Ann Hewings

'It is interesting to note that …': a comparative study of anticipatory ‘it’ in student and published writing

The study of metadiscoursal components of academic texts, through which writers organise, interpret and evaluate content matter, provides one means of examining the relationship between writer and reader. This paper explores one grammatical feature of metadiscourse, clauses with an anticipatory it and extraposed subject (as in ‘It is interesting to note that no solution is offered’). This feature is compared in two computerised corpora of text, one consisting of published journal articles from the field of Business Studies and the second of MBA student dissertations written by non-native speakers of English. It-clauses are found to have four main interpersonal roles in hedging, marking the writers attitude, emphasis, and attribution. The main differences between the two corpora are in the use of it-clauses to persuade readers of the validity of claims, with student writers making an apparently greater and more overt persuasive effort, and stating propositions more forcefully. Proposals are made on why this might be the case, taking into account the different writer-reader relationships in journal articles and dissertations. Implications of the findings for the teaching of academic writing are presented.

Engaging Electronically: Using CMC to Develop Students' Argumentation Skills in Higher Education.

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 of ENGAGEMENT was employed. ENGAGEMENT comprises six sets of distinct linguistic resources that have been identified in the literature as playing an important role in the negotiation of ideas and attitudes. We compared the use of ENGAGEMENT across two different computer conference groups each employing a different style of tutoring as well as across the two different media (electronic conference discussions and individually written essays). By drawing on these sub-categories we were able to quantify the proportions of each type of resource used and so obtain evidence of students’ use of a particular set of argumentation skills, namely the way in which they engage with, and exchange, a range of perspectives on an issue. The pedagogic implications of these findings are discussed.

Using exchange structure analysis to explore argument in text‐based computer conferences

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‐face discussion, creating a need for specially designed schemes for analysis. This paper discusses some of the problems of analysing asynchronous argumentation, and puts forward an analytical framework based on exchange structure analysis, which brings a linguistic perspective to bear on the interaction. Key features of the framework are attention to both interactive and ideational aspects of the discussion, and the ability to track the dynamic construction of argument content. The paper outlines the framework itself, and discusses some of the findings afforded by this type of analysis, and its limitations.

Stance and Voice in Academic Discourse across Channels

Developments in technology are opening up new channels for written academic discourse, using electronic devices to supplement paper-based media. These interactive technologies become part of evolving academic literacy practices and affect both what writers and readers expect and is expected of them in high-stakes genres like essays and reports. The influence of electronic environments is reflected in overall generic structure, authorial voice and individual knowledge claims, as well as in how writers construct themselves and their arguments and create and disseminate their work (Lea and Jones, 2011).While traditionally crafted assignments – whether on paper or screen – are likely to maintain a strong status hierarchy between tutor (i.e. anyone with a teaching role) and student, interactive communication allows the flattening of such hierarchies through collaboration and the creation of different writer voices.

Constructing a discipline: pedagogically focused knowledge production in open and distance education

This paper explores the ways in which module and curriculum development in the context of a distance education (DE) programme play an important role in ‘constructing’ a discipline’s object of study, thus contributing to the ways in which knowledge is understood in society. The paper examines how the process of module production both reflects and shapes the discipline within which the module is positioned, and looks at the ways in which the collaborative approach of module design used in DE contexts facilitates a sustained engagement with the issues that constitute disciplinarity. The context for this examination is an undergraduate module introducing distance-learning students to the subject of English language, its state and status around the world. This module constitutes the equivalent of one semester of student work and integrates various pedagogical resources to provide a comprehensive introduction to the subject. The production process, with input from academics across the globe and the use of specially commissioned audio-visual materials examining the existence of English worldwide, represents an attempt to incorporate disciplinary expertise from a broad range of sources. In reflecting upon the processes of module creation and dissemination in a DE context, the paper offers insights into the practicalities of pedagogically focused disciplinary knowledge production.

The Routledge Handbook of English Language Studies

The Routledge Handbook of English Language Studies provides a comprehensive overview of English Language Studies. The book takes a three-pronged approach to examine what constitutes the phenomenon of the English language; why and in what contexts it is an important subject to study; and what the chief methodologies are that are used to study it. In 30 chapters written by leading scholars from around the world, this Handbook covers and critically examines: • English Language Studies as a discipline that is changing and evolving in response to local and global pressures; • definitions of English, including world Englishes, contact Englishes, and historical and colonial perspectives; • the relevance of English in areas such as teaching, politics and the media; • analysis of English situated in wider linguistics contexts, including psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and linguistic ethnography. The Routledge Handbook of English Language Studies is essential reading for researchers and students working in fields related to the teaching and study of the English language in any context.

English Language Studies: A Critical Appraisal

In this chapter we locate English Language Studies (ELS) in relation to other areas of the subject ‘English’, but significantly we also argue for the study of the English language as a highly effective socio-cultural and political lens on global and local issues relevant to education in the twenty-first century. From globalisation and superdiversity, through the relationship between language and nationalism, to an understanding of the dynamics of and attitudes towards diverse varieties of English, ELS provides opportunities for students and researchers to critically explore many of the big challenges facing societies today, while simultaneously addressing issues of communication at an individual level as both cultural artefact and skill. It can be conceptualised as a discipline in its own right, but it also draws on and contributes to debates in multiple other disciplines, and thus has an importance across curriculum areas. In illustrating the relevance of ELS as a discipline—as a partner within English Studies and in interdisciplinary combinations, and as a vehicle for communicative skills development—the chapter positions it as contributing a unique humanities-social sciences perspective to research and to educating students as global citizens.

Introduction: Futures for English Studies

English Studies, the term we use to cover English language, literature and creative writing, is a capacious subject that, over the years, has meant a variety of different things to different people, depending on cultural tradition and geographical context. Although generally perceived as a modern subject that only entered in the academy in the late nineteenth century (or even the early twentieth century, depending on how ‘arrival’ is judged), claims are sometimes made for ancient lineage through the links with rhetoric, links that are not merely of historical importance for, as we shall see at several points throughout this book, rhetoric continues to be a potent concept in discussions of current and future directions for the discipline. Meanwhile, in today’s globalised world, as social and academic landscapes undergo rapid changes, the fundamental position of the English language in the daily existence of millions of people around the world is effecting large-scale shifts in what is meant by ‘English Studies’ worldwide. At the time of writing, the British Council has just launched the world’s largest (so far) massive open online course, or MOOC, on ‘Techniques for English Language Tests’, with close on 400,000 students in over 150 countries.1 This is just one, highly specialised example of changing facets of English Studies as a discipline in the modern higher education sector.