Creating the student writer: a study of writing identities in non-academic senior English classes.

Shand, Jennifer ; Konza, Deslea

Introduction

For the past two decades, the English subject area has generated controversial and at times heated discussion in the Australian media (Cullen, 2014). Much of this public debate has focused on the quality of teacher education programs, reading and writing pedagogy, the role of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), university entry, and international reading and writing results in which the performance of Australian students overall is perceived to have declined (Macken-Horarik, 2009; Turner, 2007). The discussion has taken place during a period of considerable social change, technological advances and concomitant changes in the ways societies and individuals communicate.

One key change in the past two decades has been an increase in the number of young Australians completing 12 years of school. The landmark report, Educational opportunity in 2015: Who succeeds and who misses out (Lamb, Jackson, Walstab & Huo, 2015), reports that '74 per cent of 19-year-olds had attained Year 12' (p. 41). For Western Australia, the figure was 71%, an increase from 66% reported by the Curriculum Council in 2002 (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2002). The Lamb et al. (2015) report also makes the significant point that 'not all those who complete school are equally prepared to pursue their post-school goals, whether university, other forms of study and training, or a job' (p. 43).

Throughout this period, the capacity to use written language and to produce recognised genres has remained highly valued within school systems and academia, where written texts are still 'powerful organisers of what we do and who we are: quite fundamental, in fact, as conditions of possibility--historically, epistemologically and technically' (Green, 2004, p. 297). As Johnson and Kress (2003) argued over a decade ago, attention needs to be given to the teaching of writing, as '... writing will remain the preferred form of the cultural and political elites, so that an equitable curriculum must pay the greatest attention to writing for the reason of 'access' alone' (p. 13).

Research into the writing done by senior school students undertaking non-academic pathways is limited. In 2001, Gilbert made the point that within the English subject area 'English literacy has been defined and appropriated by various discourses operating in the post-compulsory schooling arena' (p. 139). Her research into Queensland's English programs revealed highly differentiated forms of textual practice between vocationally orientated subjects, and literary and cultural studies streams of English. As a result, subjects such as English are 'complicit in the social differentiation of young adult learners in terms of economic and social privilege' (p. 139). In this respect, what students write in senior school English is politically significant in terms of shaping their potential destinations.

Purpose of the Study

This research explored how the senior school English student writer who has not traditionally participated in senior school English is constructed in schools in WA. In doing so, it asked:

1. What discursive features shape the writing identities of senior secondary English students?

2. With what writing identities are students affiliated in these contexts?

3. How are students' understanding of themselves as writers, and teachers' expectations of students, reflected in the genres they construct?

An approach to writing--applying a social semiotic framework

A social semiotic model offers researchers and educators a framework that conceptualises writing as a process of constructing meaning (Christie, 2012; Christie, 2005; Halliday, 1985). Contemporary social semiotic thought owes much to Halliday (1985) and Hodge and Kress' (1988) contention that groups and individuals make meaning to achieve social purposes and to 'get things done' (Halliday, 1985). This means that semiotic systems, such as written language, can be understood as resources (Christie, 2012; Christie & Derewianka, 2008; Halliday, 1985; Kress, 2005) that groups and individuals use in response to the communicative demands of specific situations, rather than the result of adherence to sets of rules. This is not to suggest that the activity of writing does not demand conventional uses of linguistic and grammatical resources, but rather that successful writing is a matter of using these resources in conventional and appropriate ways to achieve social purposes (Kress, 2005).

Discourse

The study sought to identify some of the key discourses shaping the writing identities of students in senior secondary English classes. To interpret the ways the English subject area positions students, the study drew upon Gee's (1999) definition of discourse as:

   ways of thinking, acting, interacting, valuing, feeling,
   believing and using symbols, tools and objects in the
   right places and at the right times so as to enact and
   recognise different identities and activities ... (p. 13)

He views discourses as functioning at three levels:

* Big D discourses that represent broad social and cultural values and systems of beliefs

* Small d discourses that represent and enable those beliefs in specific locations

* Textual discourses that represent and embody those beliefs and values in text.

On one level, big D discourses (Gee, 1999) reflect ideological and social meanings; that is, they represent sets of beliefs and values. In specific locations, such as school classrooms, small d discourses (Gee, 1999) represent habitual ways of viewing the world and behaving that are informed by these larger discourses. Finally, textual discourses (Gee, 1999) communicate particular ways of seeing the world through patterns of language use.

Student identity

Discourses are central in shaping identities. Theorists and researchers in the field of identity generally accept Bakhtin's (1986) perspective that identities derive from the complex relationships among the values and beliefs of the societies writers inhabit, the expectations of specific environments, and writers' own concepts of who they are or want to be in their writing (Smidt, 2009). Bakhtin's concepts of discourse roles and positioning help to describe how student writers engage with the genres they meet at school. Smidt (2009) used Bakhtin's concept of positioning to describe how individuals adopt or resist the positions offered by culturally framed master narratives and cultural discourses (Smidt, 2009). Specifically, Smidt has described 'genre positioning' as the process whereby:

writers adopt and negotiate social discourse roles available to them in the genres of school writing and social interaction between actual participants in particular classrooms ... (2009, p. 117)

The value of the notion of positioning lies in its focus on the ways discourses and discourse roles can privilege or marginalise particular ways of writing.

Ivanic's (1998) seminal research into writing identities highlights that students' writing identities are constructed as they affiliate with particular discourses, genres and language uses. In any particular environment, one discourse is likely to prevail and therefore be more visible so that writers are likely to accept the identity possibilities that such a privileged discourse offers.

Using the concept of filtering, Gee (2004) explained that discourses are adapted to the demands of local environments. Broad cultural discourses, such as those of the academic or business worlds, take on unique forms in local environments and may be adapted for a myriad of reasons, such as to meet the demands of curricula, the interests and capacities of students, and the beliefs and values of teachers. In this respect, teachers' frames of reference shape the construction of texts. This becomes evident through the interaction between teacher and students, the social activities and the practices involving writing, and affiliations with various discourses, genres and practices. Classrooms are discursively complex and dynamic environments, and student writers are positioned and repositioned as they are exposed to competing and not always compatible discourses (Ivanic, 1998). Individual student writers can have multiple and at times contradictory goals and engage in a multitude of writing practices. The activity of writing can be a site of struggle in which writers negotiate various forms of identity (Ivanic, 1998). Students may reject discourse roles and identities, or may simply oscillate between the positions available. Students may acknowledge a teacher's expertise or seek approval by adopting certain views and practices in their writing; or pursue quite independent paths. If a particular interpretation is broadly presented as accurate, some students may seek an alternative. If teachers perceive some students as incapable of analytical writing, individual students may accept that, while others may strive to develop the skills required. And in all cases, positions may change from task to task, and from one occasion to another.

An understanding of writing informed by genre norms

Contemporary Australian genre theory provides a frame by which to interpret the texts written by the English students participating in this study. This theory emerged from studies of interventionist strategies and programs associated with the New South Wales Disadvantaged Schools Program during the late 1980s and early 1990s (Christie & Martin, 1997; New South Wales Department of Education, 1994). Influenced by this research, Martin (2009) defined genres as templates or frameworks used to achieve particular purposes. Genres rely upon the patterned use of resources, the typical structures and uses of language that give written communication a level of predictability. Genres are described according to social purpose, the structure of the text, components of the stages of genres, and the resources required at each of these stages.

Research into writing in senior school English, using the above model, has identified the extensive use of the response genre (Christie, 2012; Christie & Derewianka, 2008; Macken-Horarik, 2009), within which four key manifestations have been identified: (1) the personal response, (2) the review, (3) the character analysis and (4) the thematic interpretation. The purpose of the latter, a text regularly constructed in the English subject (Macken-Horarik, 2009) is typically to respond to and to evaluate texts, particularly in terms of the values they represent (Christie & Derewianka, 2008, p. 58).

From this perspective, genres employ relatively predictable structures. As Figure 1 indicates, response genres begin by establishing the key theme(s) that students will discuss in a particular text. The opening of the thematic interpretation will establish key concepts and discourses (Christie & Derewinka, 2008) and frame the relationship between concepts and aspects of texts through words such as 'convey' and 'subvert' and articulate a central argument. Portions of the text, such as paragraphs, will support the response's overall argument with detailed discussions of themes. It concludes with a reiteration of the opening statements and contentions.

++++++ Figure 1

Figure 1. Structure of the thematic interpretation
(Christie & Derewinka, 2008)

Preview of elements

[down arrow]

Element evaluation

[down arrow]

Reiteration of them

Writers also use the conventions associated with genres as they are applied in particular types of texts. In this study, the two specific texts used were the essay and the report. The structure of these texts may be seen in the figures below.

Figure 2. Structure of the report genre
(Macken-Horarik, 2002).

General statement

[down arrow]

Description of aspects

[down arrow]

Description of activities

Figure 3. Structure of the essay genre (Christie & Derewinka,
2008; Christie & Macken-Horarik, 2007)

Identification of thesis

[down arrow]

Argument elaboration

[down arrow]

Reiteration

Additionally, the study examined the use of academic discourses and resources based on the work of Christie (2012), Christie and Derewianka (2008), Macken-Horarik (2006) and Schleppegrell (2004) as outlined in the table below.

The value and efficacy of genre as a concept for describing text, analysing textual features and teaching writing has generated considerable discussion in recent years. For Rosen (2013), Australian genre theory, and its conception of genre, has the potential to be unnecessarily rigid, arbitrary and full of empirically unsupported contentions. This is based partially on his view that the term genre is used so generically and inconsistently that it is an unreliable concept, comprised of categories imposed upon texts. Rosen argues that problems emerge when we treat these categories as immutable (p. 7). Doecke and Breen (2013) describe genre theory as having harmful effects on language education by undermining the 'living dynamic of language use (p. 294), and by classifying and categorising language in ways that do not acknowledge localised writing practices in individual classrooms.

In response to Rosen (2013), Christie (2013) argues that 'learning the genres of a culture is part of learning how that culture means' (p. 11). She maintains that genres are powerful ways of explaining the texts that students are expected to write in school disciplines, and that successful students learn to manipulate them, play with them and adapt them for their own purposes (p. 11). She challenges the view that genres are 'static', arguing that they are 'under pressure of social change in which individual creativity plays an important part' (p. 12), and therefore are not 'empty slots' in which to embed content (p. 13). In the school environment they are powerful tools, and competent use transfers considerable power to their users.

In a study of academic literacy development, Clark (2014) observed that the notion of genre helps students access the academic literacy discourses because it makes explicit the various purposes of different text types. This is important because genre and language resources are central to subject disciplines (Christie & Derwianka, 2008; Martin, 2009); and because control of the valued genres of disciplines are indicators of success. As such, they can be a useful beginning point for weaker writers (Whitney, Ridgeman & Masquelier, 2011). Clark cautioned, however, that rigid approaches to the teaching and presentation of genre as 'unquestionable and "fixed"' (p. 300) can be counterproductive.

Moon (2012) makes the point that the notion of genre is a useful tool; however, it cannot sit in isolation. He contends that teaching writing is a complex and multifaceted endeavour, and that 'in its insistence on analysis prior to composition, genre goes a long way in the direction of classical training. But it errs when it asks students to replicate the deep structures of texts without first attending to the surface arrangement and style' (p. 45).

What has emerged in this debate are concerns over entry points into the teaching of writing, definitions of genre and the convolution of genre as a text concept, and teaching strategies associated with genre (Whitney et al., 2011). Whitney et al. argue that genres are shaped by discourse communities such as secondary school English, and therefore it is inevitable that they will change and adapt to the needs of the community. They acknowledge that the use of false audiences and unrealistic texts add to this dilemma and therefore teachers need to create valid purposes for writing genres. A focus on genre makes authenticity a high priority, and it is vital that students see genres in their social functions at a particular point in time.

According to genre theory, students should be made aware of, and become competent in, the use of the ideational, interpersonal and textual resources that are in particular genres (Christie, 2012; Christie & Derewinaka, 2008; Macken-Horarik, 2002). These resources and the functions they serve were originally categorised by Halliday (1978 & 1985) as:

* Ideational functions, which convey experiences of the world as knowledge, facts, subject matter and discourse;

* Interpersonal functions, which express relationships, shape social interactions and express attitudes; and

* Textual functions, which organise texts through structures such as syntax and cohesive devices.

Ideational resources

Ideational resources are used to communicate subject matter, ideas, knowledge and discourse. In this study, nouns and noun groups, and the use of abstract and technical language in the texts written by students, were analysed. These are significant resources because they are the primary means by which students communicate their knowledge of a particular subject area, and so engage in the discourse of that subject (Christie, 2012). They provide resources or tools by which students can write about phenomena (Halliday, 1994) and abstract concepts such as symbolism, perspective, identity and ideology.

Interpersonal resources

Researchers such as Christie (2012) and Christie and Derewianka (2008) make the point that successful adolescent writers use a number of interpersonal resources to establish their own authorial identities and to build relationships with their readers. In the study reported in this paper, two broad concepts facilitated analysis of students' use of these resources. Using appraisal resources, writers adopt or assume attitudes towards ideas, actions, persons, or events, in order to influence the attitude of readers. One such appraisal resource is attitude, which communicates values (Martin & Rose, 2009). Attitude can be described in terms of affect, which communicates emotional reactions to texts; judgement, which communicates assessment of behaviour based on personal, cultural or ethical values; and appreciation, which conveys perceived worth. The use of interpersonal resources allows the senior student writer to make evaluative judgements about the meanings in texts (Christie & Derewianka, 2008); to engage confidently in different perspectives and possibilities; and to present an argument in an authoritative manner (Schleppegrell, 2004).

Textual resources

Halliday and Hasan (1985) contend that ideational and interpersonal resources are realised in the overall construction of text. In the study described in this paper, the focus was on how students used two cohesive devices: (1) the repetition of words and phrases as a cohesive strategy (Bloor & Bloor, 2004); and (2) explanation resources, such as elaboration, extension and enhancement (Bloor & Bloor, 2004) to connect ideas and forms of evidence in the following ways:

1. Elaboration reinstates or clarifies key ideas;

2. Extension outlines attributes and identity; and

3. Enhancement develops relationships of time, location, cause and condition.

Conducting the research

The research approach

This study followed the qualitative research tradition in that the phenomenon of senior English writing was investigated over a considerable period of time and through extended contact within a real 'life situation' (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 6). To explore the phenomena of school based writing, a multiple case study (Yin, 2003) and elements of ethnography (Koro-Ljungberg & Greckhamer, 2005; Lillis, 2008) were used. The case study provided a model by which to integrate data collected from a range of sources such as student texts and teacher interviews. Case studies have the advantage of allowing 'how' or 'why' questions about phenomena in environments where that phenomena take places (Yin, 2003). The ethnographic elements offered opportunities to investigate how school writing takes place in the particular contexts of English classrooms. An essential feature of ethnography is the analysis of data drawn from actual environments (Lillis, 2008) and all the 'messiness' that entails: inclusion of participants' opinions and recognition of the power of descriptions and explanations. Case studies do however, have the potential to be limited or restricted by the peculiarities of the individual case (Wolcott, 2001; Yin, 2003).

Recruitment of teachers

An invitation to 30 English Heads of Department resulted in identification of four teachers of nonacademic classes willing to participate in the research. Data were collected from four classes; however, this paper reports only on data collected within two of the case studies.

Data collection and analysis

Teachers were each asked to select three students who represented a cross section of ability levels in their class. Student texts were selected on the basis of similar assessment tasks and comparable student abilities as perceived by the teachers. Data were also collected from classroom observations, and teacher and student interviews.

Data analysis began with the creation of categories informed by the literature and designed to reflect the research questions. This meant that initially, data collected from interviews, observations and texts were interpreted in terms of aspects of genre, and the resources outlined in the previous section and emerging forms of student identity. Data analysis was an iterative process where texts were continually 'read' and reviewed against the literature. The NVivo programme was used to organise data into themes, a sample of which is provided in Table 2, and to identify patterns both within each case study and between case studies (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006).

The schools, teachers and students (1)

Woodlands Senior High School is located within a suburb of largely middle and lower socioeconomic index and a declining adolescent population. At the time of data collection, it offered a combination of academic and vocational programs. Barry, a recent recruit to English teaching with a carpentry and small business background, taught lower and senior school English and Literature. In this article, analysis is presented of a text written by one of Barry's students, Daniel, who was in Year Twelve and identified by Barry as one of the stronger students in his class. The class studied Michael Moore's (2004) documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

Amberville High School is located in an older metropolitan neighbourhood, a short distance from the central business district. The area is comprised of professionals, university students, recent migrant arrivals and a number of unemployed or lower income workers. In this cosmopolitan school, Frances maintained a broad teaching program including senior academic English and classes for students with vocational programmes. This article reports on Bryony's analysis of The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont, 1995), and the learning and instructional environment in the English class taught by Frances.

Both classes in the study were completing a unit on Analysis and Response to a Media Text, which involved a detailed study of film, an option within the Vocational English Curriculum (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2002) designed to be taught over approximately four weeks. Of the 20 hours of teaching allocated to this unit, 12 were observed in Daniel's classroom, and 11 observed in Bryony's classroom.

Writing at Woodlands

The key outcome in Barry's English class was that students Prepare a written analysis of a media text. Preceding the writing of the report, students had studied Moore's documentary in terms of the political climate at the time of George Bush's election as president in 2001, the bombing of the New York Twin Towers in September of that year, and subsequent actions of the American administration. Students had also spent some time examining the report structure and format.

The environment in which Barry taught, and in which Daniel wrote, was distinctive. Barry reported that he found teaching this group of students quite difficult, as most had not been highly successful at school in their junior years, and had returned to school somewhat reluctantly in order to complete an English subject to graduate or to gain entry to further studies. This environment was shaped by discourses about success and notions of the student as worker. Significantly, Barry perceived the students as lacking the capacity to analyse texts, explaining that 'They don't have analytical minds and the more you try and hammer them to try and get them to produce something analytical the more difficult your task actually is'. They were, according to Barry, capable of 'solid work' when given appropriate support.

Daniel's three-page report highlights how he responded to the task: Prepare a written analysis of a media text. It focused on the central themes of corruption and incompetence, and the Bush administration's response to terrorism in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack. This was extended through headings referring to the corruption of the presidential election that brought Bush to power, the impact of the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq. Daniel achieved this, as outlined in Table 3, through a four paragraph description of the election and the context in which it was conducted, an additional three paragraphs about the delayed response to the 9/11 bombing of the Twin Towers, and a further three paragraphs about the war in Iraq. Each section elaborated key aspects of Daniel's argument, along with some description of events of the time. Additionally, Daniel examined the filmic techniques employed in the construction of this documentary.

Daniel drew upon nouns and abstract language associated with political discourse, such as 'democracy and political representation', 'legal justice' and 'imperialism'. To an extent, Daniel drew on the technical language of film and narrative analysis and included concepts such as 'documentary', 'irony', 'image', 'parody' and 'voice over'. His intent to analyse the key themes and the techniques employed to do this was apparent when he argued that '... throughout the movie Moore speaks over the scenes and uses irony to outline the contradiction in the film'. A further example is presented in Text Sample 1, where Daniel analysed how Moore presented images, music and narration for dramatic impact, and to persuade the audience of the traumatic impact of the bombing of the twin towers and the significance of an incompetent and corrupt administration. He contended that Moore 're-creates the impact' as a way of criticising the Bush Administration's response to the events of the time.

Text Sample 1

The opening scene to this segment is designed to awe the audience. The vision of the 9/11 attacks where the aircraft slams into the building has been plastered on the news and has since lost any real impact. To re-create the impact, Michael Moore blanked out the images and only played the sounds. The first visions reveal the people standing in the streets staring blankly upwards or with anguish written in their features and tears in their eyes. The music is high pitched and repetitive as a background to Moore's voice.

Daniel developed his argument and reinforced his key points about corruption and incompetence through a process of enhancement, by building relationships between the events of the time and the American government's culpability in creating the circumstances that enabled this situation. Additionally, the loss of confidence in democracy was elaborated upon and reinforced several times in the early part of the report. This was also explored through links to other events of the time such as the disenfranchising of African Americans. Daniel's writing reflected his effort to connect the declining confidence in American democracy with the perceived corruption and incompetence of the American administration, a point reinforced by references to Bush's weak leadership and his administration's failure to manage the terrorist attack.

Daniel explained that he had not intended his report to be opinionated; however, he strongly judged the events and actions outlined in the documentary. He used evaluative adjectives to position the reader to reject the behaviour of the Bush administration. The description of Osama Bin Laden as a 'confirmed culprit' passes judgement on him as inevitably responsible for the bombings of the Twin Towers. In addition, Daniel passed harsh judgement on the Bush Administration as he described behaviour in terms of 'manipulation' and engendering fear as a 'powerful tool', thus implying that the people of America had cause to distrust their political leaders. Daniel also positioned the audience to feel sympathy for the Iraqi people, as he did, for the suffering that resulted from the actions of the American leadership. In contrast to the 'corruption' that dominated Daniel's discussion of the American leadership, Daniel presented the Iraqi nation as 'a proud people'.

Daniel wrote his report in a way that reflected the writing instruction that took place in this class. As Barry explained:

So one on one is the normal way that I work, and this seems to work for me because I'm able to tap into their strengths and weaknesses.

This strong level of individual support was characterised by progression through a series of stages, which he described in the following way:

   my normal practice is that they have a go at it themselves
   and they bring it to me and I have a go at it with
   them, one on one to point out where their sentences are
   not working, where their grammatical skills need to
   improve, where their structure needs to improve and I
   generally make those marks on their document which
   then becomes a draft. They take it away, they give it
   another go.

The editing and production of drafts was highly valued and influenced the allocation of grades. From Barry's perspective, only students who had the capacity to revise and edit on an on-going basis were candidates for an A grade. As he explained, 'Really, the writing is very much step by step and by trial and error and by draft and draft and draft and draft again'. Daniel redrafted his report six times; on some occasions with Barry and on others independently. An examination of the notes on his drafts revealed some regular patterns: advice on technical and abstract vocabulary, spelling, and the combination of shorter sentences into longer and more complex sentences. For example, Barry corrected Daniel's sentences 'One by one the representatives stood up. No senators could be found to help the African Americans. One by one they were told to sit down and shut up', to the compound sentence 'No senators could be found to help the African Americans who were told one by one to sit down and shut up'. Additionally, Barry corrected Daniel's use of verbs from 'tells' to the more abstract 'informs'. Daniel's final report reflected this level of support, in addition to his determination to perform well, and his affiliation with the 'worker' discourse of the class.

Daniel positioned himself as a critical thinker. Throughout the report, he explored the nature of corruption as a form of social and political behaviour, and the representation of particular social groups, such as terrorists and conservative politicians. Daniel viewed the role of the judiciary as undermining the democratic process, thus aligning himself ideologically with democracy. This approach did not always conform to his teacher's expectations that the writers in this class were workers rather than thinkers.

Writing at Amberville

In Frances' class, students studied Frank Darabont's (1995) film The Shawshank Redemption, and explored representations of prisons and judicial systems, and groups such as prisoners and prison guards; and the use of narrative and filmic conventions to convey themes. Four weeks had been allocated for preparing a thematic interpretation within an essay, in which students were to analyse and explain representations of key themes in the film and the use of narrative and filmic techniques.

In this class, students constructed written texts in an atmosphere of high expectations: in Frances' words, 'there's no point dropping the bar with these kids'. This atmosphere was in part the result of the commanding discourses of maturity, achievement and personal responsibility that framed Frances' approach to teaching writing. Students were encouraged to have confidence in their ability to construct texts, and to aspire to complex academic registers. Student progress was consistently monitored and students were regularly informed of their progress. The clearly specified nature of tasks meant that students had little control over the selection, sequencing or pacing of the content and features of written tasks.

Frances reported that public perceptions of education was a key factor in her teaching approach. She adopted a powerful discourse of the 'student achiever', constructed through textual practices and performances, such as the academic essay. She also believed that it was important that students mastered the essay as a 'rite of passage', which provided an entry into the literate world.

Successful students have 'mature perspectives about life' and a 'responsible' attitude to 'just get on with it'. Frances argued that student achievement should reflect positively upon the school system and the work of teachers. Student performance in Year Twelve, and in the world of employment beyond, was considered a reflection of the achievements of the school system and potentially indicative of its failures. Students struggling with this subject, and particularly those without the capacity to pass, were seen as having been let down in the critical areas of language and literacy.

In her opening paragraph, Bryony introduced the film and the purpose of her essay, which was to argue that 'Technical, symbolic and audio codes have been used in shaping this text and allows us, as viewers to recognise the theme, that there is corruption in the justice system'. Bryony used abstract and technical vocabulary such as 'resolution', and 'narrative', with references to the text evoking a 'response in the viewer' and 'shaping this text'. This also allowed the construction of phenomena such as the narrative, which in turn was composed of 'characterisation', 'setting' and 'symbolic codes'. The use of abstract and conceptually rich words such as 'corruption' also provided the opportunity for ideas to be deconstructed in some depth.

Bryony supported her interpretation of the film--a representation of the unjust and corrupt nature of the judicial and prison system conveyed through narrative and filmic conventions and the presentation of a counter argument or alternative perspective of human nature--through a series of elaborations which are outlined in Table 6 below. Each paragraph expanded on the theme of corruption with discussion of how particular narrative or filmic techniques were used. Bryony deconstructed the concept of corruption in terms of power, injustice and abuse; and explored the relationship between the theme of injustice within the judicial system, and conventions, such as characterisation. Bryony thus explored how individuals within a corrupt justice system adapt and survive through comradeship, thereby providing a counterpoint to the film's central tenant: that judicial systems, and the individuals within it, can be corrupted.

In Sample Text 2 below, Bryony's writing illustrates how techniques such as specific camera angles and camera shots convey the notion that institutions such as prisons allow power to be corrupted. She elaborated through the use of examples to reveal how these techniques contribute to the idea of control and power within a restricted and authoritarian environment. In the concluding sentence, she drew attention to a dominant theme in the film and explained how portrayal of the theme and the conventions used to convey it, positioned viewers. Bryony supported the development of this critical link with a detailed example of authority and control revealed in the physical appearance, expressions and dialogue of the guards. She used abstract terms such as 'aggression', 'intolerance' and 'power' and in doing so, elaborated upon the use of power as an abuse of power.

   Sample Text 2

   Darabont's use of camera angles helps us to get a better
   understanding of each character and their place in
   the prison. The use of low camera shots, show us that
   the guards are the authority figures and are always in
   control. The best example of this is when one of prisoners
   asks Hadley: 'When do we eat?' His reaction to
   this comment, via the close up on his face, conveys his
   feeling of aggression and intolerance towards the prisoners.
   'You will eat when we tell you to eat, you ...
   when we tell you to ... and you ... when we tell you
   to ...'. Darabont is trying to show us that the guards not
   only hold all the power, they abuse their power as well.

Bryony elaborated upon her argument by describing the relationship between themes and their construction through narrative and filmic conventions. Including Red's comments that he was 'a changed man' who presents 'no danger to society' strengthened her argument that there was an underlying humanity in some of the prisoners. This was contrasted with the attributes of the guards and highlighted their corruption and brutality. In the final sentence of Text Sample 3, Bryony extended her argument by illustrating how the character of Red, portrayed as quiet and well spoken, could, through the use of 'and' be anything but 'dangerous'.

   Text Sample 3

   Another one of the main characters in the film is that
   of Red. He is a sort of mentor in the prison, but he is
   very important in the film as he acts as the 'all seeing'
   narrator. Red is one of the long serving prisoners at
   Shawshank, and it is because of this that he has become
   friends with his fellow prisoners and accustomed to the
   injustices of the judicial system. Red is first introduced
   to the audience when he is front of the parole board. 'I
   am a changed man, there is no danger to society here
   sir'. We then see his plea for parole rejected, and are
   persuaded to feel sorry for this man, who throughout
   the film is only ever presented as quiet, well spoken and
   anything but 'dangerous'.

Frances believed that once students were placed in a productive learning environment, they would do well, which influenced her approach to learning and teaching. In one interview, Frances summarised her writing pedagogy as based on students 'doing something within their reach ... and scaffolding, modelling and scaffolding'. More specifically, she explained that the teaching of writing requires:

   students understanding exactly what they're supposed
   to be doing, and you have to do very, very careful
   modelling, so that they have something to base what
   they're expected to do on ...(when) given guidelines,
   and a model to follow I don't find that students have
   any difficulty ... whatsoever. It's very important from
   the very outset that they know exactly what they are
   doing.

Classroom observations revealed that Frances' teaching of the thematic interpretation was heavily scaffolded, with extensive questioning and answering, and modelling the use of evidence, vocabulary and paragraph construction. Approximately 60%-70% of the 11 lessons observed throughout this unit were devoted to detailed discussions of text construction. Students spent a number of lessons deconstructing, analysing and expanding paragraphs written by individual students in terms of content, development of argument and appropriate uses of support mechanisms such as evidence, examples and elaboration.

For Bryony, the individual editing with Frances provided an appropriate level of support. The most consistently edited aspects of Bryony's work were spelling, sentence construction and abstract vocabulary. Bryony also commented on the usefulness of written work samples and previous essays; and made notes based on the discussions in class. Her experiences reflected Frances' approach to the teaching of writing, which was to provide high levels of support through tangible mechanisms such as scaffolding. Some observed examples of this support were outlines of the essay structure on the board; a refocusing of student attention on the purpose of the essay; modelling adjustments to sentences; and making specific suggestions about content and language use. This reshaping of the students' knowledge through dialogue and explanation exposed students to the key aspects of the thematic interpretation, and to some of the significant resources necessary for its successful construction.

Bryony also valued the experience of writing an essay, explaining that this process had developed her organisational skills by:

   not putting everything into one thing [referring to
   paragraphs], like spacing it out, and keeping what
   you're talking about in one paragraph, and ... not go
   to another paragraph and still talk about the same
   thing ... to break up what you're talking about.

During one interview, Bryony spoke of the struggles involved in writing an essay, such as developing an argument, and her strong sense of accomplishment as she completed the task. Importantly, Bryony positioned herself as capable of analysis and critical interpretation. Throughout the essay, she adopted many of the conventions of analysis. Text Sample 3 highlights her attempts to show the relationship between areas of knowledge that were needed to demonstrate a successful level of analysis. She further developed this association through the concept of narrator and the more specific all seeing narrator. The text also highlights her endeavour to align herself, albeit under the close guidance of Frances, with the practice of using evidence from the text to support her argument. In this paragraph, Bryony used a specific example from the film when one of the characters asked a direct question of the prison guard which she explains in terms of camera angles and the dialogue of one of the characters. This not only provided a source of confidence, it also reflected Bryony's knowledge base and solid understanding of the framing of context in this essay. Throughout the essay, Bryony strove to create a level of formality associated with the academic style that Frances modelled in the classroom: conforming to linguistic conventions of formal academic writing; and using third person voice, technical language and evidence-based descriptions. In her conclusion, Bryony summarised her overall interpretation of the film, emphasising the filmic techniques used in the construction of the film.

   Text Sample 4

   Although the feature film The Shawshank Redemption
   is set in a prison, which a large majority of the
   audience cannot relate to, the director helps us identify
   with certain characters. He does this through his
   clever use of not only the traditional elements of feature
   film, character, setting, conflict and resolution, but also
   his clever use of narration, camera angles, colour and
   sound imagery. This helps us both sympathise with the
   prisoners in their plight for justice and forge a strong
   dislike for those who make their battle so difficult.

At Amberville High School, Bryony embraced essay writing with trepidation and finished the unit with confidence: in her words, 'this has been easy ...'. Through a combination of highly scaffolded lessons and individual support from her teacher, Bryony constructed an essay that incorporated content associated with the narrative literary tradition and film studies, and knowledge of academic writing.

Conclusion

Successful writing was achieved by both students. This demanded engagement in the dominant subject matter of the unit, which in this case was to interpret the significant themes of a media text, and adherence to the structure of the thematic interpretation. The students also demonstrated their mastery of the genre through their use of ideational, interpersonal and textual resources (Christie, 2012; Christie & Derewianka, 2008; Halliday, 1978, 1985; Macken-Horarik, 2002).

The thematic interpretation, as undertaken in these classes, offered students the opportunity to explore concepts such as corruption, injustice and incompetence. Bryony framed the concept of corruption in terms of power, injustice and abuse and used, in part, that framework to explain how corruption was represented in the film. This added strength to her essay as she used particular elements, such as the thematic concerns of the film, and narrative and filmic conventions to frame her interpretation and essay. Daniel resisted such a tightly structured interpretation of the text.

The successful construction of the thematic interpretation depended in both classes on the confident use of ideational resources such as abstract and technical terminology. It required use of words such as 'symbolism' and 'imagery,' and subject specific discourse through phrases such as 'narrative and filmic conventions' and 'positioning the viewer' to construct ways of explaining abstract concepts such as corruption and symbolism (Christie & Derewianka, 2008; Martin, 2007).

Daniel and Bryony also used interpersonal resources such as appraisal to represent themselves as authoritative writers with opinions and perspectives. For Daniel in particular, the opportunity to express his view of key events was one of the positive aspects of writing the report. This was evident in his use of the appraisal resources of attitude to strongly convey his emotional response to the film; and of judgement to communicate his assessment of the Bush administration.

Both young writers also used textual resources to connect their ideas and to present evidence to support their arguments. The textual resource of elaboration was evident in the way Daniel expanded, paragraph by paragraph, on the impact of the delayed response to the bombing of the Twin Towers; and in the way Bryony developed her discussion of corruption by detailing how particular narrative or filmic techniques were used. Daniel used the textual resource of enhancement as he related the devastation of the Twin Towers' aftermath to the American government's contribution to the environment that led to it. Both students received significant support in the use of these resources: Frances modelled them extensively in class; and Barry provided close guidance for Daniel through editing and one to one conversations.

Writing and text construction were presented in both classes as largely collaborative and iterative practices. Extensive editing of student texts, with up to six reviews done by the teacher independently or in collaboration with the student, reflected this orientation.

For these students, collaborative writing in the form of joint construction of text, and teacher modelling of particular aspects of text construction and editing, provided a level of security; however, the transition to independent writing was not always clearly achieved.

Final reflection

This examination of the texts written by Daniel and Bryony, and the learning and teaching strategies employed in Barry and Frances' classes, challenge to some extent distinctions between academic and nonacademic writing and indicate the potential for traditionally non-academic students to write at conceptually and linguistically complex levels. Both Bryony and Daniel achieved the overall purpose of the thematic interpretation, which was to consider the values represented in media texts. Additionally, the work of the students demonstrated their capacity to engage in discussions of concepts such as corruption in terms of the exercise and abuse of power. The path to achieving this for these two students was relatively distinct and reflected the writing identities prioritised in each class. For Bryony, this meant adhering to a genre structure set by her teacher. For Daniel, this meant working with a structure set by his teacher on one level, and creating somewhat subversively, his own identity as a critical writer. Additionally, the study indicates the potential for genres to offer different entry points for particular subject discourses. The writing experiences of Daniel and Bryony and the texts they produced, reflect the power of teachers to break down perceived barriers, and the capacity of students to respond to high expectations, and well-crafted teaching.

Ethics approval was granted for this research by Edith Cowan University (ECU Human Research Committee--Code Number 1621).

Jennifer Shand

University of Western Australia

Deslea Konza

Edith Cowan University

Note

(1) Names of schools and participants are pseudonyms.

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Jennifer Shand is a lecturer in English curriculum education at the University of Western Australia. Her research interests include writing pedagogy, middle and upper school English curriculum, cross-curricula literacy, upper school literature and young adult fiction. Recently, Jennifer has taught in Western Australian secondary schools where she has taught extensively in upper school English and Literature and middle school English from Years 7 to 10. Jennifer.shand@uwa.edu.au

Deslea Konza is Associate Professor of Language and Literacy, and Director of the Fogarty Learning Centre at Edith Cowan University. Her research interests centre on developing classroom teachers' knowledge of reading development and instruction. She has written books, chapters and journal articles on special education, reading difficulties, the professional learning of teachers, reading interventions, and researching in schools. Her current research includes working in remote schools in the Kimberley region and northern Queensland to support the reading of Aboriginal students. d.konza@ecu.edu.au

Table 1. Conventions of academic discourse

Writing conventions associated with academic texts

Demonstration of knowledge and a range of analytical
skills

Thematic progression which supports an argument
Valuing discourse-appropriate abstractions and technical
terminology

A growing command over grammatical metaphor

An authorial presence and engagement with diverse
perspectives and possibilities

Variety of clause types and conjunctions

Variety of verbal processes

Control over evaluative expression

Table 2. An outline of the theme of identity
affiliation and differentiation

Student writing identities           Identity
are discursively and socially
constructed                          Identities are shaped
                                     through patterns
Conformity--conforming to the        of affiliation and
forms of identity made available     differentiation
to them

Resistance--resisting forms of
identity made available to them

Motifs--viewing student writing
identities through motifs such as
the worker or achiever

Enacting--enacting views of the
self as writer in activities and
appropriation of resources

Table 3. Schematic structure of Daniel's report

Schematic structure   Illustrated in text

Orientation (single   Introduction to the documentary
paragraph)            Introduction to the key theme to
INTRODUCTION          be discussed--the high level of
                      corruption and incompetence of
                      the Bush Administration
                      Introduction to filmic techniques
                      used in the documentary

Description of        The election of the Bush
aspect (four          administration as evidence of
paragraphs)           corruption
PRESIDENTIAL          Disquiet amongst the African
ELECTION              American voters
                      Animosity after the election and
                      lack of responsibility on President
                      Bush's part

Description of        Images and sound highlight the
aspect (three         trauma and public responses to the
paragraphs)           9/11 attacks
9/11 ATTACKS          President Bush's response to the
                      9/11 attacks
                      Censorship and incompetence in
                      the aftermath of the attacks

Description of        9/11 encourages fear of terrorism
aspect (three         Inadequacy of American
paragraphs)           involvement in Afghanistan
THE WAR ON            Failure of the hunt for Bin Laden
IRAQ                  and American involvement in Iraq

Reiteration           Reiteration of themes of corruption
CONCLUSION            and incompetence

Table 4. Schematic structure of Bryony's essay

Schematic       Illustrated in text
structure

Orientation     Description of feature film
(Paragraph 1)   Narrative and filmic elements tell the
                story and evoke a response
                Dominant theme of corruption in the
                justice system

Elaboration     Overview of corruption in terms of
(Paragraph 2)   power and corruption
                Development of themes through
                character of Andy

Elaboration     Development of the above themes
(Paragraph 3)   through character of Red

Elaboration     Technical aspects of camera angles used
(Paragraph 4)   to show power
                Tone of voice and interaction between
                characters show abuse of power

Elaboration     The loneliness and sadness of prison
(Paragraph 5)   created through music
                Prisoners share a melancholy existence

Elaboration     Colour and lighting evoke particular
(Paragraph 6)   emotions in the audience

Reiteration     Review of narrative and filmic
(Paragraph 7)   techniques
                Review of themes of corruption, abuse
                of power and injustice