Embedded literacy: Knowledge as meaning

► Analysing field as activity sequence, composition and classification. ► The nature of field in (science) biology and (humanities) history. ► Power words, power grammar and power composition as teaching tools for cumulative learning. ► The relation of field analysis in SFL to LCT's concept of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Linguistics and education 2013-04, Vol.24 (1), p.23-37
Main Author: Martin, J.R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Classification
Discourse
Discourse Analysis
Field
Grammar
History
Language Variation
Linguistic Theory
Literacy
Pedagogy
Power
Role
Secondary School Students
Semantics
SFL
Writing (Composition)
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Summary:► Analysing field as activity sequence, composition and classification. ► The nature of field in (science) biology and (humanities) history. ► Power words, power grammar and power composition as teaching tools for cumulative learning. ► The relation of field analysis in SFL to LCT's concept of semantic wave. This paper takes as point of departure the register variable field, and explores its application to the discourse of History and Biology in secondary school classrooms from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics. In particular it considers the functions of technicality and abstraction in these subject specific discourses, and their relation to the high stakes reading and writing expected from students. The paper shows how the practical concepts of power words, power grammar and power composition can be developed from this work as tools for teachers to use for purposes of knowledge building. Specific attention is paid to the role of specialised composition and classification taxonomies and activity sequences in specialised fields, and the relation of this valeur to the concept of semantic density in Legitimation Code Theory.
ISSN:0898-5898
1873-1864
DOI:10.1016/j.linged.2012.11.006