Using critical discourse analysis as a methodology for analysis, this paper sets out the nature and form of the challenges directed to the compulsory schooling sector by the knowledge economy that is contained in key policy and related documents put out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD) the World Bank and the UK…

Examined 4- and 5-year-olds' drawing in context of a game in which they and their mothers took turns creating pictures of farm animals for each other to identify. Found that mothers and children often talked about their drawings, and many aspects of these conversations related to microgenetic changes in the sophistication of children's pictures.…

This study explores the ways in which academic writers employ expressions of attitude in the construction of evaluative stance in the introductory sections of research papers. The study draws on the theoretical base of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday, 1994, Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), and in particular on Appraisal theory as a…

In this project, narrative was constructed by Grade 5 students using learning technologies (cameras, computers and multimedia software) through three-dimensional cartoon animations, or "claymation", and the creativity that emerged was at times startling. Narrative need not be interpreted narrowly and monomodally. It emerged that…

A great deal has been written about the ways in which lawyers' questioning strategies, particularly during cross-examination, may be considered coercive and intimidating for witnesses, even potentially contributing to the wrongful acquittal of guilty defendants. The primary focus of analytical attention in identifying such practices has been the…

This paper describes the contribution the analysis of visual design can make to a critical reading of educational texts. Drawing on recent work on visual design, the paper analyses the composition of a newspaper advertisement seeking responses to an educational report. It illustrates the way elements of composition work to present a particular…

Doctoral students' research presentations were investigated for the way in which the students articulated their rationales for data selection for their research projects. Rather than look for genre-related characteristics, though still working within the area of academic discourse (spoken), the objective of this study was to identify a set of…

This paper aims to improve the understanding of some aspects of campus life faced by a mature student and to help inform institutional strategies for enhancing student retention. The "fit" between students' production of their own identity and their perception of the successful student (both academically and socially) in their…

This study examined group knowledge in three school boards, which we conceptualised as a phenomenon influenced by structural/political and social/relational elements and composed of affective, axiological, and cognitive dimensions. Several data collection techniques were used: surveys, conversation analysis, observation, and the Critical Decision…

As university teachers we find ourselves grappling with the increasingly diverse legacies of students' prior pedagogic experiences--some of which seem to work against the quality intellectual outcomes now demanded from higher education. In this context, this paper reports a descriptive study of pedagogy created for Chinese students in a mainstream…

Among the many possible aspects to assessing writing, one of the most problematic is coherence. The problems with marking coherence arise because it is by nature subjective. However, the reasonable probability of several readers reaching a consensus concerning the coherence of a text suggests that it may be possible to assign relatively reliable…

This paper discusses the possibility of using newspaper genres and genre-based pedagogy to teach intermediate ESL learners to write school genres. Students' typical writing problems reveal the inadequacy of the typical composition classroom instruction. Then two texts regarded as typical representations of the editorial and the school…

This article considers the discourses used by students, mainstream lecturers and academic development lecturers in their evaluations of language interventions at Technikon Natal from 1991 to 2002. The discourses under scrutiny are those of academic literacy: the beliefs, attitudes, values and norms necessary for "epistemological access to…

Although a number of word-frequency lists exist in German, there is an absence of studies investigating the relative frequency with which various grammatical structures are used. Traditionally, extended modifiers have been most prevalent in written German. Based on an analysis of authentic radio news broadcasts, this article makes the case that…

Using a framework based on conversation analysis (Auer, 1984, 1995, 1998), this article presents an analysis of learner code-switching between L1 and L2 in an advanced foreign language (FL) classroom. It was found that students code-switch not only as a fallback method when their knowledge of the L2 fails them, or for other participant-related…