ISFC 2005 :: Abstracts

Language in Education Day: Keynote Sessions

Toward an enriched model of scaffolding: Implications for ESL pedagogy

Jennifer Hammond and Pauline Gibbons

Faculty of Education, University of Technology, Sydney

In this paper we report on outcomes from a two and a half year research study that drew on the metaphor of 'scaffolding' to address questions of what constitutes good English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) pedagogy. The project had a two stage research design of ethnography, to document good pedagogical practices, and analyse the role of scaffolding in such practices, followed by action research, to address specific issues of concern in individual classrooms.

Our focus in the paper is on the model of scaffolding that was developed during the project. In presenting this model we draw on the notion of systemic networks to tease out the place of scaffolding in the planned-in macro level processes of program development, as well as the role of scaffolding in the micro level, contingent move by move unfolding of classroom interactions. A strength of the model, we believe, is that it is based on recursive processes of analysis of practice and theory building. A further strength is that is highlights the complexity of what is involved in teaching processes and the place of scaffolding in those processes. These strengths, as well as some of limitations of this model will be presented in the paper.

Language development in adolescence

B. Derewianka, H. Lewis and K. Cruickshank

This session will focus on language development in adolescence. Beverly Derewianka and Helen Lewis will report on a project (in collaboration with Professor Frances Christie) investigating key indicators of development in adolescent writing from early secondary school through to the final year, ranging across a variety of genres and subject areas. Data collected from schools representing diverse student backgrounds will be examined in terms of development in learners' control over ideational, interpersonal and textual resources.

Ken Cruickshank will consider tenor relationships in the secondary classroom, illustrating how the roles taken up by teachers mediate student access to subject specific discourse. Three lessons (from a larger sample of 62 recorded in three days' observation in each of five secondary schools) present three contrasting teacher roles. The paper argues for an understanding of classroom interaction that takes into account factors such as teacher/ student expectations and attitudes to each other and to the subject and discourse.

Genre knowledge and teaching academic writing

Brian Paltridge

The University of Sydney

Much of what students need to know in order to succeed in their use of academic genres exists 'beyond the text'. Much teaching of academic writing, however, has tended to focus on the text itself. While textual knowledge is clearly an important part of genre knowledge, so too is an understanding of the social and cultural context in which these genres are produced and assessed. This presentation will consider aspects of genre knowledge 'beyond the text' which are important for students to consider in their writing of academic genres. It will then suggest ways in which aspects of genre knowledge might be drawn to students' attention in the teaching of academic writing.

Genre in an outcome-based era: re-locating purpose across K-12 curriculum

Kristina Love

Genre theory has contributed immensely to our understanding of the way texts used in educational contexts are structured to achieve distinctive purposes. It has led to the development of a wealth of curriculum materials designed to assist students master the structures and purposes of key written genres across the K-12 curriculum. However, the implementation of genre-based approaches, particularly in an era where state mandated school curriculum and assessment frameworks are increasingly outcomes-based, has led to the use of simplified and idealised genres which do not always reflect real world texts of the sort that students encounter outside of school. These texts, including those in the hypertextual environment of the internet, are often more complex, dynamic and unpredictable than the models presented in schooling. By reminding ourselves of the role of purpose as the underlying principle of genre-based pedagogy, educators can revitalise their teaching of and with genre. This presentation will explore some of the ways in which teachers at pre-service and in-service levels work with notions of purpose in both print and web-based texts within an outcomes-based curriculum.

Hybrid approaches to teaching language education

Judith Rivalland and Anne Thwaite

This presentation will describe some of our work teaching Language Education to students at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. We will cover three types of units in our B. Ed. Primary and K-7 programs, taught at different campuses in Perth and on location in Mauritius. The units are:

Introductory language units in which pre-service teachers are introduced to basic linguistic concepts in the context of what they will need to be doing in school. Students are introduced to Register theory as a way of modelling the relationship between language and the educational contexts in which it occurs. They also learn about the structures of language and how this links to the knowledge needed to become an effective teacher of literacy in primary classrooms.

Teaching Language in a Multicultural Society: a unit undertaken by pre-service teachers in their 4th year. After some preparation they travel to Mauritius for an intensive practicum where they expand their knowledge of teaching English as an Additional Language.

Language, Culture & Learning in Australian Society: a unit undertaken by pre-service teachers in their 4th year, as well as practising teachers who are upgrading their qualifications. A major part of this unit involves an analysis of classroom discourse, with data taken from lessons conducted by the students themselves or by a teacher with whom they are working.

We will outline the place of functional grammar in the work we do in these three contexts.

Language, literature and literacy in early childhood: A functional perspective

Jane Torr

Institute Of Early Childhood, Macquarie University

Over the last year there has been much discussion in the media about the importance of reading to very young children in order to promote later literacy achievement. Most early childhood teachers are aware that the early years are crucial for some aspects of children's development, but the actual relationship between language development and literacy learning is not well understood. Many teachers still believe that reading and writing are best learnt at primary school, and are unaware of how to foster literacy learning in the preschool or long day care setting. This is particularly serious as many children from diverse cultural and linguistic groups experience ongoing educational disadvantage. In this paper I will provide an overview of the functional model of early language development. I will explore how a functional approach can assist early childhood teachers to observe and plan effectively for young children's language and literacy development. The centrality of language in the learning process is a fundamental feature of the functional approach. The implications for early childhood planning and programming will be discussed.

Image/text relations in children's literary texts and e-texts: Interfacing social semiotic theory and practical literacy pedagogy

Len Unsworth

University Of New England

Developing students' critical comprehension and composition of evolving forms of multimodal texts in 'hard copy' and electronic media requires an understanding of how the resources of language and image construct the interpretive possibilities of these texts. Systemic functional linguistic descriptions of language and the functional semiotic 'grammar of visual design' have begun to provide practical frameworks for students to use knowledge about language and image in understanding, producing and critically responding to multimodal texts they encounter in schooling. However the pedagogic practicalities of working with students and the texts they need to engage with sharpen the imperatives for extending theoretical accounts of the complex intersemiotic relations of text and image. This session discusses this theory/practice interface in extending descriptions of inter-image and intermodal relations in literary texts in traditional book and electronic formats and implications for multiliteracies development in contexts of schooling.

Explicit Systematic Quality Teaching (ESQT) through the Application of SFL

Brian Miller

University Of Western Sydney

In recent years the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) has advocated, through its State Literacy Strategy, that the teacher's pedagogy should be "explicit and systematic" and have "modelled, guided and independent' phases in the delivery of the curriculum. This pedagogical model is a direct appropriation of the Teaching / Learning Cycle' model developed by the pioneering Language and Social Power Project in the 1980s. Even more recently, the NSW DET introduced, as a mandatory policy, the pedagogy of "Quality Teaching" which, amongst other elements, enshrines the practice of having curriculums of intellectual quality as the central teaching focus.

The "explicit and systematic" approach has been championed by many language-based educators who see it as a way of addressing the equity issues associated with the continuing poor performance of many disadvantaged students. Given this context of 'disadvantage', "explicit and systematic" pedagogy is often seen as antithetical to a curriculum of intellectual quality because (according to a colleague) "everything has to be spelt out." Is it possible to combine or harmonise these two mandated approaches in a curriculum?

This address will attempt to answer the above question. It will present current research findings on the efficacy of ESQT in Stage 5 English in three disadvantaged classrooms from three different high schools. The basic aim is to get disadvantaged students to achieve 'high' intellectual outcomes using SFL to provide the basis of the systematic & explicit elements of the pedagogy. Annotated pre / during / post work samples will be used to illustrate the efficacy of this approach. Additionally the paper will address the effect of SFL on the confidence levels of teachers who actively engage with it. SFL has a transformative effect on teachers in that they become emboldened to try to get students to achieve outcomes not considered possible by teachers who do not possess these understandings. In this way ESQT becomes more than just another approach because it becomes critical to an effective contemporary pedagogy.

A grammatical perspective on teaching and learning

John Polias and Brian Dare

As teachers and students go about schooling, they engage in a range of practices involving language as the principal meaning making resource. In recent times, there has been a growing awareness of the role language plays in teaching and learning and with this has come an increasing focus on language itself. However, this increasing focus on language has not always brought with it a concern for the critical role grammar plays as part of the language system. For many, the issue of how to effectively address the role of grammar as part of a pedagogy around language remains a difficult and unresolved one.

In this presentation, we will respond to this key issue by showing how educators in South Australia have incorporated a grammatical perspective into their practice in exciting and innovative ways.

We will begin by giving a brief overview of the context in which this work has evolved and then outline a number of initiatives which will include the following:

over 2,000 teachers undertaking a 30-hour course in the classroom applications of functional grammar

developing a shared metalanguage between teachers and Year 2 students including a focus on the following aspects:

participants, processes and circumstances

theme and rheme

active and passive voice

use of included clauses

reporting on language achievement of students using the ESL Scope and Scales

teaching functional grammar in an Italian language class

focusing on the interpersonal grammar as part of a language and behaviour project

developing a set of annotated examples of student writing.

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	Language in Education Day: Keynote Sessions Toward an enriched model of scaffolding: Implications for ESL pedagogy Jennifer Hammond and Pauline Gibbons Faculty of Education, University of Technology, Sydney In this paper we report on outcomes from a two and a half year research study that drew on the metaphor of 'scaffolding' to address questions of what constitutes good English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) pedagogy. The project had a two stage research design of ethnography, to document good pedagogical practices, and analyse the role of scaffolding in such practices, followed by action research, to address specific issues of concern in individual classrooms. Our focus in the paper is on the model of scaffolding that was developed during the project. In presenting this model we draw on the notion of systemic networks to tease out the place of scaffolding in the planned-in macro level processes of program development, as well as the role of scaffolding in the micro level, contingent move by move unfolding of classroom interactions. A strength of the model, we believe, is that it is based on recursive processes of analysis of practice and theory building. A further strength is that is highlights the complexity of what is involved in teaching processes and the place of scaffolding in those processes. These strengths, as well as some of limitations of this model will be presented in the paper. Language development in adolescence B. Derewianka, H. Lewis and K. Cruickshank This session will focus on language development in adolescence. Beverly Derewianka and Helen Lewis will report on a project (in collaboration with Professor Frances Christie) investigating key indicators of development in adolescent writing from early secondary school through to the final year, ranging across a variety of genres and subject areas. Data collected from schools representing diverse student backgrounds will be examined in terms of development in learners' control over ideational, interpersonal and textual resources. Ken Cruickshank will consider tenor relationships in the secondary classroom, illustrating how the roles taken up by teachers mediate student access to subject specific discourse. Three lessons (from a larger sample of 62 recorded in three days' observation in each of five secondary schools) present three contrasting teacher roles. The paper argues for an understanding of classroom interaction that takes into account factors such as teacher/ student expectations and attitudes to each other and to the subject and discourse. Genre knowledge and teaching academic writing Brian Paltridge The University of Sydney Much of what students need to know in order to succeed in their use of academic genres exists 'beyond the text'. Much teaching of academic writing, however, has tended to focus on the text itself. While textual knowledge is clearly an important part of genre knowledge, so too is an understanding of the social and cultural context in which these genres are produced and assessed. This presentation will consider aspects of genre knowledge 'beyond the text' which are important for students to consider in their writing of academic genres. It will then suggest ways in which aspects of genre knowledge might be drawn to students' attention in the teaching of academic writing. Genre in an outcome-based era: re-locating purpose across K-12 curriculum Kristina Love Genre theory has contributed immensely to our understanding of the way texts used in educational contexts are structured to achieve distinctive purposes. It has led to the development of a wealth of curriculum materials designed to assist students master the structures and purposes of key written genres across the K-12 curriculum. However, the implementation of genre-based approaches, particularly in an era where state mandated school curriculum and assessment frameworks are increasingly outcomes-based, has led to the use of simplified and idealised genres which do not always reflect real world texts of the sort that students encounter outside of school. These texts, including those in the hypertextual environment of the internet, are often more complex, dynamic and unpredictable than the models presented in schooling. By reminding ourselves of the role of purpose as the underlying principle of genre-based pedagogy, educators can revitalise their teaching of and with genre. This presentation will explore some of the ways in which teachers at pre-service and in-service levels work with notions of purpose in both print and web-based texts within an outcomes-based curriculum. Hybrid approaches to teaching language education Judith Rivalland and Anne Thwaite This presentation will describe some of our work teaching Language Education to students at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. We will cover three types of units in our B. Ed. Primary and K-7 programs, taught at different campuses in Perth and on location in Mauritius. The units are: Introductory language units in which pre-service teachers are introduced to basic linguistic concepts in the context of what they will need to be doing in school. Students are introduced to Register theory as a way of modelling the relationship between language and the educational contexts in which it occurs. They also learn about the structures of language and how this links to the knowledge needed to become an effective teacher of literacy in primary classrooms. Teaching Language in a Multicultural Society: a unit undertaken by pre-service teachers in their 4th year. After some preparation they travel to Mauritius for an intensive practicum where they expand their knowledge of teaching English as an Additional Language. Language, Culture & Learning in Australian Society: a unit undertaken by pre-service teachers in their 4th year, as well as practising teachers who are upgrading their qualifications. A major part of this unit involves an analysis of classroom discourse, with data taken from lessons conducted by the students themselves or by a teacher with whom they are working. We will outline the place of functional grammar in the work we do in these three contexts. Language, literature and literacy in early childhood: A functional perspective Jane Torr Institute Of Early Childhood, Macquarie University Over the last year there has been much discussion in the media about the importance of reading to very young children in order to promote later literacy achievement. Most early childhood teachers are aware that the early years are crucial for some aspects of children's development, but the actual relationship between language development and literacy learning is not well understood. Many teachers still believe that reading and writing are best learnt at primary school, and are unaware of how to foster literacy learning in the preschool or long day care setting. This is particularly serious as many children from diverse cultural and linguistic groups experience ongoing educational disadvantage. In this paper I will provide an overview of the functional model of early language development. I will explore how a functional approach can assist early childhood teachers to observe and plan effectively for young children's language and literacy development. The centrality of language in the learning process is a fundamental feature of the functional approach. The implications for early childhood planning and programming will be discussed. Image/text relations in children's literary texts and e-texts: Interfacing social semiotic theory and practical literacy pedagogy Len Unsworth University Of New England Developing students' critical comprehension and composition of evolving forms of multimodal texts in 'hard copy' and electronic media requires an understanding of how the resources of language and image construct the interpretive possibilities of these texts. Systemic functional linguistic descriptions of language and the functional semiotic 'grammar of visual design' have begun to provide practical frameworks for students to use knowledge about language and image in understanding, producing and critically responding to multimodal texts they encounter in schooling. However the pedagogic practicalities of working with students and the texts they need to engage with sharpen the imperatives for extending theoretical accounts of the complex intersemiotic relations of text and image. This session discusses this theory/practice interface in extending descriptions of inter-image and intermodal relations in literary texts in traditional book and electronic formats and implications for multiliteracies development in contexts of schooling. Explicit Systematic Quality Teaching (ESQT) through the Application of SFL Brian Miller University Of Western Sydney In recent years the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) has advocated, through its State Literacy Strategy, that the teacher's pedagogy should be "explicit and systematic" and have "modelled, guided and independent' phases in the delivery of the curriculum. This pedagogical model is a direct appropriation of the Teaching / Learning Cycle' model developed by the pioneering Language and Social Power Project in the 1980s. Even more recently, the NSW DET introduced, as a mandatory policy, the pedagogy of "Quality Teaching" which, amongst other elements, enshrines the practice of having curriculums of intellectual quality as the central teaching focus. The "explicit and systematic" approach has been championed by many language-based educators who see it as a way of addressing the equity issues associated with the continuing poor performance of many disadvantaged students. Given this context of 'disadvantage', "explicit and systematic" pedagogy is often seen as antithetical to a curriculum of intellectual quality because (according to a colleague) "everything has to be spelt out." Is it possible to combine or harmonise these two mandated approaches in a curriculum? This address will attempt to answer the above question. It will present current research findings on the efficacy of ESQT in Stage 5 English in three disadvantaged classrooms from three different high schools. The basic aim is to get disadvantaged students to achieve 'high' intellectual outcomes using SFL to provide the basis of the systematic & explicit elements of the pedagogy. Annotated pre / during / post work samples will be used to illustrate the efficacy of this approach. Additionally the paper will address the effect of SFL on the confidence levels of teachers who actively engage with it. SFL has a transformative effect on teachers in that they become emboldened to try to get students to achieve outcomes not considered possible by teachers who do not possess these understandings. In this way ESQT becomes more than just another approach because it becomes critical to an effective contemporary pedagogy. A grammatical perspective on teaching and learning John Polias and Brian Dare As teachers and students go about schooling, they engage in a range of practices involving language as the principal meaning making resource. In recent times, there has been a growing awareness of the role language plays in teaching and learning and with this has come an increasing focus on language itself. However, this increasing focus on language has not always brought with it a concern for the critical role grammar plays as part of the language system. For many, the issue of how to effectively address the role of grammar as part of a pedagogy around language remains a difficult and unresolved one. In this presentation, we will respond to this key issue by showing how educators in South Australia have incorporated a grammatical perspective into their practice in exciting and innovative ways. We will begin by giving a brief overview of the context in which this work has evolved and then outline a number of initiatives which will include the following: over 2,000 teachers undertaking a 30-hour course in the classroom applications of functional grammar developing a shared metalanguage between teachers and Year 2 students including a focus on the following aspects: participants, processes and circumstances theme and rheme active and passive voice use of included clauses reporting on language achievement of students using the ESL Scope and Scales teaching functional grammar in an Italian language class focusing on the interpersonal grammar as part of a language and behaviour project developing a set of annotated examples of student writing.

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