Senior secondary English in New South Wales: Linguistic and epistemic perspectives
This thesis examines senior secondary English in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, assessing almost 80,000 students per annum via externally-set examinations, and, at the time of writing, transitioning from an old to new senior English syllabus. Previous research (e.g., Christie 1999, 2016; Christie & Derewianka, 2008; Christie & Macken-Horarik, 2011; Macken-Horarik, 2006; Rosser, 2000) has investigated subject English at various stages of its history by examining the development of curriculum documents, classroom discourse, and assessment practices; however, these three elements have not been considered concurrently. This thesis builds on this prior research by comparing the most recent NSW syllabi, from 2009 and 2018, and examining how syllabus requirements are realised through assessment practices and classroom discourse to provide a mutually informing account of subject English in theory and practice. Drawing on three data sources – the Rationale of the Stage 6 English syllabus, five student examination responses, and classroom and interview data – the linguistic and epistemic requirements of subject English are explored, using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) as theoretical frameworks. Analysis revealed that subject English values both knowledge (of language and literature) and knowers (as sensitive and appreciative readers), and that students are required to demonstrate both knowledge and dispositions through carefully controlled writing in the essay form. These findings were generally congruent with earlier research into the nature of the discipline (e.g., Davison, 2005), emphasising the importance of the duality of both knowledge and knower structures, rather than one or the other. Analysis of classroom data suggested that students appear to be cognisant of these requirements but were often resistant to dominant readings of texts, and struggled to demonstrate their knowledge in the required ways. Classroom discussions tended to progress from understanding the text, to exploring thematic concerns, to writing and assessment strategies. Writing needed to demonstrate knowledge of language and literature, but also required clear organisation and flair. This thesis contributes to the scholarly understanding of subject English by noting that the tensions which have existed throughout the subject’s history continue to exist in its modern state, highlighting the importance of recognising the subject as both language and literature, and the need to make not just the requirements, but the linguistic means to meet these requirements, more visible to students. Implications for pedagogy include the need for teachers to ensure adequate modelling and scaffolding for writing in appropriate styles, ensuring students have the necessary literacy skills to demonstrate their knowledge in ways that are valued by the subject. Implications for theory include further developing SFL’s account of Tenor in order to more systematically examine social controls on writing and considering systematic ways to combine LCT dimensions in order to produce mutually informative accounts of structures and practices in disciplines.
Subject english, Systemic functional linguistics, legitimation code theory, Curriculum, Assessment
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