Building historical knowledge through writing, reading and texting: a view from linguistics

1. Building historical knowledge through writing, reading and texting: a view from linguistics Caroline CoffinDave Martin The Open University

2. Questions • What can (SFL) linguistic analysis reveal about historical knowledge construction? • What can linguistic analysis reveal about classroom interaction and the co-construction of historical knowledge? • What impact can analysis have on policy and practice?

3. Why systemic functional linguistics (SFL)? Micro Macro Linguistic Social &realization cultural context

4. Latifah hitler put posters and movies in da cinema bout himself, so he would become more popular to da people in germany. • Victoria • I agree hitler made himself look really powerfull so people would look at him like think hes a good leader. • Danielle • i agree wi u but u dint av a lot of detail about it its pretty week n e pursuaded ppl so that he gets more power and he said he would stop poverty

5. Latifah hitler put posters and movies in da cinema bout himself, so he would become more popular to da people in germany. • Victoria • I agree hitler made himself look really powerfull so people would look at him like think hes a good leader. • Danielle • i agree wi u but u dint av a lot of detail about ititspretty week n e pursuaded ppl so that he gets more power and he said he would stop poverty

6. Latifah hitler put posters and movies in da cinema bout himself, so he would become more popular to da people in germany. • Victoria • I agree hitler made himself look really powerfull so people would look at him like think hes a good leader. • Danielle • i agree wi u but u dint av a lot of detail about it its pretty week n e pursuaded ppl so that he gets more power and he said he would stop poverty

7. Latifah hitler put posters and movies in da cinema bout himself, so he would become more popular to da people in germany. • Victoria • I agree hitler made himself look really powerfull so people would look at him like think hes a good leader. • Danielle • i agree wi u but u dint av a lot of detail about it its pretty week n e pursuaded ppl so that he gets more power and he said he would stop poverty

8. Field Subject matter/activity: discussion on Hitler’s rise to power Degree of specialisation: minimal Participants: I, u, Hitler/he I agree... it’s pretty weak Few historical terms/people, dates etc. Tenor Equality/inequality: equal peer – peer Social distance: middling, alignment negotiated textese, APPRAISAL Mode Channel (speech v print): print Spontaneity of production: Semi-spontaneous Degree of interactivity: multiparty graphics errors, use of Like,clause complexing

9. Register • Field • Tenor • Mode

10. The cultural context and the notion of genre Ben Hall The Bushranger, Ben Hall, was born in 1837 in New South Wales. His parents were convicts who had been transported to Australia from England. Record of Events In 1856 Hall met and married Bridget Walshe. He and his new wife ... Six years later Hall’s life changed ... Deduction As a result many people thought of him as a brave and daring person. Orientation

11. System Instance

12. System

13. Instance

14. System and instance: the cline of instantiation Language - system of meanings/network of choices Historical register as ‘sub’-system Language (e.g. historical text) - instance, particular configuration of choices

15. What can (SFL) linguistic analysis reveal about historical knowledge construction?

18. Autobiographical recount Biographical recount Recording Genres Historical recount Historical account Factorial explanation Explaining Genres Consequential explanation Exposition Arguing Genres (analytical) Discussion Challenge

20. Register shifts Field less specialized more specialized concrete abstract participants Tenor ‘objective’ interpretative persuasive Mode less abstract more abstract (cause, time) (cause, time)

21. System and InstanceWas the 1832 Reform Act ‘Great’? Was the 1832 Reform Act ‘Great’? Yes because the way after a adult man could vote and that. But the people that wern’t allowed to vote was the women. And in 1831 less than 3% could vote. But after 1832 almost 4.5% voted. In the following 50 years other reforms were made to the voting system, which had not been changed for hundreds of years before 1832. 50% boroughs cast there vote. The number of constituencies that had held elections fell after the 1832 Act. All of the votes were given to the men in the boroughs and that the women didn’t get any votes. And still can’t get any votes. I think that the contrues were given the vote I think the 56 people who lost the MP’s should get there job back and be an MP again. The rotten boroughs should not be left there and should be brought back and to be banished. All of the MPs should go to the north and stay up there for life. The voting system should be changed and should do something else. They should change the amount of money and make people pay more. (Samantha) they should but I think that let some women have a vote. I think you should let the women just have a vote and like if the men could just like let the women just have a vote for once.

23. A letter to Frederick Smith, a mill owner, from Ned Ludd, 1812 Sir, Information has just been given in that you are an owner of those detestable shearing frames, and I was asked by my men to write to you and warn you to pull them down. If they are not taken down by the end of next week, I will send one of my lieutenants with at least 300 men to destroy them. If we come, we will increase your misfortune by burning your buildings to ashes. If you fire upon any of my men, they have orders to murder you and burn all your housing. Inform your neighbours that the same fate awaits them if their shearing frames are not speedily taken down, as I understand there are several in your neighbourhood.

25. What can linguistic analysis reveal about classroom interaction and the co-construction of historical knowledge ?

31. Argumentation in E-Conferencing ESRC fundingOther collaborators: Guy Cook, Sarah North Year 9 students (approx age 14) The most important reason why the Nazis came to power in 1933 was that they had Hitler as a leader. Do you agree?

32. (Rachel) Nazis hAnNaH U R rGhT lOl!!! ThEy wErE StRnGeR DaN OtHa pRtYs n dA NAzIs cLd pROmIeS MrE WhIcH OtHa pRtYS ClDnT!! wHiCh iS WhY ThE BeCmE So pWeR fUl!! 4 ExAmplE tHeY SaId dAt tHeY WlD DeAl wId dA UnImPlOyMeNt If pPl VoTeD 4 dEm!! ~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

35. Analysing E-Conference Data Genre staging (Martin and Christie, 1997, Coffin, 2006) Interactional moves (Eggins and Slade, 1997)

36. Analytical framework

38. Conference Groups 1 and 2 compared

39. ID for each claim Unfolding over time Supporting & challenging moves relating to each claim Mapping interaction

40. Conference 1 (claims engaged with) wel i tink dat da nazis cumin in 2 power was mostly due 2 avin such a gd leader init. (Raeesah) Conference 2 (claims left hanging) Hitler was lucky he was there at the right place at the right time this was luck. (Emily)

41. How far was Custer responsible for the defeat of the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn?

42. Teacher 1 LBH Conference I disagree with you about the weapons. I think the Seventh Cavalry were better armed. Read this extract and see what you think? Troopers of the 7th Cavalry carried two standard firearms; the breech-loaded .45/55 calibre Springfield Carbine (Model 1873) and the .45 calibre Colt single action revolver (Model 1873). Both were very effective. At the Little Big Horn fight each trooper was issued 100 rounds of carbine ammunition, half of it in his carbine belt and half in his saddlebags, and 24 rounds of pistol ammunition. Whilst the repeating rifles [Winchesters] had double the Springfield’s rate of fire, they had less than half the effective range. Peter Panzeri, (1995). Little Big Horn 1876: Custer’s last stand

43. Teacher 2 LBH Conference Many braves, as many as one out of five, were brandishing Winchesters or other rifles. Half or more of the Indians held bows and fistfuls of arrows, often with shields in the other hand – they guided their ponies with their knees. Stephen E Ambrose, (1975). Custer and Crazy Horse: the parallel lives of two American Warriors, p 441. Did Custer stand no chance because of the Indian’s superior weapons?

44. What can linguistic analysis reveal? Genre, register + functional grammatical labelling: • map purposes + linguistic demands of subject area • map changes • serve as diagnostic tools

45. What impact can analysis have on policy and practice? Genres (and register + linguistic) analysis: the keys to understanding how to participate in the actions of a community’ (Miller, 1994) But mediation +dissemination of findings critical: how clear and accessible and to whom

46. Productive Dialogue and Engagement between discourse analysis and Teacher educators Curriculum designers School principals, Heads of Departments, classroom teachers Exam boards, examiners/assessors Text book authors and designers ICT authors and designers

47. http://argumentation-hsc.open.ac.uk/http://arguinginhistory.open.ac.uk/http://argumentation-hsc.open.ac.uk/http://arguinginhistory.open.ac.uk/ C.Coffin@open.ac.ukhttp://creet.open.ac.uk/staff-profiles/caroline coffin/index.cfm dmartin@rmplc.co.uk http://www.historicalfiction.org.uk/

48. Publications on analysis of school history discourse Coffin, C. and Derewianka, B. (forthcoming) Multimodal layout in school history books: the texturing of historical interpretation. In Thompson, G. and Forey, G. (eds) Text-type and Texture, Equinox, London: UK Coffin, C. and Derewianka, B. (forthcoming, 2007) It’s time: reflections on the visualisation of time in history textbooks. In Unsworth, L. (ed), Continuum, London: UK. Coffin, C. (2006) Historical Discourse: the language of time, cause and evaluation, Continuum: London, UK. Coffin, C. (2006) ‘Reconstruing ‘personal time’ as ‘collective time’: learning the discourse of history’.In Whittaker, R., O’Donnell, M. and McCabe, A. (eds) Language & Literacy: Functional Approaches. Continnum: London, UK. Coffin, C. (2006) Learning the language of school history: the role of linguistics in mapping the writing demands of the secondary school curriculum, Journal of Curriculum Studies. pp 413- 429. ISSN: 0022-0272 print/ISSN 1366-5839 online. Coffin, C. (2004) Learning to Write History: the Role of Causality, Written Communication, Vol. 21/3, pp 261-289. DOI: 10.1177/0741088304265474. Coffin, C. (2003) ‘Reconstruing the past: Settlement or Invasion?’ in Martin, J.R. and Wodak, R. (eds)Re/reading the past: Critical and functional perspectives on time and value, Benjamins, Amsterdam. pp. 219- 246. ISBN: 9027226989. Coffin, C. (2002) ‘The Voices of History: theorising the interpersonal semantics of historical discourses’ Text, Vol. 22/4 pp 503–528.ISSN: 0165 – 4888/02/0022 – 0503. Coffin, C. (1997) ‘Constructing and Giving Value to the Past’, in Martin, J.R. and Christie, F. (eds) Genres and Institutions: Social Processes in the Workplace and School, Pinter: London. pp 196 – 230. ISBN: 0 304 33766 8. Veel, R. and Coffin, C. (1996) ‘Learning to think like an Historian: The Language of Secondary School History’ in Hasan, R. and Williams, G. (eds) Literacy in Society, Longman: London. pp 191 – 231. ISBN: 0 582 2179X PPR.

49. Publications on E-conferencing Hewings, A. and Coffin, C. (2007) Writing in multi-party computer conferences and single authored assignments. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Vol. 6/2, pp. 126 – 142 ISSN: 1475 -1585 Martin, D., Coffin, C., and North, S. (2007) What's your claim? Developing pupils' historical argument skills using asynchronous text based computer conferencing, in Teaching History, No 125, pp 32-37. ISSN 0040 0610. Hewings, A. and Coffin, C. (2006) ‘Formative interaction in on-line writing: making disciplinary expectations explicit’. In K. Hyland and F. Hyland (eds.) Feedback on ESL writing: contexts and issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Coffin, C., Painter, C. and Hewings, A. (2005) Patterns of debate in tertiary level asynchronous electronic conferencing in Special Edition of the International Journal of Educational Research, 43, nos 7-8, pp 464 - 480. ISSN 0883-0355 doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2006.07.003. Coffin, C. and Hewings, A. (2005) Language, Learning and electronic communications media, guest editorial in Special Edition of the International Journal of Educational Research, 43, nos 7-8 pp 427 – 431. ISSN 0883-0355 doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2006.07.003. Coffin, C., and Hewings, A. (2005) Engaging Electronically. Using CMC to develop students’ argumentation skills in Higher Education, Language and Education, Vol. 19/1 pp 32- 49. ISSN: 0950-0782. Coffin, C., C. Painter and A. Hewings. (2005) Argumentation in a multi party asynchronous computer mediated conference: a generic analysis. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics Special Edition (S19) Language in Social Life: Functional Perspectives. pp. 41 - 63. ISSN: 0155-0640. Hewings, A., and Coffin, C. (2004) ‘Grammar in the construction of on-line discussion messages’. In Coffin, C., Hewings, A. and O’Halloran, K. (eds.) Applying English Grammar: functional and corpus approaches, Hodder-Arnold: London. pp 134 – 154. ISBN 0340885149. Painter, C., Coffin, C., and Hewings, A. (2003) ‘Impacts of directed tutorial activities in computer conferencing: a case study’. Distance Education, Vol. 24/2, pp. 159-174 ISSN: 0158-7919.