Exploring college English teaching of rhetorical knowledge: A Legitimation Code Theory analysis

Abstract

Despite a voluminous literature addressing English language teaching, the explorations focused on knowledge-building are rather limited in number. This is particularly the case with China’s tertiary English education. Unlike existing research, this study investigated Chinese college English teachers’ knowledge-building about rhetorical figures by drawing on the ideas of Autonomy and Semantics in Legitimation Code Theory. Designed as sequential mixed-method research with a development purpose, the study takes as its analytical data the pedagogic discourse generated in the finals of China’s National College English Teaching Context. It was found that the knowledge practices about rhetorical figures vary, for one thing, in their likelihood of shifting to introjected codes and returning to the initial sovereign code and the motivations for their possible drift into exotic codes; and for another, in whether they are unpacking-oriented, repacking-oriented, or unpacking-and-repacking-integrated. With this, the study demonstrated how varied knowledge practices in English language teaching or English-medium teaching can be portrayed, distinguished and explicated in terms of autonomy and semantic code shifts and by reference to their display of autonomy pathways and semantic profiles. The study also makes contributions by actualizing the perspectival complementarity between Autonomy and Semantics in describing and interpreting pedagogic practices, shedding light on the design and improvement of knowledge-building in both English language teaching and disciplinary teaching, and highlighting the necessity of developing non-native English teachers’ metalinguistic awareness of Legitimation Code Theory and systemic functional linguistics.

Keywords

autonomy pathways college English teaching knowledge-building Legitimation Code Theory rhetorical figures semantic profiles

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bernstein

(1990). Class, codes and control: Volume 5: The structuring of pedagogic discourse. London: Routledge.

Blackie

M.A.L.

(2014). Creating semantic waves: Using Legitimation Code Theory as a tool to aid the teaching of chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 15, 462–469.

Boers

(2000). Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention. Applied Linguistics, 21, 553–571.

Boers

(2011). Cognitive semantic ways of teaching figurative phrases. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 9, 227–261.

Brooke

(2017). Using ‘semantic waves’ to guide students through the research process: From adopting a stance to sound cohesive academic writing. Asian Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 7, 37–66.

Chen

Y.C.

(2019). Teaching figurative language to EFL learners: An evaluation of metaphoric mapping instruction. The Language Learning Journal, 47, 49–63.

Christie

(2016). Secondary school English literary studies: Cultivating a knower code. In Maton

Hood

Shay

(Eds.), Knowledge-building: Educational studies in Legitimation Code Theory (pp. 158–175). London: Routledge.

Christie

Macken-Horarik

(2007). Building verticality in subject English. In Christie

Martin

J.R.

(Eds.), Language, knowledge and pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives (pp. 156–183). London: Continuum.

Clarence

(2016). Exploring the nature of disciplinary teaching and learning using Legitimation Code Theory semantics. Teaching in Higher Education, 21, 123–137.

10.

Doiz

Elizari

(2013). Metaphoric competence and the acquisition of figurative vocabulary in foreign language learning. ELIA, 13, 47–82.

11.

Gao

L.Q.

Meng

G.H.

(2010). A study on the effect of metaphor awareness raising on Chinese EFL learners’ vocabulary acquisition and retention. Canadian Social Science, 6, 110–124.

12.

Halliday

M.A.K.

(1978). Language as social semiotic. Arnold: London.

13.

Halliday

M.A.K.

(2015). Selected works of M. A. K. Halliday on applied linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

14.

Halliday

M.A.K.

Matthiessen

C.M.I.M

. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar. Oxford: Routledge.

15.

Halliday

M.A.K.

Webster

(2007). Language and education. London: Continuum.

16.

Jackson

(2016). Unravelling high school English literature pedagogic practices: A Legitimation Code Theory analysis. Language and Education, 30, 536–553.

17.

Z.Z.

Wang

W.L.

(2018). Observing English classes in the perspective of Legitimation Code Theory. Journal of Beijing International Studies University, 2, 100–113.

18.

Macken-Horarik

(2014). Making productive use of four models of school English: A case study revisited. English in Australia, 49, 7–19.

19.

Macnaught

Maton

J.R.

Matruglio

(2013). Jointly constructing semantic waves: Implications for teacher training. Linguistics and Education, 24, 50–63.

20.

Martin

J.R.

Maton

(2017). Systemic functional linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory on education: Rethinking field and knowledge structure. Onomázein, 2017, Número especial LSF y TCL sobre educación y conocimiento [LSF and TCL special issue on education and knowledge], 12–45.

21.

Maton

(2009). Cumulative and segmented learning: Exploring the role of curriculum structures in knowledge-building. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30, 43–57.

22.

Maton

(2013). Making semantics waves: A key to cumulative knowledge-building. Linguistics and Education, 24, 8–22.

23.

Maton

(2014a). Knowledge and knowers: Towards a realist sociology of education. New York: Routledge.

24.

Maton

(2014b). A tall order? Legitimation Code Theory for academic language and learning. Journal of Academic Language and Learning, 8, 34–48.

25.

Maton

Chen

R.T.H.

(2016). LCT in qualitative research: Creating a translation device for studying constructivist pedagogy. In Maton

Hood

Shay

(Eds.), Knowledge-building: Educational studies in Legitimation Code Theory (pp. 27–48). London: Routledge.

26.

Maton

Doran

Y.J.

(2017a). SFL and code theory. In Bartlett

O’Grady

(Eds.), The Routledge systemic functional linguistic handbook (pp. 605–618). London: Routledge.

27.

Maton

Doran

Y.J.

(2017b). Semantic density: A translation device for revealing complexity of knowledge practices in discourse, Part 1: Wording. Onomázein, 2017, Número especial LSF y TCL sobre educación y conocimiento [LSF and TCL special issue on education and knowledge], 46–76.

28.

Maton

Howard

S.K.

(2018). Taking autonomy tours: A key to integrative knowledge-building. LCT Centre Occasional Paper, 1, 1–35.

29.

Maton

Howard

S.K.

(2020). Autonomy: The next phase of dialogue between systemic functional linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory. Journal of World Languages. Epub ahead of print 31 January 2020. DOI: 10.1080/21698252.2020.1720160.

30.

Maton

Hood

Shay

(Eds.) (2016). Knowledge-building: Educational studies in Legitimation Code Theory. London: Routledge.

31.

Maton

Martin

J.R.

Matruglio

(2016). LCT and systemic functional linguistics: Enacting complementary theories for explanatory power. In Maton

Hood

Shay

(Eds.), Knowledge-building: Educational studies in Legitimation Code Theory (pp. 93–113). London: Routledge.

32.

McQuarrie

E.F.

Mick

D.G.

(1996). Figures of rhetoric in advertising language. Journal of Consumer Research, 22, 424–439.

33.

Moore

Schleppegrell

Sullivan

(2018). Discovering disciplinary linguistic knowledge with English learners and their teachers: Applying systemic functional linguistics concepts through design-based research. TESOL Quarterly, 52, 1022–1049.

34.

Mouton

Archer

(2019). Legitimation Code Theory to facilitate transition from high school to first-year biology. Journal of Biological Education, 53, 2–20.

35.

Riazi

A.M.

(2016). The Routledge encyclopedia of research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research. New York: Routledge.

36.

Schleppegrell

M.J.

(2013). The role of metalanguage in supporting academic language development. Language Learning, 63, 153–170.

37.

Smith

(2006). Rhetorical figures and the translation of advertising headlines. Language and Literature, 15, 159–182.

38.

Veliz

(2017). Enhancing ESL learners’ vocabulary learning of metaphorically-used words. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8, 835–846.

39.

Zhang

D.L.

Qin

J.Y.

(2016). The theory of semantic wave and its role in analyzing and constructing teachers’ discourse. Foreign Language Education, 37, 52–55.

40.

Zhang

Y.M.

(2016). A cumulative teaching model of English reading based on SFL and LCT. Foreign Language and Literature, 33, 132–139.