Lessons of the local: primary English and the relay of curriculum knowledge.

Lessons of the local: primary English and the relay of curriculum knowledge. This paper reflects upon the implementation of the current NSW NSWNew South WalesNoun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfareNaval Special Warfare English primary Syllabus A headnote; a short note preceding the text of a reported case that briefly summarizes the rulings of the court on the points decided in the case.The syllabus appears before the text of the opinion. (Board of Studies, NSW, 1998); in particularthose aspects to do with oral interaction. It demonstrates how officialcurriculum is read varyingly in classroom settings with the result thatlearners are positioned differently in respect of the communicative com��mu��ni��ca��tive?adj.1. Inclined to communicate readily; talkative.2. Of or relating to communication.com��mu resources necessary for schooling success. Such readings are shaped byteachers' beliefs about language and learning and features of thelocal context including its 'distance' from the site ofsyllabus development. It is argued that closer attention to syllabusimplementation in local settings and to relationships between local andofficial sites is important in understanding the distribution ofcurriculum knowledge. Despite an intense public struggle over pedagogic ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. models, thecurrent NSW primary English Syllabus (Board of Studies, NSW, 1998)emerged as a strongly sociocultural document. That is, its social viewof language is based on Michael Halliday's systemic functionallinguistic theory (hereafter In the future.The term hereafter is always used to indicate a future time—to the exclusion of both the past and present—in legal documents, statutes, and other similar papers. SFL SFL - System Function Language. Assembly language for the ICL2900. "SFL Language Definition Manual", TR 6413, Intl Computers Ltd. ) and it acknowledges the importance oforal interaction in learning. However, the various ways in whichteachers across the state have understood and implemented the Syllabus,particularly aspects such as talking and listening, are not welldocumented. This paper provides some insights into how such officialcurriculum operates in local pedagogic sites Pedagogic Sites are the spaces in which interactions between teacher and student occur. A pedagogic site does not need to be a traditional classroom. It can be a computer screen, television, printed study guide, or even a classroom in the shopping mall. . It draws on case studyresearch into the communicative practices of two primary classrooms insocially disadvantaged schools in very different geographical settings.The larger study is underpinned by sociocultural approaches to language,learning and pedagogy, drawing its analytic and interpretive in��ter��pre��tive? also in��ter��pre��ta��tiveadj.Relating to or marked by interpretation; explanatory.in��terpre��tive��ly adv. frameworkfrom systemic functional linguistics (Halliday, 1994a, 1994b; Christie,2002; Martin & Rose, 2003), social psychology (Vygotsky, 1978,1934/86) and educational sociology (Bernstein, 1990, 1996, 2000).Treating pedagogy as discourse, complete curriculum units from eachclassroom were recorded and analysed using functional linguistic tools.In order to understand teachers' interactive choices, theirperspectives on talk and learning were sought and their readings of theoral language aspects of the Syllabus were explored. This paper reportson one issue arising from the larger study, namely the complexity anddiversity of curriculum implementation in dispersed dis��perse?v. dis��persed, dis��pers��ing, dis��pers��esv.tr.1. a. To drive off or scatter in different directions: The police dispersed the crowd.b. sites. It refers toselected extracts from teacher interviews, as well as from the analysesof Syllabus extracts and of key instances of classroom interaction.Firstly however, Basil Bernstein's theory of pedagogic relationswill be introduced as a means of understanding syllabus implementation. Curriculum relay and pedagogic relations Bernstein (2000) offers an explanation of how social relations,particularly those to do with class, are reproduced through curriculum.The pedagogic device is a model for understanding the complex relationsbetween higher education, federal and state departments of education andclassrooms. (1) It is, Bernstein argues, via these relations thatdiscipline-based knowledge is converted into educational knowledge asconsultants and advisers write the syllabus and teachers work toimplement its requirements--often under intense community scrutiny. Akey contribution of this work on pedagogic discourse is that it enablesthose of us interested in language education and social justice toconsider classroom texts and practices within the broader social contextof education in a principled prin��ci��pled?adj.Based on, marked by, or manifesting principle: a principled decision; a highly principled person. manner. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Bernstein, the pedagogic device operates via threeinterrelated in��ter��re��late?tr. & intr.v. in��ter��re��lat��ed, in��ter��re��lat��ing, in��ter��re��latesTo place in or come into mutual relationship.in sets of rules to produce pedagogic discourse which in turnshapes different pedagogic identities or forms of consciousness amonglearners. These three sets of rules are the distributive dis��trib��u��tive?adj.1. a. Of, relating to, or involving distribution.b. Serving to distribute.2. , therecontextualising and the evaluative. Each set of rules is said tooperate on a particular arena which is occupied by human agents whoemploy particular texts and practices (2000, p. 203). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The distributive rules govern the arena of knowledge productionwhich encompasses sites such as research, literary or artisticcommunities. Bernstein argues that power relations are deeply implicated im��pli��cate?tr.v. im��pli��cat��ed, im��pli��cat��ing, im��pli��cates1. To involve or connect intimately or incriminatingly: evidence that implicates others in the plot.2. here because such rules regulate relationships between social groups bycontrolling access to differing forms of knowledge. That is, theeconomic disadvantage experienced by the learners and their families inthis study is closely related to the uneven distribution of sociallypowerful forms of knowledge. The recontextualising rules work across an arena of two sites whichBernstein (1990) calls the official pedagogic field (OPF (Open Packaging Format) See OPS. ) and thepedagogic recontextualising arena (PRF PRFabbr.prolactin-releasing factor ). The OPF comprises teachereducation settings, publishers, educational media and curriculum supportdocuments. The PRF comprises state and federal departments of educationand curriculum authorities, and curriculum documents and policiesderiving from these. These two fields form shifting yet often productivealliances such as the Language and Social Power projects of the 1980s(see Martin, 1999), and the more recent Quality Teaching initiatives(NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). It may be argued thatthe ascendancy as��cen��dan��cyalso as��cen��den��cy ?n.Superiority or decisive advantage; domination: "Germany only awaits trade revival to gain an immense mercantile ascendancy"Winston S. Churchill. of OPF in Australia in recent years is evident in thereturn to centralised Adj. 1. centralised - drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority; "centralized control of emergency relief efforts"; "centralized government"centralized curriculum and basic skills testing. Christie(1999) has indicated how the recontextualising arena is frequently thesite for considerable ideological struggle over which kinds ofdiscipline knowledge are selected, and how these are represented inschool curriculum. This is particularly evident in the development ofEnglish curriculum across Australia, including the Syllabus under focusin this paper. The recontextualising rules are the means by which the specialistknowledges or discourses are relocated to another arena to produceofficial texts such as the Syllabus. This shift is realised as whatBernstein (1990) terms pedagogic discourse, the principle by whichspecialised competencies or skills (the instructional discourse) arerelocated via a moral or regulative discourse, which regulates theselection, pacing and ordering of the instructional. The operation ofpedagogic discourse--the relationship between the instructional andregulative discourses--is most visible in the communicative practices ofthe classroom. Christie has analysed pedagogic discourse in a number ofdifferent classroom settings, arguing that through its operation a particular kind of consciousness is constructed, involving the building of a willingness and capacity, ideally at least, to accept methods of defining what counts as knowledge, and what counts as acceptable performance in demonstrating a capacity to use such knowledge. (2002, p. 29) The third set of rules is the evaluative rules which regulatespecific pedagogic practices in the third arena, that of reproduction.Through participation in pedagogic discourse realised in localclassrooms sites as specialised interactive practices (Bernstein, 1996,p. 32), learners acquire forms of consciousness; ways of working withknowledge, texts and meanings. These ways of working position learnersvariously with respect to valued educational discourses, and thus theyare constituted as more or less successful at schooling. This paper isconcerned with the nature of the communicative practices arising fromthe implementation of the oral interaction strands of the NSW primaryEnglish Syllabus (Board of Studies, NSW, 1998) in two classroom siteswithin the arena of reproduction. To Bernstein (2000), the relations between categories of arenas,agents, practices and texts rather than the categories themselves are ofinterest. Because teachers operate between the official and localpedagogic sites, understanding their positioning by texts such as theEnglish Syllabus is important for understanding the forms of localinteractive practices they foster. The teachers in this researchdiscussed their practices and beliefs with regard to talk and learning.However, before turning to these accounts, it is useful to consider howvariant readings of curriculum materials such as the Syllabus might beproduced. The curriculum context Bernstein has suggested that in the construction of pedagogicdiscourse, when the discipline specific knowledge is recontextualisedfrom its original site to the pedagogic site as instructional discourse,it is ideologically transformed (2000, p. 31). As a key text from theofficial pedagogic field, the Syllabus represents a recontextualisationof SFL and social interactionism. Table 1 presents an extract from theSyllabus document, namely those outcomes related to oral languagedevelopment (bold text is added for emphasis). Halliday (1980) has described child language development as aprocess of simultaneously learning language, learning through languageand learning about language. Accordingly, the outcomes of the Syllabus,like those to do with written modes of language, are broadly groupedinto those to do with 'learning to talk and listen' and'learning about talking and listening'. There is, it can beargued, an assumption that students will be 'learning throughtalking and listening'. Context is a key concept in this Syllabus. Development from theearly to upper primary years is indicated by increasing competence inever-widening contexts. The early years tend to minimise differencesbetween everyday and school contexts (in informal situations, withfamiliar topics). In contrast, accomplishment in the upper years ismeasured in terms of the student's capacity to deal withincreasingly specialised contexts as subject specific discourses unfold unfold - inline in readiness for secondary schooling. This capacity is described inevaluative terms (effective, well-developed, well-organised, variety,more challenging), terms which are difficult to interpret outsideparticular ideologies. In the SFL framework, the relationship between context and text iselaborated through the notion of register. Register, a concept that isimplied rather than overt in this Syllabus, refers to those aspects ofthe immediate environment of a text which are to do with the socialactivity taking place (often represented simply as 'topic'),the social relations between or among participants and the form/s ofcommunication involved (spoken, written, and/or combination thereof,etc.). Topics become more diverse, ranging from familiar to introducedand treated briefly in the early years, becoming increasingly morechallenging and treated more extensively. Interactants are increasinglyunfamiliar; from peers in the early years to an increasing range ofpeople and a variety of audiences in the upper years. Forms ofcommunication for learners of varying ages are also signalled in termsof complexity (spontaneous to structured). The trajectory TrajectoryThe curve described by a body moving through space, as of a meteor through the atmosphere, a planet around the Sun, a projectile fired from a gun, or a rocket in flight. of developmentfor the ideal student in the Syllabus is one which shifts from teacherdependence to relative autonomy, negotiating increasingly specialisedmeanings with considerable fluency flu��ent?adj.1. a. Able to express oneself readily and effortlessly: a fluent speaker; fluent in three languages.b. . In addition to managing the registerdemands of a number of curriculum areas, this student has aconsciousness about language, a capacity to recognise the relationshipbetween context and text and to describe that relationship in terms oflanguage structures and features. Just as an ideal student is suggested in the Syllabus, so too is anideal teacher. This imaginary teacher is committed to knowing aboutlanguage as well as its place in the construction of educationalknowledge. She is assumed to possess considerable language expertise.She has substantive knowledge of register (especially how meanings arespecialised according to curriculum contexts) and text (as instances ofmeaning choices) to bring to pedagogic decisions. She understands thedistinction between register (language variation according to use) anddialect (variation according to user) sufficiently to supportstudents' investigations of both (different varieties of English,different contexts). She recognises that specialist repertoires ofmeanings are built upon the everyday. The ideal teacher is also one whounderstands the role of the adult in learning as one involving graduallydiminishing assistance while learners appropriate curriculum discoursesand practices with increasing confidence. The context for the research Thus are the assumptions of the primary English Syllabus beingimplemented by the two teachers who took part in the research. Theirclassrooms situations are highly contrastive yet typical of many servingsocially disadvantaged communities in Australia. Tisha teaches Year 4 ina large urban multilingual school; she works frequently with an ESL (1) An earlier family of client/server development tools for Windows and OS/2 from Ardent Software (formerly VMARK). It was originally developed by Easel Corporation, which was acquired by VMARK. teacher as well as with community language and learning supportteachers. Kate teaches in a small rural monolingual mon��o��lin��gual?adj.Using or knowing only one language.mono��lin school, and she isthe school principal and teacher of the 20 students enrolled. The largercase study focuses on students in the middle to upper primary years ofboth schools with a view to exploring how dialogic di��a��log��ic? also di��a��log��i��caladj.Of, relating to, or written in dialogue.dia��log choices mightposition learners in respect of the subject specific discourses such asthose registers described in the Syllabus outcomes. In the interviewsfrom which the following extracts are drawn, both teachers were asked tocomment on a range of issues relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acctalking and learning and theteaching of oral language. Differences emerged with respect of theiralignment with the ideal teacher assumed by the curriculum, mostobviously in their appropriation of socio-cultural concepts such as theimportance of dialogue in learning, the role of the adult or expertother, and their knowledge about language. These differences werefrequently able to be located in the patterning of interactive choicesin the classroom. Teachers' beliefs about interaction and learning With respect to the place of dialogue in learning, both teachersargued that oral language is very important but drew on different ideasabout language and learning to do so. Tisha, in her urban classroom,assigns a particular place to talk in learning when she offered thisopinion: I think that oral language in the classroom is very important because it's a tool for communication, just exchanging pleasantries and just talking. And also they use it in a formal way to ask questions for clarification, not just from me, from each other too. When they are working in small groups, they do oral work. Later in the interview, she describes how her beliefs aboutlanguage and learning have changed as a result of participation inschool-based professional development programs: Ten years ago I thought that learning had to be an acquired activity but since I have been involved with all these new strategies it has changed actually it really has ... the key ingredient in effective learning is interaction, interaction with the people around you. Tisha's responses suggest she is drawing on socioculturalideas about language and learning. In her school context--approximately90 per cent of the students are from language backgrounds other thanEnglish--language teaching methodology informs mainstream teaching, andwith such emphasis on learning through (English) language comes a'strong' position on language and recognition of the role ofsocial interaction in cognitive development. Her recent access toprofessional development opportunities, often led by individuals engagedin the development of curriculum to support the Syllabus, has shaped hercurrent ideas. As a result of these features of the 'local'pedagogic arena, she is positioned sympathetically in respect to theideal teacher represented in the Syllabus outcomes. Kate describes oral language in her rural classroom in a differentway: I see it as extremely important, providing activities to make it happen or to allow it to happen, encourage it to happen. It is a challenge to do that at times as it suits such a broad range of children. She is committed to the place of some kind of interaction inlearning: There has to be personal interaction, personal interaction in that language--whether it be verbal, whether it be body language. I mean let's face it, I can look at a group of children and get that same message across with a look as I can say with probably ten words and it might not be verbal interaction, but it's an interaction. However, she professes mixed feelings about the importance of talkin learning: I really believe strongly that language is really important, but I also have this other side of me that some of us aren't created as talkers ... we are listeners.... When asked how she thinks learners come to know, Kate responds: If we go back again to the early stages of development, it's by, it's a sensory learning and I don't think that really changes that much--maybe a dependency on different senses changes over time into adulthood. This is just my personal view of course, nothing founded on anybody's studies or anything. It is through experiencing things; it is through the immediate feedback mostly. Kate's responses recruit what she terms 'personal'ideas about learning yet are suggestive of suggestive ofDecision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. a liberal/progressivistphilosophical orientation to curriculum (Kemmis, Cole, & Suggett,1983) in currency in teacher education in Australia Education in Australia is primarily regulated by the individual state governments. Generally education in Australia follows the three-tier model which includes Primary education (Primary Schools), followed by Secondary education (Secondary Schools / High Schools) and Tertiary during the 1970s.This orientation to learning that places learners' experience atthe centre of curriculum has a relatively weak position on language andtakes an interior or 'intramental' view of development. Suchis the system of ideas underpinning un��der��pin��ning?n.1. Material or masonry used to support a structure, such as a wall.2. A support or foundation. Often used in the plural.3. Informal The human legs. Often used in the plural. Kate's approach to orallanguage in her classroom although her teacher preparation was completedconsiderably more recently than was Tisha's. Such ideas do notalign closely with the more dialogic view of learning represented in theSyllabus; nevertheless, they inform the local interactive practices ofher classroom. The role of the teacher or 'expert other' in learning Both teachers referred to themselves as facilitators. However, whenthey discussed terms from the Syllabus such as 'modelling' and'field building', their responses once more revealed quitedifferent sets of ideas about the nature of this role. Tisha talks about modelling language: 'There is always also apattern of starting a report and then if they are comfortable in sayingthat or using that particular pattern or guide, then they can use theirown.' In similar fashion, she describes the role of the teacher infield building as 'expert other': 'Not an idle talk Noun 1. idle talk - idle or foolish and irrelevant talkblether, chin music, prate, prattlechatter, yack, yak, yakety-yak, cackle - noisy talk soeverything has to be structured ... I had to facilitate that there is aninteraction, that something is going on there, like a learning, alearning activity going on.' Indeed, in Tisha's classroom verylittle is left to chance. The following extract from classroom talkduring a pre-reading task (2) reveals how the students are prepared forthe work: Now, our first task this morning is aimed at getting you ready to read your book ... at pointing your thoughts in the right direction for the words and the ideas that you're going to come across in the book. Now what I've done is, I've put together a collage of some of the pictures from the book and it looks a little bit like this [showing montage]. I'm going to ask you to move into small groups that we've selected in a little while and we'll give each group one of these sheets, one of these collages. Now in your group we want you to look carefully at the pictures, first of all look at the pictures carefully [reading from montage] they're from the text. Then we want you to describe what you see. For example, this is my picture and that's Pilawuk there [pointing to cover of a large format book]. What can we see there? Describe that picture for me please Surayah? Such strong framing of the task through clear instructions,rehearsal and written prompts means that students are supported tocomplete their work even in the absence of the teacher. This is anexample of 'message abundancy', identified by Gibbons Famous people named Gibbons include: Beth Gibbons (born 1965), British singer Billy Gibbons, guitarist for ZZ Top Cedric Gibbons (1893–1960), American art director Christopher Gibbons (1615 - 1676), English composer, son of Orlando (2003)as an important type of scaffolding in English language English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. teachingrepertoires. It also requires careful forward planning forward planningn → planificaci��n f por anticipado. In Tisha'sclass, such planning at the level of task, and more broadly at the levelof unit, results in a very regular patterning of activity; a patterningfeaturing a range of predicable pred��i��ca��ble?adj.That can be stated or predicated: a predicable conclusion.n.1. Something, such as a general quality or attribute, that can be predicated.2. participation structures from stronglyframed teacher fronted tasks, to less interventionist small group andpair tasks and individual tasks. In contrast, for Kate these scaffolding strategies are readdifferently. Modelling revolves around error correction of theindividual: well, lots of modelling with immediate feedback I guess. If I don't point out that somebody has made an error without making them feel inferior they don't know it's the wrong way. Field building requires less teacher intervention: it's sort of like a pretty much relaxed conversation type way that I deal with this building of the field ... you can plan it and so on. Often times I believe it is the informality that achieves more language than what formal things do. In the following extract from a lesson in which the class isreconstructing an excursion excursion/ex��cur��sion/ (eks-kur��zhun) a range of movement regularly repeated in performance of a function, e.g., excursion of the jaws in mastication. to a museum, we see how Kate opens up alesson with a more loosely framed, 'conversational' start thanthat observed in Tisha's classroom: Teacher: where did we go? Mark: Museum of Fire Teacher: Museum of Fire, now what did we see and do there? Mark: fire engines Teacher: pardon Mark: fire engines Teacher: what about the fire engines? Mark: they showed us all the different ones and the old ones Teacher: anybody else want to add to that? Michael: we seen how pictures and lounges burn so quickly Teacher: we did too didn't we? how did that make you feel? Mark: good Ss: [laughing] Julie: sad Teacher: sad why were we sad? Julie: cause people have been killed in fires. Sometimes though, this tacit, low intervention approach can lead tointeractive trouble such as that evident between Kate and one of thestudents, Mark. A conversation usually features a good many sharedassumptions, and therefore brief responses as elliptical el��lip��tic? or el��lip��ti��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or having the shape of an ellipse.2. Containing or characterized by ellipsis.3. a. declarativessuch as 'fire engines' are usual. However, Kate is anxious forthe learners to use full declaratives such as 'we saw fireengines.' But when Mark's contributions are indirectlyrejected, the nature of his contribution to the dialogue changes.Inadvertently, the blurring between informal conversation and moreformal displays of linguistic competence causes a measure of confusionfor learners trying to recognise the interactive requirements of thecontext. Kate's concern with providing opportunities for learners totalk results in frequent opportunities for children to 'take thefloor'; there is much more latitude latitude,angular distance of any point on the surface of the earth north or south of the equator. The equator is latitude 0°, and the North Pole and South Pole are latitudes 90°N and 90°S, respectively. in the turns and topics of talkin her classroom. In another extract from the same lesson, Matty needslittle encouragement to contribute a story of his own experiences athome with fire: Matty: Ms Lee Teacher: mmm? Matthew? Matty: we had a fire we forgot to turn the stove stove,device used for heating or for cooking food. The stove was long regarded as a cooking device supplementary to the fireplace, near which it stood; its stovepipe led into the fireplace chimney. It was not until about the middle of the 19th cent. off and it burntburnt all the plastic and burned all of the um lunch stuff This is one of a number of such student-initiated anecdotesobserved throughout the lesson. Sometimes they were about otherchildren: Mel: guess what! Ritchie lit a fire once up in the back lane onthis big hill, Ritchie did and went it shoosh, it just went all over thehill, Ritchie did Greg: it was close to people's houses People's Houses (Turkish: Halk Evleri) is the institution established in 1932, founded on Atat��rk's ideas, which was developed to give formal education to adults (Adult education) in Turkey. Mel: yeah people came up the back lane, and the ... there was bigfire Greg: oh Ritchie don't smile! At other times during subsequent lessons, they were about familymembers: Mel: she she didn't ... only her dad was working first off.But now her mum's a got a job PJ: it feels nice when you get a new job, when you're a grownup Jenny: she was sick of lying around the house PJ: aaah Mel: so she got up and went and got a job Such spontaneity spon��ta��ne��i��ty?n. pl. spon��ta��ne��i��ties1. The quality or condition of being spontaneous.2. Spontaneous behavior, impulse, or movement.Noun 1. in discussion and activity topics means a degreeof unpredictability about Kate's classroom; tasks observed tendedto be shorter, more discrete and numerous as children's interestsdictated the focus and length of engagement. Anecdotes gave the childrenmany opportunities to initiate and control language use although thetopics for talk frequently centred on everyday experiences in home andcommunity. The loose boundaries between home/community and schoolcontexts served the younger students well. However, the more structuredand sustained apprenticeships required by the upper primary curriculumpresent some challenge in the multigrade setting where the differencesbetween stages of schooling are also blurred. Language diversity and metalinguistic knowledge There were variations, too, in the teachers' knowledge aboutlanguage, which arise from differences in their contexts. For Tisha,language development is strongly associated with English languagedevelopment. Abilingual language user herself, she makes only briefmention of her pupils as English language learners in the interview datawhen she describes the class as multicultural, suggesting that languageteaching methodologies are part of normalised normalised - normalisation teaching practices. Tishaexpresses concern for her students' competencies in using stretchesof language: 'They still need work on that ... yes, more elaboratedresponse, detailed response, description, descriptive.' Herresponse, as we have seen in earlier classroom extracts, focuses oninstructional tools, the need to design materials and tasks so thatstudents are supported to acquire fluency: 'Having a specificproforma that when they have a task that they are expected to do talkingand therefore they follow a guideline guidelineMedtalk A series of recommendations by a body of experts in a particular discipline. See Cancer screening guidelines, Cardiac profile guidelines, Gatekeeper guidelines, Harvard guidelines, Transfusion guidelines. ...' Two very commonlyoccurring consecutive tasks in Tisha's classroom were a small grouptask framed by a worksheet (such as that already described) and a taskin which one member of each small group 'reported' back on thegroup work to the whole class (this content was usually publiclymediated me��di��ate?v. me��di��at��ed, me��di��at��ing, me��di��atesv.tr.1. To resolve or settle (differences) by working with all the conflicting parties: and recorded by the teacher). [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The common knowledge built up in the reporting back session in turnbecomes the basis for further work in the curriculum unit; often a pointfor explicit instruction by the teacher as 'the expert other'in the discourse. In this instance, the teacher explained the broadersignificance of the biographical account, generalising from thisspecific textual incidence to the social phenomenon of the 'WhiteAustralia Policy'. In subsequent tasks students continued toexplore current race issues. Throughout the curriculum unit inTisha's classroom, students had opportunity to recycle re��cy��cle?tr.v. re��cy��cled, re��cy��cling, re��cy��cles1. To put or pass through a cycle again, as for further treatment.2. To start a different cycle in.3. a. language andto generalise v. 1. same as generalize.Verb 1. generalise - speak or write in generalitiesgeneralizemouth, speak, talk, verbalise, verbalize, utter - express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This depressed patient does not verbalize" to broader social events. The recursive See recursion. recursive - recursion staging of tasksin order for this to happen requires substantial teacher knowledge aboutlanguage, most particularly movements in register. These include shiftsin field (from personal/ biographical account to historical accounts andpolitical comment), in tenor (engaged with peers, teachers, toincreasingly distant public and authoritative voices) and in mode (frombrief and dialogic oral to more elaborated written-like text, inrecursive patterns). Tisha's knowledge about language is in nosmall way due to her experiences in settings where language difference(and thus the students' reliance on school for their access to thelanguage of the curriculum areas) is most obvious. Language is an important consideration for Kate, too, although herprofessional learning has focussed on strategies for teaching literacy(particularly reading) in monolingual settings where linguisticdifference is less visible. Unlike Tisha, she has less access tospecialist knowledge about language such as that associated with Englishlanguage teaching. She worries about the difficulties facing herstudents in acquiring facility with school discourses. The followingextract is an example of the way she frequently uses tracking moves(indicated thus *) in classroom dialogue to encourage her students toproduce the valued decontextualised language: Rob: Christopher was standing um uh um standing up leaning againstthe wall and a big flame came through ... went through the wall rightnext to him Teacher: * where did it come from? Rob: we ... we don't know Teacher: * well where did it go to? Kate describes such interactive practices as: 'Like drawingthat extra language; it's like pulling teeth at times and trying toget the point across without again, downgrading downgradingA reduction in the quality rating of a security issue, generally a bond. A downgrading may occur for various reasons including a period of losses, or increased debt service required by restructuring a firm's capital to include more debt and less them [telling them] thatyou need to make it more explicit.' To her, these are issues ofdialect ('It's the dialect, like lots of words are not part oftheir dialect, it is a very restrictive language'), and in aneffort to validate students' experience and accomplishments as wellas give them practice in using language, she seeks out activities andtopics that are of interest. If, however, these issues were to beapproached from a more overtly functional perspective on language, theycould be seen as differences of register, and thus sensitive to shiftsin field, tenor and mode. Hence more useful array of tools becomesavailable for pedagogic design as well as for developing commonunderstandings with the students. Conclusion In summary then, the two teachers are positioned quite differentlyin respect of the curriculum implementation. Classroom locations can bepowerful influences on teachers' interactive practices.Tisha's proximity and access to professional learning, because of arelatively close relationship between the local pedagogic setting andrecontextualising arena in her urban school (in Bernstein's terms(1996), a weak boundary between categories), together with some visiblelanguage differences, shape a pedagogy that aligns closely with thatanticipated by the official curriculum. On the other hand, Kate is moredistanced from the recontextualising arena. She is isolatedgeographically and professionally from the official pedagogic field,with fewer colleagues on hand. Professional learning is organised atcentral points and getting away to attend is difficult because of thenumber of roles she has in the school community (this is, interestingly,also a feature of weak boundary strength--this time between school andcommunity). She speaks of relying on 'unofficial' photocopiedand commercial resources, which circulate cir��cu��late?v. cir��cu��lat��ed, cir��cu��lat��ing, cir��cu��latesv.intr.1. To move in or flow through a circle or circuit: blood circulating through the body.2. throughout her schoolingdistrict, often at a distance from their origins. In the absence of aclose relationship with the official pedagogic field, she draws onideologies developed in preservice experiences which do not always alignwith that of the Syllabus (itself indicative of the uneven terrain ofthe pedagogic recontextualising field). Despite their differences, bothteachers remain committed to principles of social justice and thepossibilities for transformative practice. They are key human agents ina social system in which disadvantage is increasingly intergenerational in��ter��gen��er��a��tion��al?adj.Being or occurring between generations: "These social-insurance programs are intergenerational and all ,concentrated by geographical location and in government schools (R.Martin, 2002). Nevertheless, the result of the differences is that thelearners are positioned varyingly in respect of the forms of studentconsciousness valued by the Syllabus. This positioning has profoundindividual and social consequences. There is little doubt that learnersin Tisha's class will be better prepared for the register demandsof the secondary curriculum. I suggest that unevenness in curriculum implementation such asdescribed in this paper is not unusual and that case studies provideimportant lessons for the recontextualising field (for departmentalleaders, consultants and policy staff as well as for academics andteacher educators). Bernstein's theory of pedagogic relations is avaluable lens for understanding the processes, diversity and nuances ofcurriculum implementation. It offers a way of paying close attention tothe nature of the local and to the relations between the official andlocal pedagogic contexts, particularly the kinds of consciousness andidentities construed by curriculum and enacted by teachers and students.Such attention is necessary for successful curriculum renewal and forsocial sustainability. Acknowledgement This paper was prepared with the assistance of a Writing-up Award(2006) from the Centre for Graduate Training and Research, Charles SturtUniversity Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an Australian multi-campus university in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga. , Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga(wŏg`ə wŏg`ə), city (1991 pop. 40,875), New South Wales, SE Australia, on the Murrumbidgee River. It is the center of an agricultural district with food-processing and rubber-goods plants and foundries. , NSW. The support is gratefully acknowledged. References Bernstein, B. (1990). Class, codes and control: Vol. 4. Thestructuring of pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. discourse. London: Routledge. Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, symbolic control and ideology:Theory, research, critique. London: Taylor & Frances. Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity:Theory, research, critique (Rev. ed.). Maryland, USA: Rowman andLittlefield. Board of Studies, NSW. (1998). English K-6 Syllabus. Sydney: Boardof Studies, NSW. Brian, J. (1996). Pilawuk: When I was young (Magic Bean in-FactSeries). Flinders Park, SA: Era Publications. Christie, F. (1999). The pedagogic device and the teaching ofEnglish. In F. Christie (Ed.), Pedagogy and the shaping ofconsciousness: Linguistic and social processes (pp. 156-184). London:Continuum. Christie, F. (2002). Classroom discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken or signed language use.The objects of discourse analysis—discourse, writing, , conversation, communicative event, etc. : A functionalperspective. London: Continuum. Eggins, S., & Slade, D. (1997). Analysing casual conversation.London: Cassell. Gibbons, P. (2003). Mediating language learning: Teacherinteractions with ESL students in a content-based classroom. TESOL TESOLabbr.1. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages2. teaching English to speakers of other languages Quarterly, 37(2), 247-272. Halliday, M. A. K. (1980). Three aspects of children'slanguage development: Learning language, learning through language,learning about language. In Y. M. Goodman, K. K. Haussler, & D. S.Strickland (Eds.), Oral and written language development: Impact onschools (Proceedings from the 1979-1980 Impact conferences) (pp. 7-19).Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association and National Councilof Teachers. Halliday, M. A. K. (1994a). An introduction to functional grammar(2nd ed.). London: Arnold. Halliday, M. A. K. (1994b). A language development approach toeducation. In N. Bird (Ed.), Language and learning (pp. 5-17). HongKong Hong Kong(hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. : Hong Kong Education Department. Kemmis, S., Cole, P., & Suggett, D. (1983). Orientations tocurriculum and transition: Towards the socially-critical school.Melbourne: Victorian Institute of Secondary Education. Martin, J. R. (1999). Mentoring semiosis Semiosis is any form of activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, including the production of meaning. The term was introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce to describe a process that interprets signs as referring to their objects, as described in his theory : 'Genre-based'literacy pedagogy. In F. Christie (Ed.), Pedagogy and the shaping ofconsciousness: Linguistic and social processes (pp. 123-155). London:Continuum. Martin, J. R., & Rose, D. (2003). Working with discourse:Meaning beyond the clause. London: Continuum. Martin, R. (2002). National priorities in a national system. Paperreprinted with permission from Educare News, Australian Education Unionwebsite. Retrieved September 1st, 2006, fromhttp://www.aeufederal.org.au/Debates/Educarearticle.html NSW Department of Education and Training, Professional Support andCurriculum Directorate. (2003). Quality Teaching in NSW public schools.Sydney: NSW Department of Education and Training. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higherpsychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E.Souberman, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press The Harvard University Press is a publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. It was established on January 13, 1913. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. . Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language (A. Kozulin, Trans.).Cambridge, MA: MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. (Original work published 1934) (1) Bernstein's notion of pedagogic discourse extended beyondschool based discourses to include the media and medical discourses askey sites in the relay of social relations. (2) The text selected for the lesson is Pilawuk, a biographicalaccount of a young woman's experiences of a one of the StolenGenerations (Brian, 1996). Pauline Jones CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITYTable 1. Talking and Listening Outcomes (Board of Studies, NSW, 1998,p. 17)Substrands Early stage 1 Stage 1Learning to talk and listenTalking & Communicates with peers Communicates with anListening and known adults in increasing range of people informal situations and for a variety of purposes structured activities on both familiar and dealing briefly with introduced topics in familiar topics. spontaneous and structured classroom activities.Skills & Demonstrates basic skills Interacts in more extendedstrategies of classroom and group ways with less teacher interaction, makes brief intervention, makes oral presentations and increasingly confident listens with reasonable oral presentations and attentiveness. generally listens effectively.Learning about talking and listeningContext & Recognises that there are Recognises a range oftext different kinds of spoken purposes and audiences for texts and shows emerging spoken language and awareness of school considers how own talking purposes and expectations and listening are adjusted for using spoken language. in different situations.Language With teacher guidance, Recognises that differentstructures identifies some basic types of predictable& features language features of spoken texts have familiar spoken texts. different organisational patterns and features.Substrands Stage 2 Stage 3Learning to talk and listenTalking & Communicates in informal Communicates effectivelyListening and formal classroom for a range of purposes activities in school and and with a variety of social situations for an audiences to express increasing range of well-developed, purposes on a variety of well-organised deals topics across the dealing with more curriculum. challenging topics.Skills & Interacts effectively in Interacts productively andstrategies groups and pairs, adopting with autonomy in pairs and a range of roles, uses a groups of various sizes variety of media and uses and composition, uses various listening effective oral strategies for different presentation skills and situations. strategies and listens attentively.Learning about talking and listeningContext & Identifies the effect of Discusses ways in whichtext purpose and audience on spoken language differs spoken texts and from written language and distinguishes between how spoken language varies different varieties of according to different English. contexts.Language Identifies common Evaluates the organisationstructures organisational patterns patterns of some more& features and some characteristics challenging spoken texts language features of a few and some characteristic types of predictable language features. spoken texts.