Rocks, fishes and a slice of cake: a study into integrating and facilitating the development of academic literacy with a cohort of undergraduate students

Who are we: Alan Bradwell Academic Liaison Librarian: Education Senior Lecturer in Education Paulette Luff Module Leader: Areas of learning Theodora Papatheodorou Reader in Early Childhood Education

Aims of this paper Introduce the project Present our research methods / some findings Knowledge communities and academic literacy Future work

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

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

Skills development Downloading e-journal articles Identifying structure of article –Introduction –Methodology –Argument development –Conclusion Engaging with content Writing with academic voice

Providing feedback Academic style Engagement with content Balance between description and analysis

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

Timeline activity

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

Internal factors Positive Happiness Interest / enjoyment Experience Organisation Ambition Negative Limited motivation Boredom when reading Confusion Poor time management Lack of confidence

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

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

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

Module success

Comparison with last year’s cohort

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

Definitions for questions arising from findings Knowledge communities Epistemology (in terms of knowledge communities) Vygotsky, social contexts and learning / working with significant others

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?

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

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?

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

Combined support from formal knowledge communities so that … Students are working with: Expert others, who … Are conversant with the epistemologies of theory and practice communities whilst … Understanding epistemology of formal knowledge communities, and … Able to understand influence of informal knowledge communities, with the ability to Bring epistemologies together, to … Create a new epistemology, that: Enables students to make informed choice of entry to formal knowledge community, in a way that … Allows students to engage with discourse of theory and practice communities, enabling a valid and reliable … Testing of the mutual fitness of student and target knowledge community

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

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

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.

References Bruffee, K.A., 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., 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 Olson, M.R. and Craig, C.J., Opportunities and challenges in the development of teachers' knowledge: the development of narrative authority through knowledge communities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(6), pp SCONUL, Information skills in higher education: a SCONUL position paper. Prepared by the Information Skills Task Force on behalf of SCONUL. [WWW]. URL: (accessed ).