How do postgraduate students recontextualise “doing research” as a social practice? A critical analysis using Van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic model

Abstract

The main objectives of this paper are, first, to present Van Leeuwen’s Critical Discourse Analytical framework (1993, 1995, 1996, 2008, 2009a), and next, to explore the usefulness of this theory for Academic Language and Learning (ALL) practice in tertiary education settings. ALL advisers and lecturers are engaged in a wide and diverse range of professional practices, ranging from academic skills counselling for first-year students to enhancing the written English of international MA or PhD candidates (www.aall.org.au/who). When discussing the relevance of Van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic model, the focus in this article will be on the dialectic relationship between the process of doing research and research discourse, and more specifically, on how MA and PhD students recontextualise research as a social practice. It will be suggested that some of the ways in which research is routinely talked or written about are a potential barrier to novice researchers’ understanding of what conducting research and academic writing really entail; what is more, these misconceptions may negatively affect their self-efficacy and performance. Throughout, the argument will be that Van Leeuwen’s discourse-analytical framework is particularly well suited for both problematising and unravelling the disconnect between “doing research” and “talking (about) research”, and that the insights it generates can inform current ALL practice and future ALL development. Given the space limitations, exposition, analysis and discussion will be selective and illustrative rather than conclusive.