Donohue, James and Coffin, Caroline
(2012).
| DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link: | http://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v9i1.37 |
|---|---|
| Google Scholar: | Look up in Google Scholar |
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.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Copyright Holders: | 2013 Equinox |
| ISSN: | 2040-3666 |
| Keywords: | systemic functional linguistics; health and social care; academic literacy; text in context; semantic orientation; assignment guidance |
| Academic Unit/Department: | Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) > Languages and Applied Linguistics Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) |
| Interdisciplinary Research Centre: | Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET) |
| Related URLs: | |
| Item ID: | 35337 |
| Depositing User: | James Donohue |
| Date Deposited: | 31 Oct 2012 09:08 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2016 03:01 |
| URI: | http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/35337 |
| Share this page: |     |
Altmetrics | Scopus Citations |