aall tony thorpe

8/2/2019 AALL Tony Thorpe

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Is this our world?



Main Campus - Batchelor



Alice Springs Campus



Both ways – valuing cultureand traditions for today.



Areas of study at BIITE

• Nursing & health work

• Teacher Education

• Natural and Cultural Resource

Management• Health Work

• Social Science

• Graphic Arts

• Building & Construction

• Media Studies



Further study areas

• Spoken and Written English

• Early Childhood Work

• Business Studies

• Own language work

• Translating and Interpreting

• Aged, home & community care

• Sport and recreation

• Creative writing



Structure of preparation fortertiary studies

• Preliminary level units (2) – Learning styles, use of the library,

research reports and basic essays.

• Core level units including ICT (3) – Critical reading skills, stress

management, essays, oralpresentations

• Electives suitable for differentpathways.



Most common difficulties

• Avoid (AWOL)

• Write the way they speak.

• Experience blockages.• Cannot apply models and

examples.

• Copy and paste. (Plagiarism)• Supporting arguments.



Culture and writing

• „Reading‟ involves a number of

layers of activity

• „Reading‟ often involves employing

a set of cultural understandings aswell as decoding skills.



Gee‟s medicine bottle text

“Warning: Keep this and all

medication out of the reach of

children. As with any drug, if you are

pregnant or nursing a baby, seek theadvice of a health professional

before using this product. In the case of

accidental overdosage, contact aphysician or poison control center

immediately.”



Interpreting theinstructions

• Not what might be expected of anormal warning.

• Assumptions about the reader‟s

knowledge of different kinds ofmedical personnel.



Other conclusions

• Assumptions about overdoses – always accidental?

• Assumptions about a certain kind

of reader – responsible citizen.



Cultural orientation toliterate events

• Ordering of text.

• Role of narrator and audience.

• Attitudes to explanation ofactions in narrative.

• Attitudes to conflict, social

cohesion.



Cultures of writing

Writer Responsible Reader Responsible

Individualism ishighly valued

Social group valuesprodominate

Tolerant ofuncertainty

Intolerant ofuncertainty

Avoidance of

emotive language

Likely to use

emotive languageAnalysis important Authority

Counterargument

included

Counterargument

neglected



Emergent questions

• Is teaching writing, especiallyexpository and academic writing, avalues-free exercise? Or is it part

of a set of cultural values?

• Is it sufficient to attempt to„remedy‟ missing skills by

practising structures of sentencesand paragraphs?



Other questions…..

• Or does the entry into academicstudy in our context includeconsideration of cultural values as

well?

• Is there a distinctive kind of way ofknowing that is assumed in tertiary

education that differs from manyeveryday ideas about knowing?



Difficulties with expositorywriting

• Avoid the task – go to the pub orice-cream shop.

• Copy and paste.

• Manipulate tutorial assistance &lecturer feedback

• Connecting supporting argumentsto the thesis statement.



Survey studentsQualitative discussion

Both WaysMethodology

StaffDevelopmentInput

Retention andprogression

Possible avenues of research



Learning for life – what it‟s all about!

aall tony thorpe

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