Social Practices in Higher Education; A Knowledge Framework Approach to Linguistic Research and Teaching; Slater

Edited by

Tammy Slater [+–]

Iowa State University

Tammy Slater, Associate Professor Emerita at Iowa State University, draws upon analytic methods from Systemic Functional Linguistics, including Mohan’s Knowledge Framework, to investigate and understand the development of academic language through content-based and project-based teaching and learning, particularly in ways that inform and advance the field of literacy education for English language learners. She has published in several journals, including Linguistics and Education and Theory into Practice, and has co-authored chapters in several books. With Gulbahar Beckett, she edited Global Perspectives on Project-based Language Learning, Teaching, and Assessment: Key Approaches, Technology Tools, and Frameworks (2020).

This book addresses Mohan’s (1986) concept of a social practice, an educational activity that can be considered as action in a frame of meaning, or a “knowledge framework” (KF). The KF, grounded in systemic functional linguistics, is a heuristic that provides both a theoretical framework for researching the language of social practices and a springboard for organizing lessons that can help teachers bring explicit language development into content teaching. This volume brings together the latest research on using Mohan’s SFL-based theory at institutions of higher learning.

One outcome of this book is to show how a functional approach to language research can be a major tool for research in the experiential tradition of John Dewey who, as a pragmatist, regarded knowledge functionally “as arising from an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment” (www.iep.utm.edu/dewey). Another outcome is to illustrate the complexity of the role activities play in education.

This is the first book to examine the linguistic demands of the activities that occur in higher education. It provides empirically grounded examples of how Mohan’s work is being implemented in universities worldwide. It thus adds to conversations addressing the use of educational activities to teach and describe disciplinary literacy and the integrated development of language and content.

Chapter 1

A Knowledge Framework Approach to Linguistic Research and Teaching [+–] 1-35

Tammy Slater £17.50

Iowa State University

The Knowledge Framework (KF) is a heuristic that allows educators, materials/curriculum developers, and researchers to explore in creative ways the integration of language, content, thinking skills, and key visuals. Grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics, the KF revolves around the concept of an educational activity or social practice. Participating successfully in an activity or social practice involves both doing (actions or practice) and knowing (theory or understandings that inform what we do). The KF heuristic is drawn as a set of six boxes, with the bottom three relating to the top three in this doing/knowing relationship. This chapter begins by documenting the history of the creation of the KF and continues with a detailed description of the heuristic and its value when teaching, especially teaching English language learners. Following this, the existing literature is summarized according to its use in the various content areas, offering what is likely the most comprehensive review to date of the available literature on the KF. The chapter ends with a snapshot of each of the chapters in the current volume.

Chapter 2

Corpus-based Knowledge Framework Analysis: A Deliberation of Methodology and Outcomes [+–] 36-73

Elena Cotos £17.50

Iowa State University

Elena Cotos is an associate professor in the Applied Linguistics Program and graduate faculty in the Human Computer Interaction Interdisciplinary Program at Iowa State University. She is also the Director of the Center for Communication Excellence of the Graduate College. She investigates written and spoken discourse, automated writing evaluation, the application of corpus-based genre analysis to applied natural language processing tasks, and computer-assisted language learning and assessment.

The promise of the Knowledge Framework is immense, and its potential can be further realized through corpus studies. To obtain compelling and conclusive corpus-based findings, however, it is important to attend to major methodological challenges inherent to applying this framework to the analysis of large collections of text data. One such challenge is posed by qualitative corpus annotation, especially when the corpus is composed of spoken learner language. As a starting point to a scholarly forum on streamlining the methods and laying the groundwork for replicability and reproducibility of Knowledge Framework analysis, this chapter describes the methodology of a corpus-based project investigating the knowledge structures and language functions in spoken discourse produced by non-native speakers of English in two different types of situations—teaching and testing. In parallel with that, it provides rationales for specific procedural steps in view of latent challenges. The methodological rigor pursued in this study resulted in a set of tangible outcomes applicable to future research, including descriptors of functional realizations and linguistic instantiations of the knowledge structures and an annotation protocol. Additionally, these outcomes have important implications for language teaching and assessment, as they are indicative of the functional language ability that non-native English speakers need in order to be effective communicators in instructional settings.

Chapter 3

Student Academic Writing: Situated Enactment of Genre, Argument, and Knowledge Structure [+–] 74-102

Constant Leung £17.50

King’s College London

Constant Leung is Professor of Educational Linguistics at King’s College London. His research interests include additional/second language curriculum development and language assessment. He is Editor of Research Issues for TESOL Quarterly and Co-Editor for Language Assessment Quarterly. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK).

Academic writing is widely acknowledged to be challenging for students. In this chapter I will focus on the situated nature of academic writing, taking account of discipline-relevant content and intellectual sensibilities. I will also pay attention to Toulmin’s informal logic of argument and Mohan’s knowledge structures that can be used to help analyze the compositional interiority found in a good deal of academic discourse. The pedagogic relevance of this orientation will be illustrated through an analysis of a sample of student writing and tutor comments through the lens of genre, argument, and knowledge structure. It will be argued that just as there is no one finite way of knowing and doing academic literacy, there are no fixed universal templates for academic writing across different disciplines in different teaching–learning contexts; but the concepts of genre, argument, and knowledge structure can be used as criterial considerations to provide insight into how academic writing is construed and enacted.

Chapter 4

Perceived Effectiveness of AWE for Focus on Forms, Focus on Meaning, and Interactional Modifications [+–] 103-122

Aysel Saricaoglu,Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen,Hui-Hsien Feng £17.50

University of Ankara

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Aysel Saricaoglu (PhD, Applied Linguistics and Technology, Iowa State University) is an
assistant professor in the English Language and Literature department at Social Sciences
University of Ankara. She investigates academic writing, automated formative assessment, L2 written complexity, and tele-collaborative learning. Her work has appeared in journals such as ReCALL, CALL, and CALICO.

Iowa State University

Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen is an associate professor in the Applied Linguistics and
Technology program at Iowa State University. His research addresses the urgent societal need of improving language learning, teaching, and assessment practices by taking advantage of new technological opportunities. Specifically, he uses his background in psycholinguistics, computer science, and natural language processing to design, build, and evaluate technologies for second language learning and assessment

National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Hui-Hsien Feng is an assistant professor in the English department at National Kaohsiung
University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and
Technology at Iowa State University. Her research interests include computer-assisted language learning, second language writing, corpus linguistics, and computational linguistics.

This study investigates the effectiveness of automated feedback on causal language based on student perceptions at a higher education level. The target automated writing evaluation tool was developed based on the PRINCIPLES semantic text pattern of Mohan’s Knowledge Framework. Analyzing learners’ perceptions provides an opportunity to identify problems stemming from the pedagogical features of the tool and to determine the adjustments needed for better learning outcomes. To this end, in this qualitative study, we evaluated automated feedback on causal language from the perceptions of 27 undergraduate ESL students who used the tool for two cause-and-effect assignments in an academic writing class. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in which students were asked questions regarding the capacity of the automated feedback features of the tool to help students focus on causal forms and causal meaning and to create opportunities for interactional modifications. Findings showed that the text-level feedback was more positively perceived by the students for focus on causal forms than the sentence-level feedback. On the other hand, the sentence-level feedback was more positively perceived for focus on causal meaning than the text-level feedback. Timing of the automated feedback appeared to be a source of negative perceptions regarding interactional modifications.

Chapter 5

Coaching as Activity/Social Practice [+–] 123-156

Carolyn Kristjánsson,Bernard A. Mohan £17.50

Trinity Western University, Canada

Carolyn Kristjánsson has a PhD in Language Education and is an associate professor of applied linguistics at Trinity Western University (TWU) in Canada where she teaches in the online and resident tracks of the MA TESOL program. She is also a Certified Executive Coach (CEC) and has developed and leads an in-house coaching program for MA TESOL students at TWU.

University of British Columbia

Bernard A. Mohan was Chair of Linguistics at the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin, then
professor in Language Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada, working with immigrant learners in Vancouver’s schools. Now emeritus at UBC, he is a Research Fellow at King’s College, London who participated in an eight-nation study that recommended changes in teacher education across the European Union to benefit immigrant language learners. Known for his pioneering work on integrated language and content learning, he is a functional linguist who sees language as a resource for learning about the world in dynamic interaction with its cultural context.

This chapter draws on Mohan’s Knowledge Framework to facilitate the analysis of a coaching session in higher education as an activity/social practice. In the study, a coach interacts with a student who is making a choice or decision about a PhD program and evaluating possible options. The analysis draws on Dewey’s theory of emotion and process of inquiry as well as a systemic functional linguistics (SFL) perspective on language, with attention to reflective discourse and appraisal analysis, to shed light on the integration of emotion, inwardness, ethics and cognition in decision-making. It considers implications for coaching research as well as research on activity/social practice and points to the possibility of productive dialogue between Deweyan philosophers and functional linguists.

Chapter 6

Voting as a Social Activity: Voter Suppression, the Common Good, and Evidence [+–] 157-185

Bernard A. Mohan £17.50

University of British Columbia

Students in higher education are typically eligible to vote. Voter suppression is an unethical removal of the right to vote and is often part of a wider attack on democratic rights and activities. Respected authorities have emphasized the importance of developing strong democratic norms for the survival of democracy. Can these norms be enhanced by an understanding of the traditional (e.g., Aristotle) and contemporary (e.g., Habermas) ethics of politics and a critical engagement with their application to political activities and discourses? In this chapter, taking a functional linguistics perspective, I focus on a Knowledge Framework approach to the linguistic analysis of political discourses and activities that students in higher education may find helpful to work with in order to respond to current political problems and to engage more intensively with their role as informed voters. This chapter takes a political linguistics approach, by contrast with other chapters in this volume that aim at an educational linguistics approach. Important ethical themes that will be examined include concern for the common good, and for “practical reasoning” (Aristotle) and respect for evidence-based reasoning, and for sincerity (Habermas).

Chapter 7

Disciplinary Differences in the Knowledge Structures in University Lecture Slides [+–] 186-211

Zhi Li £17.50

University of Saskatchewan

Zhi Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. His research interests include language assessment, Technology-supported language teaching and learning, and corpus linguistics. His research papers have been published in System, CALICO Journal, and Language Learning & Technology.

Lecture slides, as a common companion to academic discourse, can play important roles in students’ academic listening comprehension partly because subject content or knowledge structures in Mohan’s terms can be constructed through both language and visuals on the slides. Previous studies have recognized some disciplinary differences in both written and oral academic discourse which may impose challenges on academic listening. Despite the prevalence of lecture slides in classroom contexts, the slides are still under-researched as a part of academic genre and even fewer, if any, studies have paid attention to the potential differences in the knowledge structures between slides used in different disciplines. This exploratory study aims to fill in this gap with a comparative analysis of the knowledge structures in the lecture slides from six undergraduate courses in two broad disciplines, namely, Engineering and Social Sciences. The slide contents were manually coded for both text-based and visual-based knowledge structures. Descriptive statistics indicate that while there were some noticeable differences in the frequencies of occurrence of the six knowledge structures within each discipline, these two disciplines also saw similarities in the general distribution of the knowledge structures. The implications of the findings for EAP pedagogy and assessment are discussed.

Chapter 8

Causal Explanations in Physics: A Functional Analysis of EFL Lectures and Textbook Excerpts [+–] 212-242

Kimberly Becker,Xiaoping Liang £17.50

Iowa State University

Kimberly Becker has a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and Technology from Iowa State University (ISU), where she is a lecturer in the English Department. Her research interests include disciplinary writing, corpus linguistics, CALL, and SFL. Kim currently works at ISU’s Center for Communication Excellence as an academic communication consultant for postdoctoral scholars.

California State University Long Beach

Xiaoping Liang is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Linguistics at California State University, Long Beach. Her research interests include second language classroom discourse and socialization, academic discourse development in the first and second languages, bilingual classroom code-switching, and language attitudes and cultural identities.

This paper reports on a case study of a Chinese physics professor at a university in Shanghai, China. The purpose of the study is to investigate how his classroom explanations of causal meanings are realized through lexicogrammatical features in English as a foreign language. Data consist of one 60-minute lecture purposefully selected from a series of 20 hours of video recording of physics lectures compared to language from an English-medium physics textbook associated with the course. Instances of grammatical metaphor in causal explanations in the physics lecture were identified and analyzed using a functional approach. Drawing on an up-down metaphor, this paper uses the term ‘upward’ movement to refer to “functional recasts” from simpler towards more advanced (more grammatically metaphorical) wording, and ‘downward’ movement to describe functional recasts from more advanced towards simpler wording. Employing that metaphor combined with the Knowledge Framework (KF) revealed results which demonstrated that the Chinese physics professor used a range of lexicogrammar such as conjunctions, verbs, and nominalizations to assemble causal explanations that showed downward functional recasts to address the meaning and wording relationship in causal explanations. The study proposes implications for teacher training, specifically the training of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) with the use of the KF heuristic.

Chapter 9

The Role of Functional Recasts in EFL Undergraduate Students’ Learning of Intercultural Communication [+–] 243-273

Masaki Kobayashi,Emi Kobayashi £17.50

Kanda University of International Studies, Tokyo

Masaki Kobayashi is a Professor and Deputy Chair of the English Department at Kanda
University of International Studies with a cross-appointment to the MATESOL Program in the Graduate School of Language Sciences. His scholarly interests lie in the area of educational linguistics, ranging from academic discourse socialization and the integration of language and content instruction to task-based L2 research and teacher education. Masaki’s work has appeared in international journals and edited volumes. He received his PhD from the University of British Columbia.

Kyoai Gakuen University

Emi Kobayashi is a Professor of TESOL and Program Chair of English Language Studies in the Department of International Social Studies at Kyoai Gakuen University. Her research interests include language teacher education, linguistic ethnography, task-based L2 learning, and the integration of language and content learning in higher education. Emi has published internationally on these topics. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Stirling.

This chapter focuses on the role of functional recasts (FRs) in Japanese undergraduate students’ linguistic construction of the knowledge structure of PRINCIPLES in their content-based EFL course in intercultural communication. While previous research has illustrated how FRs could be used to upgrade students’ discourse, little is known about how students respond to such teacher assistance. Given that the goal of scaffolding is to help students perform tasks more independently, it follows that more attention should be paid to students’ uptake of FRs. This chapter reports on an action research project that involved two classes of EFL students who received FRs from their instructor. FRs in Class A took the form of oral feedback on student presentations while FRs in Class B were provided as written comments on drafts of student papers. In each case, all the instances were identified where the instructor functionally recast the presenter’s or writer’s utterances. The analysis focuses on students successfully constructing causal knowledge structures by incorporating FRs from their instructor. However, the analysis revealed that only a few students in Class A acted upon the FRs in their write-ups while almost all the students in Class B incorporated their instructor’s reformulations of their utterances into their writings. This difference is discussed with respect to time pressure involved in oral presentations, the appropriateness of the levels of FRs, and the use of key visuals. The pedagogical implications revolve around teacher roles: (1) teachers’ scaffolding of students’ use of FRs in subsequent tasks and (2) teachers’ preparedness to respond to students’ contributions.

Chapter 10

Online Teacher Training Using the Knowledge Framework and the Teaching–Learning Cycle for Literacy Development [+–] 274-303

Stephanie Link,Jesse Gleason £17.50

Oklahoma State University

Stephanie Link is an Associate Professor of TESOL/Applied Linguistics and Director of International Composition at Oklahoma State University. She earned her Ph.D. from Iowa State University and a dual Masters degree from Winona State University in Minnesota, USA and Tamkang University in Taiwan. She primarily teaches graduate-level courses in TESL, grammatical analysis, language and technology, and research methods. Her research interests include the study of emerging technologies for language learning and assessment, written genre analysis, and L2 pedagogy. Her most recent work is on automated writing evaluation and can be found in the Journal of English for Specific Purposes, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Learning & Technology, System, and CALICO Journal.

Southern Connecticut State University

Jesse Gleason, PhD, is an associate professor of applied linguistics and Spanish at Southern Connecticut State University. Her teaching and research interests include bilingualism/biliteracy development and technology-mediated instruction. She has presented her research internationally in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany and the U.S. as well as published research in a number of refereed journals, such as CALICO, System, and Language, Culture and Curriculum.

While systemic functional approaches to literacy development have grown in popularity, there is still a lack of consensus on how to effectively build teachers’ knowledge and how that knowledge then translates into practice. Access to materials is also a concern, sparking renewed interest in online and digital materials for teacher education. Thus, our study’s purpose was twofold: First, it aimed to show how online materials development using the Knowledge Framework (KF) and the teaching–learning cycle (TLC) show promise for helping build teachers’ understanding of form-function relationships. Second, it attempted to gauge to what extent these online professional development opportunities carried over into teachers’ curricular planning. Informed by a socially motivated framework for the professional learning of teachers, we designed a situated, online training curriculum and evaluated the impact of the content on ten participants in a graduate-level literacy development course. Results showed that participants made a shift to a functional perspective after a two-week training involving pre-module activation, post-module reflection, and learning-to-teach activities. This functional shift was evident in their final assignment, an instructional case study/literacy plan, which served to connect learning-to-teach activities to the social practice of classroom teaching. Our research provides implications for supporting teachers’ use and transfer of SFL theory into practice.

Chapter 11

Opportunities and Challenges of the Knowledge Framework for In-service Teacher Development: A Case Study [+–] 304-333

Jingzi Huang,Margaret Berg £17.50

University of Northern Colorado

Jingzi (Ginny) Huang, earned her PhD focusing on language education from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Having taught in elementary, secondary, and university settings in China, Canada, and the US, deeply involved in teacher education in the United States since 1997, she is currently leading the biggest teacher preparation program in Colorado as the School Director of Teacher Education at the University of Northern Colorado. Her major teaching and research interests include classroom discourse, second and foreign language education, language/literacy across the curriculum, high quality teacher development in general and second language education teacher development in particular.

University of Northern Colorado

Margaret Berg is a professor of Teacher Education at the University of Northern Colorado. She has taught at the secondary and tertiary levels in China, Russia, Ukraine, and in the inner city and on the Mexican border of the United States. She also taught general education classwork in a state-level, men’s maximum security “correctional facility.” Her area of research is educational linguistics.

The growth of interest among teachers and schools seeking professional development that focuses on English Language Learners is a pressing challenge for the field of teacher education. Existing studies suggest that 1) there is a need to develop culturally responsive and linguistically sensitive teachers in order to facilitate emerging bilingual students’ academic success; 2) existing research is limited on how teachers developed knowledge and skills in order to integrate language and content instruction for ESL students; 3) studies that recognize the importance of linguistic sensitivity in teacher professional development are extremely limited in their scope and do not cover school subject content areas; and, 4) few studies connect teacher professional development effort to its impact on student performance. This chapter addresses the gap in both research and practice in teacher education by examining an in-service teacher development project in a variety of school contexts, including math, science, and social studies instruction where teachers typically do not see students’ language development as their responsibility. The study, employing a mixed-methods approach to analyze the process of teacher development and document changes over time, examines the impact of the KF as a linguistically sensitive approach to teacher development on teachers’ instructional practice and student performance in schools. The qualitative and quantitative evidence provided by the project strengthens the argument for the importance of incorporating culturally responsive and linguistically sensitive pedagogy into all teacher development programs. The findings shed light on opportunities and challenges with the use of the KF for in-service regular classroom teacher development.

Chapter 12

The Knowledge Framework for Building Teacher Awareness of Language in Content Instruction [+–] 334-359

Jesse Gleason,Elena Schmitt £17.50

Southern Connecticut State University

Elena Schmitt is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT. She received a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of South Carolina. Elena’s research interest include first language attrition, heritage language studies, bilingualism, and language teacher training. Her recent publications appeared in the International Journal of Bilingualism, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, and Linguistic Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages.

Learners’ understanding of content develops alongside their ability to use language. Graduate programs in TESOL prepare teachers to work with language and content so that they may effectively help their students. This study examines the role of a participant observation and functional discourse analysis project for teacher education in ESOL. In-service teachers (N=19) received training with Mohan’s Knowledge Framework, a linguistics-based tool for language-content integration, and completed four ethnographic observations in K-12 and adult classrooms, transcribing, analyzing, and reflecting on the discourse they had collected. Results revealed patterns of classroom discourse across content areas and grades, including patterns of knowledge structures for building knowledge of the classroom activity, of the content matter, as well as for developing interpersonal language. Major themes are discussed and implications are drawn for using the KF in conjunction with classroom observation for ESOL teacher training.

Chapter 13

Learning and Using the Knowledge Framework as a Language and Content Teaching Unit Project: A Case Study [+–] 360-381

Amy Walton,Gulbahar H. Beckett £17.50

Iowa State University

Amy Walton (MA TESL) is an associate teaching professor and Assistant Director of ISUComm Foundation Courses at Iowa State University. She has taught English, French, and Computer Science at the high school level. At Iowa State, she incorporates her classroom experience and interests in Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Literacy Education, and Cross-Cultural Communication in her teaching of English pedagogy, grammar, and composition courses.

Iowa State University

Gulbahar H. Beckett (PhD), Professor of TESL/Applied Linguistics, focuses on project-based second/foreign language acquisition and socialization; Content-based second/foreign language (a.k.a English as a medium of instruction/learning); Second and minority language policies; Technology integrated teaching and learning; and Academic literacy. She has numerous publications including books, chapters, and journal articles. Her latest book is Beckett, G. H. & Slater, T. (Eds.) (2020) Global perspectives on project-based language learning, teaching, and assessment: Key approaches, technology tools, and frameworks, NY: Routledge. She is an associate editor of Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education Journal.

There has been limited research carried out on the integration of the Knowledge Framework (KF) and project work for language, content, and skills teaching and learning. A study that explores how preservice teachers appropriate the KF in their unit plan projects during short-term training contexts thus offers a welcome addition to the field. This chapter discusses a qualitative case study of a class of 17 preservice teachers participating in a four-week training session designed to teach them enough about the KF to create KF unit-based projects. The study examined their understanding of these projects, their reflections on the challenges involved in creating KF unit-based projects as an undergraduate course requirement, and their future plans for language and content teaching with these types of projects. Findings of the study suggested that although the teachers demonstrated that they learned much about the KF and were enthusiastic about experimenting more with it, having them learn about the KF by carrying out and reflecting on a unit planning project of their own, one that implements their knowledge of the KF, helped highlight issues and challenges that arose in their understanding of the theory. The implications of the study suggest that explicitly connecting theory and practice through this type of learning activity may help raise preservice teachers’ confidence about using blended KF unit-based projects in their future careers as well as offer valuable feedback to instructors regarding the areas that appear the most challenging.

Chapter 14

Enhancing Disciplinary Learning Experience through an Adjunct English-across-the-Curriculum Model [+–] 382-409

Esther Ka-man Tong,Cecilia Fung-Kan Pun,Phoebe Siu £17.50

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Dr. Esther Ka-man Tong is Head of Division of Languages and Communication and Director of Centre for Pedagogic Research at College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She was the recipient of CPCE Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching Performance/Achievement 2014/15 and the FSTE General Education Outstanding Teaching Award 2017. Her research interests lie in the areas of bilingual education, multimodal pedagogy, and content and language integrated learning.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Dr. Cecilia Fung-Kan Pun is a lecturer at the Division of Languages and Communication,
College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She received her joint-university PhD from City University of Hong Kong and The University of Sydney. Her research interests include Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), text linguistics, academic writing, and discourse analysis.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Phoebe Siu is a lecturer at Division of Languages and Communication, College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Siu is a doctoral candidate (English Language Education) at The University of Hong Kong. Her research projects focus on multimodalities, content and language integrated learning, social semiotic awareness, and EMI higher education. Her conference papers were accepted at international academic conferences, including AERA, AAAL, AILA, EAC and ISFC.

Tertiary education programs are often designed to prepare students for active engagement in the evolving practices of disciplinary communities. Academic success in these programs means not only the mastery of disciplinary knowledge and skills but also the appropriate selection of multimodal resources to represent disciplinary ways of thinking, doing, and knowledge sharing. Responding to the call for supporting students’ development of English academic literacy in English-medium College programs in Hong Kong, this chapter discusses the effectiveness of an adjunct English-across-the-curriculum (EAC) instructional model which uses Mohan’s Knowledge Framework as a needs/task analysis tool to identify the specific cognitive, linguistic, and multimodal representation needs of college students in Engineering and to plan explicit instruction on program-specific writing and speaking genres. The data reveal how a Knowledge Framework analysis provides a comprehensive account of the academic literacy demands of the Engineering program and facilitates the development of an integrated instructional model that offers language support needed for students’ academic success.

Chapter 15

Implementing the Knowledge Framework in a Content-Based Language Teaching Classroom [+–] 410-433

Hong Ma,Jian Zhou £17.50

Zhejiang University, China

Hong Ma is currently an assistant professor at Zhejiang University, China. She received her PhD in Applied Linguistics and Technology from Iowa State University. While at Iowa State, she led multiple research projects that resulted in the development and evaluation of a pattern grammar inspired computer-assisted vocabulary-learning tool (PAT GRAM).

Hangzhou Normal University, China

Jian Zhou is a lecturer at Hangzhou Normal University, China. He received his Master’s Degree in foreign linguistics and its applications from HZNU and has been teaching EMP (English for Medical Purpose) in the same university since 2003.

From the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL), content is constructed through language. The Knowledge Framework (KF) inspires content-based language teaching (CBLT) by classifying different types of meaning constructed in social practices, including educational content areas, and specifying the semantic patterns of the discourse in each social practice. However, empirical efforts to implement the KF and evaluate the effectiveness of KF use in higher education remain scarce. This qualitative case study, contextualized in a college located in Southeast China, tracked 39 medical students throughout a one-semester course in which they received explicit instruction on the KF using prior theories on linguistic paths of knowledge. The models specify the hierarchical progression of different types of meaning and linguistic features in academic discourse. Analysis of students’ writing samples composed before, during, and after the KF instruction suggested that the instruction was effective in urging students to produce language that mirrored higher levels of academic discourse. The findings of this study intend to raise awareness about adopting the KF and shed light on practical uses of the KF in higher education EFL contexts.

Chapter 16

Knowledge Structures as Designs: Tracing Patterns across Textual Trajectories [+–] 434-458

Diane Potts £17.50

Lancaster University

Dr. Diane Potts’s research interest is pedagogies of difference and the semiotic demands confronting learners when remaking quotidian knowledge for academic purposes. Located at
Lancaster University where she is Director of Studies for the Applied Linguistics and TESOL
program, her work is informed by theories of social semiotics and multimodality.

Drawing on examples from study abroad and foreign language higher education settings, this chapter examines use of Mohan’s Knowledge Framework as a heuristic for curriculum design. It highlights the function of the framework during periods of textual instability for addressing current concerns regarding a) textual trajectories (the relations between texts across time and space), and b) support for practices of textual critique and reflection literacy. The examples illustrate the possibilities for addressing these concerns while simultaneously targeting linguistic forms and the register demands of higher education. In the first example, a longstanding study abroad program for Japanese university students provides the context for examining how differences in knowledge structures’ linguistic patterns can be harnessed to support students’ understanding and use of projection/reporting verbs and to scaffold their interrogation of course content on intercultural communication. Similar attention to the sequencing of knowledge structures in curriculum development at a Korean university’s English language institute makes it possible to draw students’ attention to language’s interpersonal metafunction and the dynamics of interlocutors’ positioning in oral interaction. The chapter closes with a personal tribute to Mohan, whose scholarship consistently demonstrated respect for teachers and the demands they face.

End Matter

Index 459-463

Tammy Slater FREE

Iowa State University

Reviews

Social Practices in Higher Education is a fitting tribute to the father of integrated language and content instruction. This volume expands Bernard Mohan’s seminal work (Mohan, 1986) and subsequent research in elementary and secondary education to studies in higher education, teacher development and coaching, social discourse analysis, and more. The durability, flexibility, and applicability of the Knowledge Framework is clear. Researchers have used the framework across subject disciplines to analyze diverse types of texts used in university courses and the academic discussions expressed in classrooms, to enhance pre- and in-service teachers’ lesson and curriculum planning skills in order to strengthen academic language learning opportunities, and to improve university-level student use of content-specific academic language in writing and oral interactions. Readers will appreciate the creativity of many researchers who have applied the Knowledge Framework to a variety of contexts and who show us how to move theory into practice.
Dr. Deborah J. Short, Director, Academic Language Research & Training and Past President, TESOL International Association (2021-22)

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Tammy Slater [+–]

Iowa State University

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