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Rocks, fishes and a slice of cake:
a study into integrating andfacilitating the development of
academic literacy with a cohort ofundergraduate students
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Who are we:• Alan Bradwell
Academic Liaison Librarian: EducationSenior Lecturer in [email protected]
• Paulette LuffModule Leader: Areas of [email protected]
• Theodora PapatheodorouReader in Early Childhood [email protected]
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Aims of this paper• Introduce the project
• Present our research methods / some findings
• Knowledge communities and academic literacy
• Future work
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The Project
Four ways to develop students’ academic literacy:– Structured support for reading 3 research articles– Engaging with skills’ development– Feedback on academic writing styles– Qualitative data gathering embedded in learning
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Structured support
Reading 1– Guidance on downloading– Written guidance on analysis from year 1
Reading 2– Guidance on request for downloading– Tutor facilitated ‘jigsaw’ group reading
• Reading 3– Guidance on request for downloading– No further guidance on analysis
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Skills development
• Downloading e-journal articles• Identifying structure of article
– Introduction– Methodology– Argument development– Conclusion
• Engaging with content• Writing with academic voice
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Providing feedback
• Academic style
• Engagement with content
• Balance between description and analysis
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Data gathering methods
• Designed for use in research undertaken for development and change (Rossi 2005)
• Rocks and fish
• Timeline of an activity
• A slice of cake
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Timeline activity
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Presenting some findings
• More questions than answers!
• The most fruitful outcome is the debate
• Qualitative data (from the exercises)
• Quantitative data (module outcomes)
• Findings from the three readings
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Internal factors
Positive• Happiness• Interest / enjoyment• Experience• Organisation• Ambition
Negative• Limited motivation• Boredom when reading• Confusion • Poor time management• Lack of confidence
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External factors
Positive• Family and friends• Talking to colleagues• Space and time• Praise / encouragement • Weather!
Negative• Family and friends• Social lives• Lack of time• Work commitments• Illness / personal
problems
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Factors associated with literacy
Positive• Help / support• Guidance and feedback• Previous coursework• Life / work experience• Resources
Negative • Difficulties reading• Problems with writing• Can’t identify information• Find analysis difficult• Lack of critical
understanding
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University / course factors
Positive• Library• University services• Tutor support• Having information• Knowing deadlines
Negative• Lack of guidance• Understanding the
module guide• Unclear expectations• Irrelevant activities
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Module success
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1st Lower2nd
Referral
Previous module
Project module
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Comparison with last year’s cohort
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1st u 2nd l 2nd 3rd refer
2005
2006
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Findings from 3 readings
Students engaged with:• Structure• Lessons to be learned for work with children
Did not draw on other readings to:• Critique research methodology• Did not engage in discourse with theories of early
childhood
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Definitions for questions arising from findings
• Knowledge communities
• Epistemology (in terms of knowledge communities)
• Vygotsky, social contexts and learning / working with significant others
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Knowledge communities• Producing knowledge for common goal (Bruffee, 1999)• Place of safety to produce common knowledge (Olsen and Craig, 2001)
• Students within knowledge communities of:– Early childhood theory– Early childhood practice– University– Faculty– Library– Study support services– Peers– Family– Work– …
• Within which will the student feel safe?
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Epistemology• What counts as knowledge and how it is generated
– Within each knowledge community• Students are formally taught in:
– Faculty– Library– Study support
• Engaging with the knowledge of target knowledge community:– Early childhood theory– Early childhood practice
• In a student experience affected by informal learning of:– Peers– Family– Work– Media– Other?
• How do various epistemologies come together in terms of the student experience?• Community in which student feels confident to be challenged will be one that influences her/his
generation of knowledge• But will this coincide with student’s target theory and / or practice community
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Vygotsky
Zone of proximal development:
• Students working with more expert others are likely to achieve at a higher level than if they work independently
• In students’ preferred knowledge community, who do they work with - more expert others or more influential others?
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Expand to academic literacy?
Based on Lea and Street (2000)
• Study skills based on deficit• Socialisation into academic discourse• Negotiating access to target knowledge
community
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Proactive and facilitative support
• Identify relevant knowledge communities• Experts in epistemology of each community• Define how each is important• Evaluate in terms of students’ target knowledge
community• Design support and services so that students:
– Engage with what is important from each community– Can operate within their target community
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Conclusions
• Embedded support, within modules, is appreciated and potentially effective
• Need further research to discover useful methods for promoting academic literacy
• Students have to be active participants
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Future research
To participate with colleagues and students to find and evaluate ways to enable students to become thoughtful members of their chosen knowledge community / communities.
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References• Bruffee, K.A., 1999. Collaborative learning: higher education, interdependence, and
the authority of knowledge. 2nd edn. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press. • Lea, M.R. and Street, B.V., 2000. Student writing and staff feedback in Higher
Education: an academic literacies approach. In: M.R. Lea and B. Stierer, eds, Student writing in Higher Education: new contexts. Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press, pp. 32-46.
• Olson, M.R. and Craig, C.J., 2001. Opportunities and challenges in the development of teachers' knowledge: the development of narrative authority through knowledge communities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(6), pp. 667-684.
• SCONUL, 1999. Information skills in higher education: a SCONUL position paper. Prepared by the Information Skills Task Force on behalf of SCONUL. [WWW]. URL: http:''www.sconul.ac.uk/activities/inf_lit/seven_pillars.html (accessed 24.2.2006).
