Masters Degrees (Languages, Linguistics and Academic Literacy)

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An exploration of the contribution of critical discourse analysis to curriculum development.
(1997) Luckett, Kathleen Margaret.; Chick, John Keith.
This dissertation explores the contribution of critical discourse analysis (CDA) using functional systemic grammar (FSG) to curriculum development in historical studies at university level. The study is premised on an acceptance of Habermas' (1972) theory of knowledge constitutive interests which claims that all knowledge is "interested" and which, on the basis of different interests, identifies three paradigms for knowledge construction. I make use of these paradigms to describe different approaches to curriculum development, to language teaching and to historical studies. I make the value judgement that curriculum development conducted within the hermeneutic and critical paradigms is educationally more valid than that conducted within the traditionalist paradigm; and that this is particularly so for disciplines such as historical studies, which involve the interpretation of texts. Furthermore, I suggest that the epistemological assumptions and the pedagogy of historical studies have developed within the traditionalist paradigm and that postmodernist perspectives pose a challenge to these epistemological foundations. In response, I suggest that the development of a "post-positivist" approach to historical studies within the hermeneutic and critical paradigms may provide a practically feasible and morally defensible strategy for the teaching of history. But this approach involves understanding history as discursive practice and therefore requires a method of discourse analysis in order to "do history". I therefore develop a method of critical discourse analysis for application to historical studies, which uses Halliday's functional systemic grammar (FSG) for the formal analysis of texts. The applied aspect of this dissertation involves a small staff development project, in which I worked with a group of historians to explore the application of the method of CDA to four selected historical texts (using the post-positivist approach to historical studies). I also designed four critical language awareness exercises to demonstrate how the method might be adapted for student use. The findings of my own explorations and of the staff development project are as follows: Firstly, I suggest that the staff development project was successful in that it provided a stimulating and dialogic context for the historians to reflect on their own theory and practice as researchers and teachers of history. Furthermore, I suggest that the method of CDA developed in this study provides a theoretically adequate and practically feasible methodology for post-positivist historical studies. This claim is in part confirmed by the historians' appreciation of the text analyses done using the method. However, the staff development project showed that the method is demanding for non-linguists, largely due to the effort and time required to master the terminology and techniques of FSG. In this sense the staff development project failed to achieve its full potential because it did not provide the historians with sufficient opportunities to learn and practice the techniques of FSG. The CLA materials prepared for students were positively evaluated by the historians, who felt that they demonstrate an accessible and feasible way of introducing CDA to history students. (However, these materials will only be properly evaluated when they are used in the classroom.) Finally, I conclude that this application of CDA to historical studies meets the criteria for curriculum development within the hermeneutic paradigm and that it holds out possibilities for emancipatory practice within the critical paradigm. Secondly, I conclude that the application of CDA to the discourses of other academic disciplines holds enormous promise for work in staff and curriculum development. This study shows how CDA can be used to demonstrate how the epistemological assumptions of a discipline are encoded in the grammar and structure of its discourse. The insights provided by CDA used in this way could be invaluable for a "discourse-across-the-curriculum" approach to staff development at a university.
An investigation into the classroom related schemata of trainee teachers educated at racially segregated schools.
(1997) Ralfe, Elizabeth Mary.; Chick, John Keith.
This thesis reports on an investigation of the schemata of trainee teachers from a range of different ethnic and language groups in KwaZulu-Natal who had been educated in racially segregated school systems. Informed by the insight that schemata are the products of life experience and that they constrain linguistic choices (see Tannen 1979), it was hypothesised at the outset that different ethnic groups have some different assumptions of what constitutes appropriate classroom behaviour and that this schematic knowledge is reflected in the surface linguistic forms used by teachers and pupils in classroom discourse. These differences in schemata could have unfortunate consequences for pupils of a different ethnic group from their teacher, and, in particular, those pupils from historically disempowered groups. Data was collected using an eclectic mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Firstly, students responded to a questionnaire which elicited responses concerning pupil and teacher roles. This was followed by interviews with selected student teachers during which they were asked to comment on those statements in the questionnaire which exhibited the greatest differences between respondents who attended schools administered by racially different educational authorities. Finally, a story recall experiment was conducted. Respondents/subjects were all trainee teachers at a multi-racial college of education. The analyses of the findings of the quantitative questionnaire revealed significant differences between subjects from different education systems. The interview data, however, revealed that the differences were less marked than the findings of the questionnaire suggested. The analyses of the recall experiment suggested that while some differences between the subjects who had attended schools administered by racially segregated authorities do exist, these are not as great as initially hypothesised. Teachers need to be made aware of the problems inherent in cross-cultural encounters, and this awareness should be extended to pupils. This awareness, together with goodwill, should ensure that pupils having different schemata from their teacher and/or other pupils in the classroom will not be disadvantaged.
An investigation of the representation of females in a popular magazine directed at teenagers.
(2002) Rambaran, Anusha Dayaram.; Chick, John Keith.
In this study I investigate gender representations in a South African magazine directed at a teenage female readership. It begins with a survey of sociolinguistic understandings of the relationship between language and gender, and of critical linguistic insights into how gender and gender relations are constructed through discourse. This is followed by the Critical Discourse Analysis of selected texts from the magazine. These analyses reveal that the writers draw on conventional representations of women and conventional social relations between men and women to perpetuate subordinate roles for woman in a male-dominated society. On the basis of this evidence I suggest that such magazines serve as instruments of social control in a patriarchal society by positioning women as being overwhelmingly concerned with their personal appearance and with developing and sustaining relationships with the opposite sex. I also point to the ways in which the writers have drawn on representations of femininity to position the readership as consumers, thereby serving the interests of the capitalist modes of production. This study concludes with suggestions on how the findings can be used to implement Critical Language Awareness in the classroom.
A sociolinguistic investigation of sources of interactional asynchrony and synchrony in intercultural medical consultations in the medium of English in an urban setting in South Africa.
(1995) Waterfall, Elizabeth Mary.; Chick, John Keith.
This thesis examines sources of interactional asynchrony and synchrony in intercultural medical consultations between South African English speaking doctors and Zulu-English speaking patients in an urban setting in South Africa. It employs, principally, the theory and methods of Interactional Sociolinguistics to identify and describe sources of asynchrony and synchrony in medical encounters. The thesis provides a review of the South African and international literature relevant to the analysis of doctor-patient interaction. Having noted the significant absence of research that utilizes a model of language use such as Interactional Sociolinguistics, the author reviews South African and international interactional sociolinguistic research literature with a view to identifying an appropriate research framework for the analysis of selected medical consultations. The thesis reports the findings of the fine-grained analyses of three consultations. The societal consequences of the asynchrony evident in two of the consultations are explored drawing, in particular, on insights provided by Critical Language Study. The relative synchrony of the third consultation is traced to the participants' use of positive politeness strategies to generate the "co-membership" of maleness. The significance of this discovery is explored in some depth. Finally, attention is given to further research possibilities arising from the present study.

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Languages, Linguistics and Academic Literacy) by Author "Chick, John Keith."