Hidden expectations: Scaffolding subject specialists' genre knowledge of the assignments they set

MCGRATH, Lisa, NEGRETTI, Raffaella and NICHOLLS, Karen (2019). Hidden expectations: Scaffolding subject specialists' genre knowledge of the assignments they set. Higher Education.

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Official URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-0...
Open Access URL: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs1... (Published version)
Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00373-9

Abstract

Subject specialists’ knowledge of academic and disciplinary literacy is often tacit. We tackle the issue of how to elicit subject specialists’ tacit knowledge in order to develop their pedagogical practices and enable them to communicate this knowledge to students. Drawing on theories of genre and metacognition, a professional development activity was designed and delivered. Our aims were to (1) build participants’ genre knowledge and (2) scaffold metacognitive awareness of how genre knowledge can enhance their pedagogical practices. The findings reveal that participants built a genre-based understanding of academic literacy and that the tasks provided them with an accessible framework to articulate and reflect upon their knowledge of disciplinary literacy. Participants gained metacognitive awareness of misalignments between what they teach and what they expect from students, their assumptions about students’ prior learning and genre-based strategies to adapt their practice to students’ needs. Our approach provides a theoretically grounded professional development tool for the HE sector.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 1301 Education Systems; 1303 Specialist Studies In Education; Education
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00373-9
SWORD Depositor: Symplectic Elements
Depositing User: Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited: 01 Mar 2019 12:10
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 03:27
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/24140

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