UNIT 3- LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM-Analyzing and Interpreting Discipline based Language - Part 1-BEd notes
Prepared by
Sabarish P
Contents
- Discipline based language- meaning , nature, variety, examples from different disciplines
- English language for specific purposes, register, technical language, language of ICT resources
Analysing and Interpreting Discipline based Language
Discipline based language – Meaning, Nature, Variety
A learner’s ability to reason about disciplinary issues begins with the way he/she perceives the discipline.
For example, novices in science tend to view science as a straightforward recounting of information, because they lack both content knowledge and access to the discipline-based language for constructing explanations.
Discipline-Based Education Research is grounded in the science and engineering disciplines and addresses questions of teaching and learning within those disciplines.
Discipline-Based Education Research can be defined both by the focus of the research and by the researchers who conduct it.
Discipline-Based Education Research investigates learning and teaching in a discipline using a range of methods with deep grounding in the discipline’s priorities, worldview, knowledge, and practices.
The long-term goals of Discipline-Based Education Research are to:
understand how people learn the concepts, practices, and ways of thinking of science and engineering;
understand the nature and development of expertise in a discipline;
help to identify and measure appropriate learning objectives and instructional approaches that advance students toward those objectives;
contribute to the knowledge base in a way that can guide the translation of Discipline-Based Education Research findings to classroom practice; and
identify approaches to make science and engineering education broad and inclusive.
To progress toward these goals, Discipline-Based Education Research relies on several types of knowledge from outside the science or engineering disciplines:
the nature of human thinking and learning as they relate to the discipline of interest,
factors that affect student motivation to initially engage in and then to persist in the learning necessary to understand the discipline and apply findings of the discipline, and
research methods appropriate for investigating human thinking, motivation, and learning.
By its very nature, Discipline-Based Education Research is an interdisciplinary field of study.
This means that discipline-based education researchers must bridge the gaps in language, background, and ways of thinking between their home discipline and several areas of research on learning and teaching.
Discipline-Based Education Research embraces the full spectrum of research approaches for understanding human learning, cognition, and affect.
Its research methods are drawn not only from the home discipline but also from a variety of other fields such as experimental and social psychology, education, and anthropology.
Discipline-based education researchers use experimental, correlational, ethnographic, and exploratory designs, and to collect quantitative and qualitative evidence.
Discipline-Based Education Research includes a range of studies from fundamental to applied, and from theoretical to empirical.
Examples from different disciplines
An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched as part of higher education.
Discipline is defined as a branch of learning or scholarly instruction. Fields of study as defined by academic discipline provide the framework for a student's program of graduate and post-graduate study, and as such, define the academic world inhabited by scholars.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to academic disciplines:
An academic discipline or field of study is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched as part of higher education.
A scholar's discipline is commonly defined and recognised by the university faculties and learned societies to which he or she belongs and the academic journals in which he or she publishes research.
However, no formal criteria exists for defining an academic discipline.
Disciplines vary between well-established ones that exist in almost all universities and have well-defined rosters of journals and conferences and nascent ones supported by only a few universities and publications.
A discipline may have branches, and these are often called sub-disciplines.
There is no consensus on how some academic disciplines should be classified. More generally, the proper criteria for organizing knowledge into disciplines are also open to debate.
Training in a discipline results in a system of orderly behavior recognised as characteristic of the discipline.
Such behaviors are manifested in scholars' approaches to understanding and investigating new knowledge, ways of working, and perspectives on the world around them.
Disciplinary fields have been described as providing the structure of knowledge in which faculty members are trained and socialised; carry out tasks of teaching, research, and administration; and produce research and educational output.
Disciplinary worlds are considered separate and distinct cultures that exert varying influence on scholarly behaviors as well as on the structure of higher education.
The number of disciplines has expanded significantly from those recognised in early models.
Interaction between the professor and the institution is in many ways shaped by the professor's disciplinary affiliation.
Disciplinary communities establish incentives and forms of cooperation around a subject matter and its problems.
Disciplines have conscious goals, which are often synonymous with the goals of the departments and schools that comprise an institutional operating unit.
Colleges and universities are typically organized around clusters of like disciplines that have some cognitive rationale for being grouped together.
The seat of power for decisions on faculty promotion, tenure, and, to some extent, support for research and academic work, lies in the academic department.
Thus discipline as an important basis for determining university structure becomes clear.
Numerous analytical frameworks are evident in the literature for classifying academic disciplines for purposes of comparative study.
Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Formal Sciences, Professions, are some of the examples of disciplines.
English language for specific purposes
The teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been seen as a separate activity within English language teaching (ELT).
It is believed that for some of its teaching ESP has developed its own methodology and its research draws on research from various disciplines in addition to applied linguistics – this is the key distinguishing characteristic of ESP.
ESP has always been with needs analysis and preparing learners to communicate effectively in the tasks prescribed by their field of study or work situation.
The theory of ESP could be outlined based on specific nature of the texts that learners need knowledge of or need-related nature of teaching.
As with most disciplines in human activity, ESP was a phenomenon grown out of a number of converging trends of which we will mention three most important:
the expansion of demand for English to suit specific needs of a profession,
developments in the filed of linguistics (attention shifted from defining formal language features to discovering the ways in which language is used in real communication, causing the need for the development of English courses for specific group of learners), and
educational psychology (learner’s needs and interests have an influence on their motivation and effectiveness of their learning).
Definitions of ESP in the literature are relatively late in time, if we assume that ESP began in the 1960s.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) define ESP as an approach rather than a product – meaning that ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology.
The basic question of ESP is: Why does this learner need to learn a foreign language? The purpose of learning English became the core.
Strevens’ (1988) definition of ESP makes a distinction between
Absolute characteristics (language teaching is designed to meet specified needs of the learner; related in content to particular disciplines, occupation and activities; centred on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, text, discourse, semantics, etc., and analysis of the discourse; designed in contrast with General English) and
Two variable characteristics (ESP may be restricted to the language skills to be learned, e.g. reading; and not taught according to any pre-ordained methodology).
Robinson’s definition of ESP is based on two criteria:
ESP is normally ‘goal-directed’, and
ESP courses develop from a needs analysis which aim to specify what exactly it is that students have to do through the medium of English, and a number of characteristics which explain that ESP courses are generally constrained by a limited time period in which their objectives have to be achieved and are taught to adults in homogenous classes in terms of the work or specialist studies that the students are involved in.
Absolute characteristics:
ESP is designed to meet specific needs of the learner;
ESP makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the disciplines it serves; and
ESP is centred on the language (grammar, lexis, register), skills, discourse and genres appropriate to these activities.
Variable characteristics:
ESP may be related or designed for specific disciplines; \
ESP may use, in specific teaching situations, a different methodology from that of general English;
ESP is likely to be designed for adult learners, either at a tertiary level institution or in a professional work situation; it could be used for learners at secondary school level;
ESP is generally designed for intermediate or advanced learners; and
Most ESP courses assume basic knowledge of the language system, but it can be used with beginners.
ESP is traditionally been divided into two main areas according to when they take place:
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) involving pre-experience, simultaneous/inservice and post-experience courses, and
English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) for study in a specific discipline (pre-study, in-study, and post-study) or as a school subject (independent or integrated).
Register
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting.
As with other types of language variation, there tends to be a spectrum of registers rather than a discrete set of obviously distinct varieties – numerous registers could be identified, with no clear boundaries between them.
Discourse categorisation is a complex problem, and even in the general definition of "register" given above (language variation defined by use not user), there are cases where other kinds of language variation, such as regional or age dialect, overlap.
Consequent to this complexity, scholarly consensus has not been reached for the definitions of terms including "register", "field" or "tenor"; different scholars' definitions of these terms are often in direct contradiction of each other.
Additional terms including diatype, genre, text types, style, acrolect, mesolect and basilect, among many others, may be used to cover the same or similar ground.
Some prefer to restrict the domain of the term "register" to a specific vocabulary, while others argue against the use of the term altogether.
These various approaches with their own "register", or set of terms and meanings, fall under disciplines including sociolinguistics, stylistics, pragmatics or systemic functional grammar.
Technical language
Technical language is the method of teaching practical skills rather than ideas about literature, art, etc.
Technical language is difficult for most people to understand because it is connected with one particular subject.
Technical language is much different from everyday vernacular, and it is even different from general academic language.
Language of ICT resources
Language education is an area where open-access resources, online courses, virtual classrooms and social networks based on information and communication technology (ICT) are being increasingly used to give learners access to information, promote interaction and communication, and enhance digital literacy skills.
However, the rapid development of tools and resources presents both opportunities and challenges.
In order to maximize the potential of ICT in language teaching, it is crucial that it is used in a pedagogically sound way that corresponds to the individual needs of the learners.
It is also important that the use of ICT is introduced and supported in a sustainable way and in a range of pedagogical approaches that promote lifelong learning.
Creative use of ICT in the classroom can promote inclusion and reflect cultural and linguistic diversity by enabling the learning environment to be extended beyond the physical.
Learners can showcase and share their work, which can promote cultural diversity, have positive motivational effects and raise self-esteem.
Up to date information relating to linguistic and cultural diversity can be made accessible to all.
Errors can easily be reversed encouraging experimentation and reducing anxiety about mistakes.
Auto correction or feedback (including spell checkers and grammar assistance) can encourage learner development and independence.
The best feedback scaffolds the learners’ next move as well as giving praise once a task has been successfully completed.
Writing can be redrafted without the stress of having to rewrite long paragraphs and material can be revisited as often as necessary.
Visual timetables familiarise learners with school routines, for example when to bring PE kit.
Computer games can help to develop study-buddy friendships.
Learners can work individually or with others at their own pace and return to a task at a later date. (software that has the facility for learner controlled repetition built in is particularly supportive).
Prepared by
Sabarish P
