Theoretical Frameworks For A Qualitative Study of Transfer

As the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) becomes an important aspect of educational practices in higher education settings, SoTL practitioners, especially those who are new to this type of research, may face the challenge of developing theoretically sound approaches which bring together research, theory and empirical data meaningfully to engage with a given educational problem. For many educators, this may involve learning new ways of enquiry, including exploring new types of data. Qualitative approaches, for example, may be challenging to implement without specific theoretical frameworks. Yet, SoTL researchers have access to an emic perspective in the research area and may usefully adopt a range of qualitative methods which value the student voice and assignments when evaluating the impact of their teaching. This paper aims to share the design of a qualitative transfer study which was conducted over two years at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and explored how students apply knowledge from an English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/academic literacy module to their various core disciplinary module assignments. The paper focusses on the methodology and analytical frameworks adopted to provide explanatory and usable insights into transfer processes and what may hinder it. In particular, the paper describes how theoretical positions on what transfer entails informed specific methodological decisions. The study enacted complementary analytical frameworks using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), a sociological framework dedicated to exploring knowledge practices and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), a linguistic theory which provides insights into language use in various contexts. The paper shows how these frameworks enabled access into students’ dispositions and deep-seated orientation to knowledge which might impact transfer. Keyword: SoTL, transfer, qualitative methods, Legitimation Code Theory, Specialization, Systemic Functional Linguistics. 144 Theoretical Frameworks For A Qualitative Study of Transfer Laetitia MONBEC Vol. 9, No. 2 Dec 2019 INTRODUCTION Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research is characterised by a wide range of approaches (Miller-Young & Yeo, 2015), which may take the SoTL researcher into ‘unfamiliar territories’ (Reichard & Takayama, 2012). Increasingly, SoTL research is also characterised by interdisciplinarity, which Mckinney and Huber (2012) attribute to a range of factors. First, a commonality in teaching and learning issues across disciplines makes interdisciplinary dialogue useful. For example, the issues related to transfer described in this paper concern educators in any discipline. McKinney and Huber (2012) also point to the need for SoTL practitioners to reach beyond methods of enquiry which their disciplines have trained them in. These unfamiliar territories present undeniable challenges. Those more inclined to investigate problems through the rich insight of qualitative data may f lounder at the thought of statistical analyses. SoTL practitioners in the sciences may be unfamiliar with ways to analyse students’ texts or interview data. Yet, it is this interdisciplinarity which may lead to useful insights into our practices and student learning. As Reichard and Takayama (2012) argue, SoTL practice benefits from embracing the concept of ‘teaching commons’, a cross-disciplinary space where educators can exchange ideas with others working in different disciplines and in that process, question their assumptions on commonly shared teaching and learning issues, learn about methods of enquiry that differ, and perhaps expand the reach and impact of their SoTL endeavours. This cross-disciplinary approach may enable SoTL researchers to define their identities as “members of a larger community of teachers engaged in a common purpose” (Kreber, 2013. p. 6). This paper therefore aims to contribute to this teaching commons by discussing how educators may approach the way they research and measure the impact of their teaching from a qualitative perspective. This is done through the description of a qualitative transfer study design, from overall conceptualisation and methodological design to selection and deployment of qualitative analytical frameworks. The paper first provides a brief background on the study and how it was motivated by the very concrete problem of transfer from an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) module to students’ own disciplinary contexts. Then, as epistemological, philosophical values and theoretical assumptions about broad concepts such as learning, transfer, or knowledge inf luence not only our educational practices, but also our research into these practices and our students’ learning, the paper proposes a theoretical unpacking of the term ‘transfer’ in order to show how the overall study design is aligned to this understanding. The paper then describes the qualitative study design and data types, explaining the complementary insights which can be gained by a combination of student texts and interviews in transfer studies. Lastly, aspects of two theoretical frameworks—Systemic Functional Linguistics