Exploring content: building knowledge in school discourse J R Martin Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney
Madrid TeL4ELE Dissemination Conference 17-19 October 2013
1. Explaining (semantic waves) 2. Power words and grammar in biology 3. Power words and grammar in history 4. Power composition 5. Semantic waves and R2L 6. Building knowledge
- Informing theories‌
Ideas arising from a joint research project informed by linguistics and sociology‌ specifically Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)‌ focusing on knowledge building in junior secondary biology and history.
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- more specifically a dialogue between SFL (systemic functional linguistics)‌
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…in relation to one application of this model, in language education (the so-called ‘Sydney School’)…
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…in dialogue with Karl Maton’s LCT (Legitimation Code Theory)…
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- from 2002‌
genre
mode
tenor
field
language
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+ K Maton, S Hood & S Shay [Eds.] Knowledge-building: educational studies in legitimation code theory. London: Routledge. in preparation.
- the project can be seen as an elaboration of Sydney School genre-based literacy programs (such as Reading to Learn), with a focus on field (alongside genre)‌
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- today I’ll be exploring field… the nature of the knowledge that R2L programs help students learn… …in particular the nature of ‘explanation’ in lessons and units of work that build knowledge, with students accumulating understandings of the field
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1. Explaining‌
- we’ll start with an example from biology (junior secondary school)
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T: Okay B… what are the‘cilia’. What was it? No? A… do you know what cilia is? No? D…? Someone must know what they are... S: Hairs. S: The little hairs? T: The little hairs.
[a little later the teacher writes on the board:] cilia
Hair-like projections Move with a from cells lining the wavelike motion to air passages move pathogens from the lungs until it can be swallowed into the acid of the stomach
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SG-, SD+
cilia hair-like projections from cells lining the air passages
little hairs Time
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conceptual unpacking of term into term everyday language
repacking of descriptions into table of terms
SG-, SD+
a semantic wave
Time
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- here’s an comparable example from ancient history (junior secondary school)
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T So, there would be massive amounts of trade going on, and umm, you know people visiting their diplomats you know or their, their, ambassadors‌ like their envoys and things like that all going back and forth across the countries.
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T So, there would be massive amounts of trade going on, and umm, you know people visiting their diplomats you know or their, their, ambassadors… like their envoys and things like that all going back and forth across the countries. So, ideas. When you get trade in ideas you wouldn’t have heard this word before – we call it ‘aesthetic trade’. 27
aesthetic trade
SG-, SD+
massive amounts of trade
trade in ideas
people visiting, envoys going back & forth Time
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abstract concept
unpacking of term into more familiar language about events
repacking of activity into technical term
SG-, SD+
a semantic wave
Time
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- how does language do it?
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2. Exploring semantic waves: power words and power grammar in biology
T: Okay B (student’s name) what are the‘cilia’. What was it? No? A (student’s name) do you know what cilia is? No? D? Someone must know what they are... Sf: Hairs Sm:The little hairs? T: The little hairs. And basically, they beat in an upward motion from inside your body out through to your nose. [Teacher is waving arms up]. So, they beat up and they take the pathogens away with them. And, guys, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this but when you smoke cigarettes, the tar actually causes your cilia to, because its so heavy, to drop, and so your cilia don’t work probably after that because they’re too heavy they’ve dropped, so they can’t beat the pathogens out of your body! So that’s the one of reason that smoking’s [bad] as well. Okay! Alright write this down under description!
[Teacher writes on the board:] cilia
Hair-like projections Move with a from cells lining the wavelike motion to air passages move pathogens from the lungs until it can be swallowed into the acid of the stomach
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- consolidating table of definitions and functions...
conceptual unpacking of term into term previously learned terms and everyday language, including example from everyday life
repacking of descriptions into table of terms
SG-, SD+
a semantic wave
Time
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‘power words’... i.e. technical terms (semantic condensation)... e.g. cilia, pathogens - but there is more to an understanding of cilia than the ‘definition’of the word...
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- there is also composition (part/whole structure)...
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- location in body (physiology)
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- ‘decomposing’ under the microscope...
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- internal structure...
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decomposing
composing
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- we also need to consider classification (class/sub-class structure)...
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- classification (type/subtype organisation) ‘taxonomy’
subclassify
classify
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- organ type...
organelle (eurkaryotic cells) cilia (proturbence from cell) motile (undulipodia) flagella (whip action for propulsion) cilia (wave motion) non-motile (primary - sensory antennae) 44
- there may be different principles for classification‌
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- alternative classification for immunology (lines of defence)...
non-specific specific 1st
2nd
3 rd
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- technical terms can also refer to processes (in activity sequences)... e.g. inflammation‌ phagocytosis engulfment
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- board notes... Inflammatory Response Fever helps reduce the reproduction of pathogen cells in localised areas. There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries). This means more phagocytes and macrophages can quickly travel to the infection site.
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- the problem of logocentrism (focus on terms, possibly loosely connected with ‘mind map’ images) in lieu of the structure of knowledge (i.e. composition, classification, sequencing and more)
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- grammar as a ‘bag of words’…
nouns pronouns abstract nouns
Grammar morpheme
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- in summary, knowledge is not a ‘word salad’; rather, words encode specific relations of composition, classification and sequencing among the entities proposed by a discipline.
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decomposing
composing
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organelle (eurkaryotic cells)
subclassifying
cilia (proturbence from cell) motile (undulipodia) flagella (whip action for propulsion) cilia (wave motion) classifying
non-motile (primary - sensory antennae)
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- this brings us to ‘power grammar’: i. ‘nominalisation’ (aka experiential metaphor = anti-gravity machine)
the reproduction of pathogen cells increased blood flow VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries) the infection site
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- examples unpacked into more spoken language...
the reproduction of pathogen cells ≈ “reproducing pathogen cells”
increased blood flow ≈ “blood flow increases” ≈ “blood flows (more quickly/voluminously?)
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- examples unpacked into more spoken language...
VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries) ≈ “the capillaries dilate/widen”
the infection site ≈ “the site/spot that was infected”
...noting that we cannot always get quite the same meaning!!!
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- and ii. explanation (‘cause in the clause’) (aka logical metaphor)... Fever helps reduce the reproduction of pathogen cells in localised areas.
There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries).
This means more phagocytes and macrophages can quickly travel to the infection site. 62
- cause related to effect (in 1 clause)
Fever helps reduce the reproduction of pathogen cells in localised areas.
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There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries).
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[[There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries).]]
This means more phagocytes and macrophages can quickly travel to the infection site.
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[[There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries).]]
This means more phagocytes and macrophages can quickly travel to the infection site. ≈ This means more efficient phagocyte and macrophage movement to the infection site.
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- unpacking‘cause in the clause’...
Fever helps reduce the reproduction of pathogen cells in localised areas. ≈
Body temperature rises and so pathogen cells reproduce more slowly in localised areas 67
There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries). ≈ Blood flows more voluminously to the infected area because the capillaries widen/dilate 68
Fever helps reduce the reproduction of pathogen cells in localised areas. [There is increased blood flow to the infected area due to VASO-DILATION (widening of capillaries)]. = [This] means more phagocytes and macrophages can quickly travel to the infection site. ≈ Body temperature rises and so pathogen cells reproduce more slowly in localised areas and so blood flows more voluminously to the infected area because the capillaries widen/dilate and so more phagocytes and macrophages can quickly travel to the infected area. 69
3. Exploring semantic waves: power words and power grammar in history
- historians also make use of power words (specialised and technical terms)‌ Mycenaean society New Kingdom Egypt The Augustan Age garum forum Gaul
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- in relation to composition, history is comparably technical (compared to science) in the division of time and cultures (into periods and societies)... e.g. ancient societies: Society in Old Kingdom Egypt; Persian Society at the time of Darius and Xerxes; Mycenaean society
e.g. historical periods: New Kingdom Egypt to the death of Thutmose IV; The Greek world 446-399 BC; Rome: The Augustan Age 44BC-AD 14 72
- and also in relation to maps (archaeology); e.g. sites...
...or buildings.
- a range of specialised terms are also used, referring to unfamiliar but concrete entities; these also have to be ‘unpacked’... garum Gaul inn/tavern peddler
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garum = a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking...
Garum was prepared from the intestines of small fishes, macerated in salt and cured in the sun for one to three months, where the mixture fermented and liquified in the dry warmth, the salt inhibiting the common agents of decay. 76
- but specialised terms like garum tend not to be composed and decomposed, or classified and subclassified as thoroughly or tightly as in biology...
... we don’t for example learn precisely how garum fits into an exhaustive account of the diet in Pompeii...
... rather garum is important because of the evidence (e.g. artefacts, frescoes, written evidence) reflecting its significance in the economy of Pompeii 77
- e.g. garum and trade‌
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- Technical terms like trade, relating to society and culture, are also less thoroughly composed and decomposed, classified and subclassified (flexi-tech)‌ Society economy, culture, social structure, politics, religion... etc.?
Economy Trade Commercial trade [Aesthetic trade?] Commerce Industries ‌ etc.?
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T This is a little bit hard, H. THE INFLUENCE OF GREEK AND EGYPTIAN CULTURES. What does that mean. What would the influence of Greek and Egyptian cultures mean, okay? No idea, right. What it means is, if we started to, look at all the things in Pompeii and Herculaneum, what objects may be showing Greek design? Or Egyptian design? Or Greek mythology? Or Egyptian mythology? Or what building techniques, like columns? Are there Greek columns? Do, you know, are the themes of their artwork reflecting it? ‌
T …So, it’s saying …remember when we started, we said that Pompeii had originally been settled by Greeks? Okay? … It looks hard, but all you’ve gotta do is have a look and think what things are there. Let me give you a big clue some of them are massive. Laah-la-lah-la- la-la-la-la-lahh, la-lah S Theatres S La-lahh T Theatres. Okay theatres are a Greek design. The Greeks invented the theatre, and then the Romans take the idea because they like it too. So, some of them are very obvious.
- What exactly is culture?
culture design theatres mythology building techniques columns artwork themes
‘evidence of’
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T So, there would be massive amounts of trade going on, and umm, you know people visiting their diplomats you know or their, their, ambassa… like their envoys and things like that all going back and forth across the countries. Sooo, ideas. When you get trade in ideas - you wouldn’t have heard this word before - we call it ‘aesthetic trade’. Have you heard of it? Yeah S You told us before T Ohh! Told you before great, excellent! You remember aesthetic trade! ‘Trade in ideas’. So, of course, when you’ve got contact with the country you’re gonna get the trade in ideas coming as well.
question
unpacking with examples and grounding in context of period
repacking into ‘aesthetic trade’
new examples
SG-, SD+
Time
- Kinds of trade‌ trade commercial trade aesthetic trade (trade in ideas) people visiting diplomats‌ going back and forth
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- there is in fact more technicality to history than we originally recognised...
- some history -isms (+)... capitalism communism (Marxism) socialism democracy despotism (oligarchy, autocracy, monarchy, fascism) imperialism (colonialism) nationalism internationalism militarism racism ...
...some -isms defined Capitalism is as economic and social system under which most of the means of production are controlled by private individuals or companies. [195] Imperialism is the rule of one country or a group of countries by another, more powerful, country. [475] Nationalism is a fierce loyalty to your country above all others. [196] [Dennett, B & S Dixon 2003 Key Features of Modern History. Second Edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press]
-isms as ‘flexi-tech’ (flexible technicality): - weakly classified concepts applicable to a wide range of situations (e.g Cold War, Indo-China, Palestine); cf. ‘floating signifiers’ - some entering into oppositions (as informed by related disciplines; e.g. capitalism/communism)
- and axiologically charged with values...
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(teacher lets out a big breath) Where are we David you’re sitting there by yourself you can tell us about COMMUNISM OK.
S (David) Don’t make me do that. That’s against my Christian beliefs. Ss (laugh)
- turning from the relatively sparse (and often weakly classified) technicality of history to abstraction, we encounter discourse that is relies even more on power grammar than science...
‘spoken’ Mt Vesuvius erupting
≈
‘nominalised’ the eruption of Mt Vesuvius 92
‘spoken’: When did he excavate Pompeii?
≈
‘nominalised’: his excavation of Pompeii 93
‘spoken’ he died
≈
‘nominalised’ his death 94
- crucial for explanation (‘cause in the clause’)
Andrew Wallace states that while Pompeii is one of the most studied of the world’s archaeological sties, it is perhaps the least understood, due to past neglect, damage, and a failure to document carefully, if at all. ≈ Andrew Wallace states that while Pompeii is one of the most studied of the world’s archaeological sties, it is perhaps the least understood, due to past neglect, damage, and a failure to document carefully, if at all.
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- and for managing phases of historical time (‘time in the clause’) The revolution at Pompeii in regards to archaeological methods began with Fiorelli’s stage of occupation in the 19th century… ≈ The revolution at Pompeii in regards to archaeological methods began with Fiorelli’s stage of occupation in the 19th century… 96
- crucial for explanation (‘cause/time in the clause’) …Fiorelli’s stage of occupation allowed for greater documentation, more archaeological artefacts left in site and the breakthrough process of injecting liquid plaster into the body-shaped cavities made by solidified ash and the eventual decomposition of bodies. ≈ Fiorelli’s stage of occupation allowed for greater documentation, more archaeological artefacts left in site and the breakthrough process of injecting liquid plaster into the bodyshaped cavities made by solidified ash and the eventual decomposition of bodies. 97
- we can unpack the nominalisations and cause/time in the clause‌
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‌but if we do, our ability to package up events as complex causes and effects is severely compromised‌
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- e.g. multiple causes…
Andrew Wallace states that while Pompeii is one of the most studied of the world’s archaeological sties, it is perhaps the least understood, due to past neglect, damage, and a failure to document carefully, if at all.
Andrew Wallace states that while Pompeii is one of the most studied of the world’s archaeological sties, it is perhaps the least understood, due to i. past neglect, ii. damage, and iii. a failure to document carefully, if at all. 101
- e.g. multiple effects …Fiorelli’s stage of occupation allowed for greater documentation, more archaeological artefacts left in site and the breakthrough process of injecting liquid plaster into the body-shaped cavities made by solidified ash and the eventual decomposition of bodies.
Fiorelli’s stage of occupation allowed for i. greater documentation, ii. more archaeological artefacts left in site and iii. the breakthrough process of injecting liquid plaster into the body-shaped cavities made by solidified ash and the eventual decomposition of bodies. 102
- ‘cause in the clause’ also enables the kind of nuanced interpretation valued by historians… …because many different verbs can be ‘borrowed’ to fine tune the explanation…
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Fiorelli’s stage of occupation allowed for greater documentation, more archaeological artefacts left in site and the breakthrough process of injecting liquid plaster into the body-shaped cavities made by solidified ash and the eventual decomposition of bodies. Fiorelli’s stage of occupation encouraged greater documentation… Fiorelli’s stage of occupation contributed to greater documentation… Fiorelli’s stage of occupation precipitated greater documentation… etc.
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4. Composing knowledge - power composition
- hierarchy of periodicity...
Method of Development (genre focus)
Point (field focus)
macroThemen hyperTheme predict
Theme
‌
New
accumulate hyperNew macroNewn
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- to my recent surprise this texturing trope had already been discovered by McDonalds...
- Hyper-theme & Hyper-New...
- Macro-theme & Macro-new...
- e.g. conserving Pompei...
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+SD/-SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
+SD/-SG
- higher level periodicity depends on power words and power grammar (e.g. macro-Theme and hyper-Themes below)...
5. Semantic waves and R2L
- how can we relate this kind of focus on knowledge (field) to Reading to Learn pedagogy (and curriculum)‌
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- one important point to keep in mind is that genres are resources for packaging content as texts and that content is itself organised, (across genres) according to field (composition, classification, sequencing‌)
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‌ keeping in mind that each genre is a way of packaging aspects of a field
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engaging
not time structured - news story sharing feelings - anecdote unresolved judging behaviour - exemplum complicating sequence resolved - narrative of events no complication – personal recount recurrent events - generalised recount significant life events - autobiographical recount stages in a life - biographical recount
chronicles stages in time
stages in history
temporal - historical recount
causal - historical account sequence of cause & effect - sequential
explanations text
informing
causes & effects
not time structured
multiple causes - factorial multiple effects- consequential
contingent causes (if/then) - conditional one type of thing - descriptive reports describing things
parts of wholes - compositional how to do an activity - procedure (recipe, experiment, algorithm)
procedural
what to do and not to do - protocol (rules, warnings, laws)
directing
how an activity was done - procedural recount (experiment report)
arguments evaluating
different types of things - classifying
persuading
supporting one point of view - exposition discussing two or more points of view - discussion expressing feelings about a text - personal response
text responses critiquing
evaluating a text (verbal, visual, musical) - review interpreting messages of a text - interpretation
- in relation to R2L pedagogy the important resource to focus on is the scaffolding interaction cycle which creates critical opportunities for ‘powering up’ or ‘powering down’…
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power P re p a re
power power
E la b o r a te
Task
power
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- waves & detailed reading...
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- opportunities for adjusting gravity and density… Prepare • sentence meaning • where to look • meaning of the wording
Elaborate • define words • explain concepts • discuss experience
Identify • affirm • highlight
- challenging text‌
Cytoplasm is the part of the cell inside the cell membrane but outside the nucleus. In the cytoplasm hundreds of chemical reactions take place, transferring energy, storing food and making new substances. This activity within the cell is called its metabolism.
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ďƒŠhundreds of chemical reactions what happens Prepare
Identify
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- in general we can expect Elaboration moves to rephrase in more familiar terms the power words and power grammar in challenging texts‌
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ďƒŠtransferring energy
three functions Prepare
Identify
ďƒŞtaking energy from a chemical reaction to do other work Elaborate
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- but while unpacking power words (specialised or technical terms), power grammar (‘nominalisations’ and ‘cause in the clause’), and lexical metaphors may often be important… … but it may also be useful to consider ‘powering up’ in relation to the breadth and/or depth of relevant taxonomies (composition or classification) and the degree of detail in implication or activity sequences.
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ďƒŠconverting nutrients into glucose storing food Identify
Elaborate
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ďƒŠmaking hundreds of different chemicals making new substances Identify
Elaborate
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decomposing
composing
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- and classification (type/subtype organisation) ‘taxonomy’
subclassify
classify
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power P re p a re
power power
E la b o r a te
Task
power
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- R2L teaching/learning cycles offer teachers and students a rich resource for adjusting gravity and density‌
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By end of a curriculum unit, how much field knowledge has been accumulated?
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‌keeping in mind our goals of i. enabling students to learn from reading ii. demonstrate their learning in writing
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...so that all our students have a chance to accumulate knowledge in the high stakes curriculum. SG-, SD+
High-stakes reading
High-stakes writing
Time
6. Building knowledge
- high stakes (uncommon sense knowledge is stored in writing)...
SG-, SD+
High-stakes reading
High-stakes writing
Time
- the one-way escalator (dumping into common sense)...
…what is actually going on (= wipe out)...
SG-, SD+
x
High-stakes reading
x
High-stakes writing
Time
...when we could be teaching reading/teaching writing...
SG-, SD+
High-stakes reading
High-stakes writing
...and discourage pointless talking...
SG-, SD+
High-stakes reading
High-stakes writing
Time
...so that all our students can accumulate knowledge in a high stakes curriculum once again. SG-, SD+
High-stakes reading
High-stakes writing
Time
POWER WORDS POWER GRAMMAR POWER COMPOSITION
POWER ON!
Martin, J R 2011 Bridging troubled waters: interdisciplinarity and what makes it stick. F Christie & K Maton [Eds.] 35-61. Martin, J R 2013 Embedded literacy: knowledge as meaning. Linguistics and Education 24.1. 23-37. Martin, J R, K Maton & E Matruglio 2010 Historical cosmologies: epistemology and axiology in Australian secondary school history. Revista Signos 43.74. 2010. 433-463. Martin, J R & D Rose 2003 Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause. London: Continuum [2nd Revised Edition 2007]. Martin, J R & D Rose 2008 Genre Relations: mapping culture. London: Equinox. Martin, J R & R Veel [Eds.] 1998 Reading Science: critical and functional perspectives on discourses of science. London: Routledge. Martin, J R & R Wodak [Eds.] 2003 Re/reading the past: critical and functional perspectives on discourses of history Amsterdam: Benjamins. Maton K. 2007 Knowledge-knower structures in intellectual and educational fields. Christie & Martin. 87-108. Maton, K 2009 Cumulative and segmented learning: exploring the role of curriculum structures in knowledge-building, British Journal of Sociology of Education 30.1. 43-57. Maton, K 2013a Knowledge and Knowers: towards a realist sociology of education. London: Routledge (New Studies in Critical Realism and Education) Maton, K 2013b Making semantic waves: a key to cumulative knowledge-building. Linguistics and Education 24.1. 8-22. Maton, K & J Muller, J 2007 A sociology for the transmission of knowledges. in Christie & Martin. London: Continuum, 14-33. Muller, J 2007 On splitting hairs: hierarchy, knowledge and the school curriculum. in Christie & Martin. 64-86. O'Halloran, K [Ed.] 2005 Mathematical Discourse: language, symbolism and visual images. London: Continuum. de Oliveira, L C 2011 Knowing and Writing School History: the language of students’ expository writing and teachers’ expectation. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing. Rose, D 1997 Science, technology and technical literacies. in Christie & Martin. 40-72.
Rose, D 1998 Science discourse and industrial hierarchy. in Martin & Veel. 236-265. Rose, D & J R Martin in press Learning to Write, Reading to Learn: genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. London: Equinox.
Rose, D, D McInnes & H Korner 1992 Scientific Literacy (Write it Right Literacy in Industry Research Project - Stage 1). Sydney: Metropolitan East Disadvantaged Schools Program. 308 pp. [reprinted Sydney: NSW AMES 2007] Schleppegrell, M J 2004 The Language of Schooling: a functional linguistics perspective. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum. Schleppegrell, M & C Colombi [Eds.] 2002 Developing Advanced Literacy in First and Second Languages: meaning with power. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. Schleppegrell, M, M Achugar & T Oteiza 2004 The grammar of History: enhancing content-based instruction through a functional focus on language. Tesol Quarterly 38, 67-93. Simon-Vandenbergen, A-M, M Taverniers & L.J. Ravelli [Eds] 2003. Grammatical Metaphor: systemic and functional perspectives Amsterdam: Benjamins Unsworth, L 1997a Scaffolding reading of science explanations: accessing the grammatical and visual forms of specialised knowledge. Reading 31.3. 30-42. Unsworth, L 1997b Explaining explanations: enhancing scientific learning and literacy development. Australian Science Teachers Journal 43.1. 34-49. Unsworth, L 1997c "Sound" explanations in school science: a functional linguistics perspective on effective apprenticing texts. Linguistics and Education 9.2. 199-226. van Leeuwen, T & S Humphrey 1996 On learning to look through a geographer's eyes. in R Hasan & G Williams [Eds.] 1996 Literacy in Society. London: Longman (Applied Linguistics and Language Study). 29-49. Veel, R 1992 Engaging with scientific language: A functional approach to the language of school science. Australian Science Teachers Journal. 38. 4. 31-35. Veel, R 1998 The greening of school science: ecogenesis in secondary classrooms. Martin & Veel. 114-151. Veel, R & C Coffin 1996 Learning to think like an historian: the language of secondary school history. Hasan & Williams. 191-231. White, P 1998 Extended Reality, Proto-Nouns and the Vernacular: distinguishing the technological from the scientific. Martin & Veel. 266-296. Wignell, P 2007a Vertical and horizontal discourse and the social sciences. in Christie & Martin. 184-204. Wignell, P 2007b On the Discourse of Social Science. Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press. Wignell, P, J R Martin & S Eggins 1990 The discourse of geography: ordering and explaining the experiential world. Linguistics and Education 1.4. 359-392 [republished in Halliday & Martin 1993. 136-165.]
+SD/-SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
+SD/-SG
+SD/-SG
-SD/ +SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
-SD/+SG
+SD/-SG
- cf. LCT’s axiological density! Semantic density (SD) refers to the degree of condensation of meaning within socio-cultural practices (symbols, terms, concepts, phrases, expressions, gestures, clothing, etc). Semantic density may be relatively stronger (+) or weaker (-) along a continuum of strengths. The stronger the semantic density (SD+), the more meaning is condensed within practices; the weaker the semantic density (SD-), the less meaning is condensed. These meanings may be from formal definitions, empirical descriptions or feelings, political sensibilities, taste, values, morals, affiliations, and so forth.