Developing critical literacy in science through an SFL-informed pedagogical heuristic

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhihui Fang ◽  
Brittany Adams ◽  
Valerie T. Gresser ◽  
Cuiying Li
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
School Science ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Structure Text ◽  
Present Information ◽  
Critical Language Awareness ◽  
Knowledge Claims

Purpose This paper describes and exemplifies a pedagogical heuristic for promoting critical literacy in science. Design/methodology/approach One way to support critical literacy in science is through a linguistically informed pedagogical heuristic called 5Es – Enquire, Engage, Examine, Exercise and Extend. Findings This paper describes the implementation of 5Es in a four-week middle school science unit on climate change, showing how the heuristic can be used to develop students’ understanding of the varied ways authors use language to present information, structure text, infuse judgment and evaluation, engage with and position the reader and express epistemic commitment to knowledge claims. Originality/value 5Es offer teachers a new heuristic for text exploration that develops students’ critical language awareness, advanced literacy and disciplinary literacy at the same time.

Software documentation is not enough! Requirements for the documentation of AI

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Königstorfer ◽  
Stefan Thalmann
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Governance Mechanism ◽  
It Industry ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Software Documentation ◽  
Disruptive Technologies ◽  
Present Information

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently one of the most disruptive technologies and can be applied in many different use cases. However, applying AI in regulated environments is challenging, as it is currently not clear how to achieve and assess the fairness, accountability and transparency (FAT) of AI. Documentation is one promising governance mechanism to ensure that AI is FAT when it is applied in practice. However, due to the nature of AI, documentation standards from software engineering are not suitable to collect the required evidence. Even though FAT AI is called for by lawmakers, academics and practitioners, suitable guidelines on how to document AI are not available. This interview study aims to investigate the requirements for AI documentations. Design/methodology/approach A total of 16 interviews were conducted with senior employees from companies in the banking and IT industry as well as with consultants. The interviews were then analyzed using an informed-inductive coding approach. Findings The authors found five requirements for AI documentation, taking the specific nature of AI into account. The interviews show that documenting AI is not a purely technical task, but also requires engineers to present information on how the AI is understandably integrated into the business process. Originality/value This paper benefits from the unique insights of senior employees into the documentation of AI.

Bats and grammar: developing critical language awareness in the context of school reform

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Gebhard ◽  
Holly Graham
Keyword(s):  
School Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Critical Language Awareness ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

Purpose This paper aims to analyze how middle schoolers developed a critical awareness of language while participating in a curricular unit informed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL). This unit was developed to understanding and taking action to protect a local bat population in the context of school reforms shaping teaching and learning in the USA. It was designed to support a heterogeneous class of seventh graders in learning to read scientific explanations, write letters to government officials and develop a functional metalanguage to support them in analyzing how language simultaneously constructs ideas, enacts power dynamics and manages the flow of information in disciplinary texts. The questions guiding this study are: How do students use SFL metalanguage in text production and interpretation practices? Do their uses of SFL metalanguage support critical language awareness and reflection? And, if so, in what ways? Design/methodology/approach This study uses ethnographic methods to conduct teacher action research. Data include classroom transcripts, student writing samples and interviews. Findings The findings illustrate how students engaged with SFL, often playfully, to create their own student-generated functional metalanguage in highly productive ways. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to a growing body of scholarship that suggests SFL metalanguage can provide teachers and students with a powerful semiotic toolkit that enables them to navigate the demands of teaching and learning in the context of the Standardization and Accountability movement. Practical implications This study has implications teachers’ professional development and students’ disciplinary literacy development in the context of school reform. Originality/value To date, few studies have explored how students take up and transform SFL metalanguage into a tool for critical reflection, especially adolescents.

“How will I know?” engagement with information resources

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 242-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nujoud Al-Muomen ◽  
Debora Shaw ◽  
Michael Courtney
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
Kuwait University ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Present Information ◽  
Literacy Survey ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to compare how undergraduates in Kuwait and Indiana Universities assess information resources for class assignments. Design/methodology/approach Social science majors at Kuwait University and Indiana University Bloomington completed the Project Information Literacy survey. Findings The students are comparable in how often they ask instructors or classmates for advice, but Kuwaitis are more likely to ask other people for assistance. Kuwaiti students generally are less critical in their evaluation of both library-based and web information resources but are more likely to consider librarian recommendations. Research limitations/implications Institution-specific factors that were not specifically addressed include the following: the survey was administered online in Indiana and on paper in Kuwait, and the types of course assignments and/or students’ information literacy instruction may also vary by institution. Practical implications Librarians should continue to present information clearly and use a variety of instructional methods so that material is accessible. Librarian recommendations and modeling of evaluative behavior can assist international students. Social media may be useful in working with these students’ more collaborative approach to assessing resources. Originality/value The work updates the 2010 Project Information Literacy survey on undergraduates’ evaluation of information resources for coursework. It also extends that survey to identify how students from Kuwait are different than USA undergraduates.

Ideographic use of economic terms

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-173
Author(s):  
Rojhat Berdan Avsar
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Deadweight Loss ◽  
Language Awareness ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Common Value ◽  
Implicit Biases

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge the claim that economics is of neutral value and unveil common value judgments underlying the standard policy positions in economics. These value judgments are communicated through the economic lexicon. Design/methodology/approach – The author uses discourse analysis and focuses on certain authoritative economic terms, most of which are metaphors, functioning like arguments. The author calls such terms as “deadweight loss” ideographs in the sense McGee (1980) used the term. Findings – Economic language is not neutral. Certain terms that are treated as common sense mask the normative commitments to which economists often are subscribed, consciously or not. Originality/value – The author treats economics as a particular welfare ideology whose normative commitments are communicated by its vocabulary. The critical approach used here is not common in economics. The author argues that implicit biases built in the discipline are reinforced by the particular economic-language awareness, which is vital to maintaining economics as a pluralist discipline.

scholarly journals Concerned protesters: from compassion to retaliation

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 983-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Antonetti ◽  
Stan Maklan
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Behavior ◽  
Stakeholder Relationships ◽  
Present Information ◽  
Key Drivers ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of the study is to outline the unique role of compassion in reactions to cases of irresponsible corporate behavior that present information about victims of these events. In this study, four antecedents of compassion for the victims of irresponsibility are presented, and a model that explains the consequences of this emotion is tested empirically. Design/methodology/approach Two studies test the research hypotheses using a mix of experimental and survey research. The effects are tested both in laboratory conditions, where consumers assess a fictitious case of corporate irresponsibility, and through a test of reactions to real online campaigns. Findings Compassion is one of the drivers of consumers’ anger at the culprit, playing an indirect role in decisions to retaliate against perpetrators. Four key drivers of compassion are identified in the research: the perceived suffering of the victims, the perceived similarity of the victims to the observer, victims’ derogation and the vividness of the description of the victims. Practical implications The study offers insights both for campaigners wishing to instigate boycotts and organizations managing complex stakeholder relationships following a crisis. Insights on the role of compassion and its antecedents lead to more effective communications able to heighten or dampen this emotion. Originality/value Existing research offers contrasting views on the potential role of compassion in reactions to injustices. This study presents a novel account that clarifies previous findings and extends our knowledge of causes and consequences of compassion.

Pracademia: an answer but not the answer to an enduring question

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Eacott
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Academic Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relational Approach ◽  
Work Breaks ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Knowledge Claims

PurposeThe pracademia movement is gaining increasing traction in education, particularly in educational leadership. Offered as a means to bridge practice and academia, questions remain as to whether it resolves or perpetuates the theory–practice divide. This paper systematically approaches this problem.Design/methodology/approachTheoretically informed by the relational approach, this conceptual paper articulates the preliminaries and underlying assumptions of pracademia before exploring the implications for the field of educational leadership.FindingsHaving established the underlying assumptions, this paper offers three standards – description, explanation and alternative – for assessing knowledge claims in the field that does not default to distinct knowledge worlds (e.g. academic, practice) or categories of knowledge generators (e.g. academics, practitioners, pracademics).Originality/valueThrough a relational approach, this work breaks down the boundaries of theory and practice to offer a new way of thinking about knowledge claims. The new approach is consistent with the intent of bridging theory and practice without the need to assume them to be separate in the first place.

Partial centralization in three-division organizations

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-210
Author(s):  
Siguang Li ◽  
Xi Weng
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Information Structures ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal allocation of authority within “chain” organizations and to show when partial centralization becomes dominant in the sense of organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes an incomplete contract approach and uses an information transmission framework to investigate the optimal governance structure, in which non-contractible decisions must be adapted to local operating conditions, and also coordinated with the upstream and downstream divisions. We also use simulation analysis to numerically show the theoretical mapping between the underlying parameters (i.e. coordination need) and the dominant organizational structures. Findings – Partial decentralization will arise as the optimal governance structure only when the information in the middle branch is relatively concentrated or dispersive, so as to exploit the underlying information structure in the “chain” organizations. Specifically, when information is highly concentrated, direct control of the middle branch can improve coordination within firms. When the information is highly dispersive, to delegate authority to the middle branch only can improve communication. Originality/value – This paper characterizes the optimal governance structure in “chain” organizations. The findings may give some enlightenment on real authority driven by ex ante asymmetric information structures and have implications on asymmetric delegation within firms.

“I’m not in the truth business”: the politics of climate change with pre-service teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Damico ◽  
Alexandra Panos ◽  
Mark Baildon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agonistic Encounter ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Change Beliefs ◽  
Online Sources

Purpose This study was designed to be an agonistic encounter between two pre-service teachers from different academic disciplines and with opposing climate change beliefs. The purpose of this study was to create an opportunity for this pair of future educators to voice, acknowledge and engage their differences, rather than avoid or skirt them. Design/methodology/approach Using a paired interview approach, two pre-service teachers discussed online sources about climate change. The analysis focuses on critical literacy practices of textual critique and reader reflexivity, considering how students from different beliefs and perspectives engage in agonism and negotiated practices. Findings While there was evidence of the two students engaged in critical literacy practices of textual critique, most of this engagement with the sources remained more at a surface level with somewhat superficial criteria to evaluate the sources. The two students engaged reflexively during the interview discussion in terms of their academic disciplines and climate change beliefs. This reflexive work produced the most compelling exchanges during the interview discussion and pointed to two rich sites for agonistic engagement: their differing conceptions of reliability and their competing perspectives about the intersection of science and politics. Originality/value Agonism offers a lens that helps ensure we understand that all pursuits toward facts and truth are necessarily contested as we engage with respected adversaries, not enemies we need to vanquish. There is an urgent need for dialogue across difference, especially for people in the increasingly polarized USA with complex topics and challenges such as climate change.

scholarly journals Getting-to-know

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 1299-1321
Author(s):  
Olle Sköld
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Knowledge Building ◽  
Principal Result ◽  
Online Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Practices ◽  
Videogame Industry ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Knowledge Claims

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sociocultural underpinnings of wiki-based knowledge production in the videogame domain, and to elucidate how these underpinnings relate to the formation of wikis as resources of videogame documentation. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a three-month ethnographic investigation of knowledge practices on the Dark Souls Wiki (DSW). In focus of the analysis were the boundaries and knowledge aims of the DSW, together with how its contributors organized inquiries and used various sources, methods of investigation, and ways of warranting knowledge claims. Findings The principal result of the paper is an empirical account of how the DSW functions as a culture of knowledge production, and how the content and structure of the wiki connects to the knowledge practices of its contributors. Four major factors that influenced knowledge practices on the wiki were identified: the structures and practices established by the community’s earlier wiki efforts; principles and priorities that informed wiki knowledge practices; the characteristics of the videogame in focus of the site’s knowledge-building work; the extent and types of relevant documentation provided by videogame industry, the videogaming press included. Originality/value Previous research has shown interest in investigating the mechanisms by which community-created knowledge and online resources of documentation emerge, and how these are utilized in play. There is, however, little research seeking to elucidate the sociocultural structures and practices that determine and sustain collaborative online videogame knowledge production.

The limits of resistant reading in critical literacy practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cori Ann McKenzie ◽  
Scott Jarvie
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Literacy Practices ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Literature Instruction ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to draw from work in the field of English that questions the “limits of critique” (Felski, 2015) in order to consider the limits of critical literacy approaches to literature instruction. The study focuses on the relational and affective demands that resistant reading places on readers and texts. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from post-critical (Felski, 2015) and surface (Best and Marcus, 2009) reading practices in the field of English, the authors perform analyses of two recent articles that illustrate critical literacy approaches to literature instruction, drawing attention to the ways the resistant reading practices outlined in each article reflect Felski’s description of critique. Findings The authors’ readings of two frameworks of critical literacy approaches to literature instruction produce two key findings: first, in emphasizing resistant readings, critical literacy asks readers to take up a detective-like orientation to literature, treating texts as suspects; second, resistant reading practices promote a specific set of affective orientations toward a text, asking readers to cultivate skepticism and vigilance. Originality/value While the authors do not dismiss the importance of critical literacy approaches to literature instruction, the study makes room for other relational and affective orientations to literature, especially those that might encourage readers to listen to – and be surprised by – a text. By describing critical literacy through the lens of Felski’s work on critique, the authors aim to open up new possibilities for surprising encounters with literature.

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