Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research

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dc.contributor.authorPaxton, Moraghen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-28T14:10:11Z
dc.date.available2014-10-28T14:10:11Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.descriptionThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Research & Development on 16 May 2012, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07294360.2011.634382.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAcademic literacies research has been identified as an emerging but significant field in higher education. This article extends the discussions around methodology in academic literacies research by drawing on the current text and context debates in sociolinguistics and linguistic ethnography. It uses illustrations from a recent academic literacies research project to reflect on methodology and to emphasise the importance of a prolonged engagement with participants' writing practices and experiences as well as the collection and analysis of a range of types of data to allow the researcher to become more familiar with the context. Methods such as allowing students to interpret their own writing, classroom observation and students' written literacy histories gave the researcher real insights into the way students made connections to their own familiar contexts in order to learn. The research also highlighted the manner in which communication between students and teaching staff can break down because teachers misinterpret student utterances when they do not understand or know the contexts that the students are drawing on. At the same time, however, the researcher sounds some caution about the use of dialogue in ethnographic methodologies because communication is a two-way process and allocation of linguistic resources has been unequal. Therefore, where students' resources do not match the context, they may struggle to communicate with the interviewer and to interpret their written texts. In these cases, interviewees who are first language speakers from privileged schooling backgrounds may be able to contextualise and interpret their writing more fully than interviewees who are speakers of English as a second or foreign language and who come from poorer rural schools.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPaxton, M. (2012). Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research. <i>Higher Education Research & Development</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8871en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPaxton, Moragh "Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research." <i>Higher Education Research & Development</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8871en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPaxton, M. 2012. Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research. Higher Education Research & Development.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0729-4360en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Paxton, Moragh AB - Academic literacies research has been identified as an emerging but significant field in higher education. This article extends the discussions around methodology in academic literacies research by drawing on the current text and context debates in sociolinguistics and linguistic ethnography. It uses illustrations from a recent academic literacies research project to reflect on methodology and to emphasise the importance of a prolonged engagement with participants' writing practices and experiences as well as the collection and analysis of a range of types of data to allow the researcher to become more familiar with the context. Methods such as allowing students to interpret their own writing, classroom observation and students' written literacy histories gave the researcher real insights into the way students made connections to their own familiar contexts in order to learn. The research also highlighted the manner in which communication between students and teaching staff can break down because teachers misinterpret student utterances when they do not understand or know the contexts that the students are drawing on. At the same time, however, the researcher sounds some caution about the use of dialogue in ethnographic methodologies because communication is a two-way process and allocation of linguistic resources has been unequal. Therefore, where students' resources do not match the context, they may struggle to communicate with the interviewer and to interpret their written texts. In these cases, interviewees who are first language speakers from privileged schooling backgrounds may be able to contextualise and interpret their writing more fully than interviewees who are speakers of English as a second or foreign language and who come from poorer rural schools. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Higher Education Research & Development KW - academic literacies research KW - contextualisation KW - ethnography KW - methodology KW - voice LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 SM - 0729-4360 T1 - Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research TI - Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8871 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8871
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPaxton M. Student voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies research. Higher Education Research & Development. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8871.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherTaylor & Francisen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDean's Office: CHEDen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyCentre for Higher Education Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.sourceHigher Education Research & Developmenten_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2011.634382en_ZA
dc.subjectacademic literacies researchen_ZA
dc.subjectcontextualisationen_ZA
dc.subjectethnographyen_ZA
dc.subjectmethodologyen_ZA
dc.subjectvoiceen_ZA
dc.titleStudent voice as a methodological issue in academic literacies researchen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourcePostprinten_ZA
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