. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09342010000500003
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.
Martin, J. R. and White, P. R. R. (2005) The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Maton, K. (2007) Knowledge-knower structures in intellectual and educational fields. In F. Christie and J. R. Martin (eds) Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional Linguistic and Sociological Perspectives, 87–108. London: Continuum.
Maton, K. (2010) Progress and canons in the arts and humanities: Knowers and gazes. In K. Maton and R. Moore (eds) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education, 154–178. London: Continuum.
Rose, D. and Martin, J. R. (2012) Learning to Write, Reading to Learn: Genre, Knowledge and Pedagogy in the Sydney School. London: Equinox.
Rothery, J. and Stenglin, M. (1995) Exploring Literacy in School English (Write it Right Resources for Literacy and Learning). Sydney: Metropolitan East Disadvantaged Schools Program.
Swales, J. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. (2004) Research Genres: Explorations and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524827
Thetala, P. (1997) Evaluated entities and parameters of value in academic research articles. English for Specific Purposes 16 (2): 101–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(96)00022-1
Veel, R. (1997) Learning how to mean – scientifically speaking: apprenticeship into scientific discourse in the secondary school. In F. Christie and J. R. Martin (eds.) Genre and Institutions: Social Processes in the Workplace and School, 161–195. London: Cassell.
Wignell, P. (2007) Vertical and horizontal discourse and the social sciences. In F. Christie and J. R. Martin (eds) Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional Linguistic and Sociological Perspectives, 184–204. London: Continuum.