Caroline Coffin

... Film Studies Thesis Caroline Coffin Abstract In academic writing, referencing sources is more than just a strategy for demonstrating scholarship. In thesis writing, for example, it plays an important role in making the writer's argument persuasive. ...

In contemporary educational contexts there is considerable variation in how argumentation works and what forms and styles it takes. Influencing factors include the educational purpose and task, the level of education, and the discipline or curriculum subject in which it occurs. This paper offers a theoretical framework and a set of multimodal analytical tools which can provide a rich and systematic account of such variation. Using naturalistic data from three different educational sites I illustrate how such a framework reveals the diverse ways in which students use language and other modes of meaning making as they engage in processes of argumentation. In particular, I consider how new technologies have caused shifts in the distribution of meaning across different semiotic modes (such as visual images, space, colour and graphics) and how this impacts upon both argumentation process and product. The educational implications of such changes are also considered.

The increasing use of computers to enable or replace face-to-face tutorial discussion groups in higher education is creating a new form of academic writing. This small-scale study of 43 students and three tutors identifies ways in which students present their opinions in a forum which allows greater time for reflection, but also creates a permanent record. The notion of collaborative learning in computer conferencing militates against taking a strong, possibly controversial, stance. Opinions are therefore hedged, or located in the peer discourse community rather than the individual. Through a corpus analysis of the use of the pronouns I, we and it we identify ways in which student writers are representing themselves and their views in both computer conferences and in single-authored essays. A powerful authorial voice was often associated not with the individual I, but with the collective we. In their single-authored essays, students drew upon the consensual voice developed in the conference discussion to support their personal points of view. In both genres, students made use of impersonal it-clauses, but frequently preceded them by personal frames such as I think, thereby resisting the impersonal, but powerful, voice of much academic discourse. This paper contributes to our developing understanding of evolving student writing practices in disciplinary settings.

Abstract  The ability to argue is an important academic goal in secondary education. This paper reports on an exploratory study which investigated how asynchronous text-based conferencing provides a new site for school students to rehearse and develop their skills in argumentation. The study used linguistic tools of analysis to investigate two key questions:• How is argumentation structured in asynchronous text-based conferencing?• How do students use language to negotiate their position on an issue?How is argumentation structured in asynchronous text-based conferencing?How do students use language to negotiate their position on an issue?The originality of our study lies in the use of a functional linguistic method of analysis which provides unique insights into how students use language to argue, insights that can inform teaching and learning both in school history (the context for this paper) and more generally. Our interest in language is based on the premise that it is central to the learning process – a premise supported by work in socio-cultural psychology and systemic functional linguistics.The most significant findings to emerge from the analysis were that (1) counter-argumentation was rare; and (2b) the more tentatively a claim is phrased the more likely it is that students will challenge or counter it.

... Interdisciplinary Research Centre: Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET). Item ID: 27966. Depositing User: Kieran O'Halloran. Date Deposited: 10 Feb 2011 11:04. Last Modified: 10 Feb 2011 11:04. URI: http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/27966. ...

This article explores the way in which language teachers can diagnose language learners' competence from both a sociocultural and linguistic perspective. Using two sample 'letters of complaint', the article first considers competence in terms of how well the writers organize and structure ...

... ' 'This constitution would make us lose an important part of that independence. We absolutely must have a referendum.' Patrick Minford, professor of economics at Cardiff University, said: 'This could easily put another two million on the unemployment register. ' ...

Argumentation can be defined at different levels and serve different purposes, but its role in knowledge understanding and construction has given it a central place in education, particularly at tertiary level. The advent of computer-supported text-based conferences has created new sites where such educational dialogues can take place, but the quality of the interaction and whether it is serving its educational purpose is still uncertain. This paper reports on a framework of analysis that has been developed to illuminate the arguing process within an asynchronous electronic conferencing environment, showing how it is both similar to, and different from, argumentation in the more traditional forums of multi-party, face-to-face discussion and traditional written essays. The framework develops earlier work by the authors and is applied to two electronic conferences within the same postgraduate course, comparing overall patterns of argumentation. Findings are presented on the extent to which the technology of electronic conferencing shapes and supports students’ participation in academic literacy practices relating to argumentation, proposing, at the same time, that the teaching strategy adopted by the lecturer is also an important variable.

Computer conferencing provides a new site for students to develop and rehearse argumentation skills, but much remains to be learnt about how to encourage and support students in this environment. Asynchronous text-based discussion differs in significant ways from face-to-...

The study reported on here explores the claim that computer conferencing is a valuable environment for students to rehearse academic debates and arguments which can then be drawn on in their written assignments. In order to carry out the exploration, the functional linguistic concept ...

Non native speakers of English wishing to study at tertiary level in English speaking countries are increasingly required to prove their English language competence by taking an internationally recognised test such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS). This article reports on the analysis of a corpus of scripts written in response to a section of the IELTS test requiring students to write a short argument essay. The analysis focuses on the range of argument structures deployed by students, aiming to establish the extent to which particular strategies are associated with the band score awarded for the task. The article also considers possible effects of the design of the test on student responses.

This paper will offer a discussion of the literature concerning multimodality, orchestration and participation related to classroom use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB). Specifically, it will explore the place, or potential use, of the IWB to resource a multimodal approach to teaching and learning, emphasising the complex connections that need acknowledging when viewing the IWB in context. Comments on the IWB’s effectiveness or otherwise, however, are beyond the scope of this paper. Conceptions of the role of language in mediating other modes and media, in terms of its centrality or complementarity, will necessarily be addressed by considering activities such as classroom talk aligned to other resources. The role of various actors (including teachers and learners) in designing, orchestrating and interpreting multimodal material will be considered. Whilst recognising the substantial debate regarding multimodality as an analytic lens, the discussion will focus on multimodality in terms of materials used in the classroom.

'The individual consumer, the learner of history, is offered an impressive array of discursive products geared to catch his or her attention, to persuade him or her of the truth of whatever message is transmitted' (Blanco and Rosa 1997: 197). In this article I examine these discursive ...

... Clare Painter University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia ... McAteer, Tolmie, Duffy and Corbett (1997) point out that the social context may make it difficult for tutors to participate in discussions without taking on a directive role that may limit the interaction to formalized ...