 | Intellectual quality
Introduction
Higher-order thinking
Deep knowledge
Deep understanding
Substantive conversation
Knowledge as problematic
Metalanguage Metalanguage Are aspects of language, grammar and technical vocabulary being given prominence?
Explanation High-metalanguage instruction incorporates frequent discussion about talk and writing, about how written and spoken texts work, about specific technical vocabulary and words, about how sentences work or don't work (syntax/grammar), about meaning structures and text structures (semantics/genre), and about how discourses and ideologies work in speech and writing. Teachers choose teaching moments within activities, assignments, readings and lessons to focus on particular words, sentences, text features, discourses and so on. Low-metalanguage instruction has little explicit discussion of talk and writing, about how written and spoken texts work, about their features, characteristics, patterns, genres or discourses. The emphasis is simply on doing text-based activities. Example -
A Year 11 English class was being introduced to the concept of 'discourse'. The teacher asked the students to examine how medical, legal and mechanical languages operate within particular contexts to suit speakers, listeners and subjects. The students gave some concrete examples of these and described how power operates in each situation and is closely aligned with knowledge.
By reversing the speaker and the listener, students were able to consider alternative discourses and to examine how power relations can be disrupted. There was consistent use of metalanguage throughout as the teacher and students examined how discourses constitute texts, knowledge and power. -
A Year 11 Maths class was manipulating statistics to suit the needs of various stakeholders. In the lesson they examined how the same data could be interpreted from multiple viewpoints to suit varying purposes. Continuum of practice | Consistent use of metalanguage. The teacher provides ongoing and frequent commentary on language use, perhaps using jokes, puns, ironic comments on her/his own or students' language, points out how differing sentences, text-types, discourses actually work, compares and contrasts them, and shows how language can be used to constitute texts, knowledge and power. Initial or periodic use of metalanguage. At the beginning of the lesson, or at some key juncture, the teacher stops and explains or gives a mini-lesson on some aspect of language, e.g. vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, genre. Low metalanguage. The teacher proceeds through the lesson without stopping and commenting on his/her own or students' use of language. | |
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