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Book part
Publication date: 9 November 2020

Sarah Horrod

Building on the proposition that Bernstein's ideas are due for a revival in higher education research, the call for studies in which theory is put to use and for policy studies to…

Abstract

Building on the proposition that Bernstein's ideas are due for a revival in higher education research, the call for studies in which theory is put to use and for policy studies to engage in textual analysis, this chapter argues for the affordances of the theoretical underpinnings of Bernstein's pedagogic device and critical discourse studies in investigating connections between policy and practice. Drawing on the sociology of pedagogy and applied linguistics, this chapter aims to explore the theoretical complementarities of the chosen approaches for exploring how policy ideas move through time and space. A focus on the notion of recontextualisation enables an understanding of how influences beyond the discipline itself, including policy discourses, can shape learning, teaching and assessment practices. The illustrating case examines policy on learning and teaching and how these ideas are recontextualised from national policy through to institutional policy and individual practices. The critical or questioning angle of both approaches in seeing ideas, including policy, as never value-free but as situated within their sociopolitical context can shed light on how policy ideas make their way into universities and in whose interests.

Details

Theory and Method in Higher Education Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-321-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2012

Yuta Suzuki

The purpose of this paper is to report on a case study that was conducted in a Japanese elementary school in order to examine what kinds of teachers’ discourse support the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on a case study that was conducted in a Japanese elementary school in order to examine what kinds of teachers’ discourse support the professional development of teachers in lesson study.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employed an intensive case study design that primarily focused on teachers’ discourse in post‐lesson conferences held at the school. In addition, it relied on a variety of ethnographic data obtained over a two‐year period. To scrutinise teachers’ professional development, the authors selected two cases where the research lessons were conducted by the same teacher.

Findings

The teachers’ discourse in the lesson study can be classified into the following six discursive modes: (A) Simple question and answer (B) Is the alternative teaching approach better? (C) What is the best way of teaching X? (D) Did the children learn what the teacher intended them to? (E) Did the teacher teach what the children actually learned? and (F) What did the teacher learn from watching the children learn? The research teacher’s tasks for developing as a teaching professional were elicited from her colleagues’ discourse, which was characterised by the discursive modes (E) and (F).

Originality/value

This study illuminated the nature of teachers’ professional discourse from the viewpoint of discursive modes in a Japanese lesson study. The discursive modes (B), (C) and (D) were classified as problem‐solving discourse in the context of given problems; the discursive modes (E) and (F) were classified as problem‐setting discourse.

Details

International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-8253

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2015

Steve Jaynes

– The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a discourse model that was developed for an empirical study of a strategic change program.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a discourse model that was developed for an empirical study of a strategic change program.

Design/methodology/approach

The perspective informing the discourse model is that discursive processes are central to strategic change in organizations, and that strategic change works by constructing a particular organizational reality in which the possibilities for change are preconditioned. This perspective offers a discursive understanding of how strategic change is formed, articulated, engaged, and contested by managers and employees.

Findings

The paper reports the findings from a study in which the discourse model was applied to a strategic change program in a Bank. The findings demonstrate the inter-discursive nature of strategic change in showing how different levels of discourse, from the grand to the local, were intertwined in an organizational and situated context.

Research limitations/implications

This paper builds on the small but growing body of empirical work that studies organizational strategy as a discourse. In this paper it has been argued that discursive processes are central to strategic change in organizations - central to the understanding and the practice of how strategic change is formed, articulated, and engaged by managers and employees. This argument was informed by a post-structuralist definition and articulation of language and an understanding of language as discourse in organizations.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates the central role of language and discourse in the formation of a strategic change program. The findings reported in the paper show the importance of strategy discourse in providing a framework for strategic change, for mobilizing change in an organization, and for legitimizing the change imperative.

Social implications

A critique of the management of emotional intelligence is set out. The centrality of employee identity and subject position to the processes of change is illustrated.

Originality/value

The discourse model made possible an investigation of how a program of strategic change was formed through the discursive framing of organizational reality.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 October 2007

John Ferguson

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on John B. Thompson's “tripartite approach” for the analysis of mass media communication, highlighting how this methodological framework…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on John B. Thompson's “tripartite approach” for the analysis of mass media communication, highlighting how this methodological framework can help address some of the shortcomings apparent in extant studies on accounting which purport to analyse accounting “texts”.

Design/methodology/approach

By way of example, the paper develops a critique of an existing study in accounting that adopts a “textually‐oriented” approach to discourse analysis by Gallhofer, Haslam and Roper. This study, which is informed by Fairclough's version of critical discourse analysis (CDA), undertakes an analysis of the letters of submission of two business lobby groups regarding proposed takeovers legislation in New Zealand. A two‐stage strategy is developed: first, to review the extant literature which is critical of CDA, and second, to consider whether these criticisms apply to Gallhofer et al. Whilst acknowledging that Gallhofer et al.'s (2001) study is perhaps one of the more comprehensive in the accounting literature, the critique developed in the present paper nevertheless highlights a number of limitations. Based upon this critique, an alternative framework is proposed which allows for a more comprehensive analysis of accounting texts.

Findings

The critique of Gallhofer et al.'s study highlights what is arguably an overemphasis on the internal characteristics of text: this is referred to by Thompson as the “fallacy of internalism”. In other words, Gallhofer et al. draw inferences regarding the production of the letters of submission from the texts themselves, and make implicit assumptions about the likely effects of these texts without undertaking any formal analysis of their production or reception, or without paying sufficient attention to the social and historical context of their production or reception.

Originality/value

Drawing on Thompson's theory of mass communication and his explication of the hermeneutical conditions of social‐historical enquiry, the paper outlines a range of theoretical considerations which are pertinent to researchers interested in studying accounting texts. Moreover, building on these theoretical considerations, the paper delineates a coherent and flexible methodological framework, which, it is hoped, may guide accounting researchers in this area.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 20 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 October 2013

Xiangming Chen and Fan Yang

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the meanings of the current national curriculum reform in China changed in its transmission from the outside authoritative mandate to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the meanings of the current national curriculum reform in China changed in its transmission from the outside authoritative mandate to the local school practice through a case study of a lesson study on a reform practice called the “thematic teaching” in the Chinese language course.

Design/methodology/approach

By a longitudinal study of the case for more than two months in a primary school in Beijing, China, the authors of this paper followed all the steps of the lesson study cycle conducted by all the Chinese language teachers in the school. Observations, interviews and document analysis were employed to capture the teachers’ thoughts, actions and especially group interactions in trying to understand and implement this new reform practice.

Findings

The study found that due to the marked differences between the professional reform discourse and the teachers’ native discourse, the meanings of the reform tended to look alien to school teachers. In order to make meanings out of the reform, the teachers in this lesson study resorted to their own native discourse to understand the reform. Such strategies as “de-contextualization” and “re-contextualization” were found in the teachers’ joint efforts to reconstruct and reenact the reform.

Originality/value

This research points to the importance of school teachers’ own belief system in teaching as revealed by their native discourse. Only by finding an adequate link between the outside reform discourse and the teachers’ native discourse, can the national curriculum reform truly take hold in the school.

Details

International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, vol. 2 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-8253

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 February 2024

Francesc González-Reverté and Anna Soliguer Guix

Focusing on critical discourse analysis, this paper aims to propose a framework for analysing the way activist anti-tourism groups construct their social action of protest. The…

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Abstract

Purpose

Focusing on critical discourse analysis, this paper aims to propose a framework for analysing the way activist anti-tourism groups construct their social action of protest. The authors argue that activist groups use different narrative strategies to construct and legitimise their discourse of protest to convey social meanings for social action practices. This study represents an attempt to explain how anti-tourism activist groups have the agency to build different paradigms of protest rooted in particular views of tourism.

Design/methodology/approach

As a result of the lack of research in this area, this study used a comparative case study methodology drawn on four case studies in the field of anti-tourism protest. Case study is deemed adequate to explore a complex social phenomenon, how activist groups differ from each other, in a specific socio-economic context. A critical discourse analysis method is used to study primary (interviews) and secondary sources (reports, websites and online campaigns documents) of information, which express the activist group motivations and objectives to protest against tourism.

Findings

This study’s findings provide evidence in how discourse differs among the protest groups. Three narrative paradigms of protest are identified, which guide their agency: scepticism, based on a global and ecological approach; non-interventionist transformation, rooted in local community issues; and direct transformation, based on a sectoral problem-solving approach. These differences are interpreted as the consequences of the emergence and the development of different paths of protest according to specific social contexts and power relations in which anti-tourism groups are embedded.

Originality/value

This paper provides a contemporary approach to anti-tourism activism within the context of social movements. This case study may be of interest to practitioners and international destination managers interested in gaining a better understanding of anti-tourism protest strategies, new anti-tourism narratives following COVID-19 and the opportunities and challenges for opening a dialogue with those involved in activism and social urban movements as part of sustainable tourism governance. Our results can also help activists to rethink how they integrate differences and particular strategic positions to avoid hindering collective action. This knowledge is especially useful for managers and authorities seeking to develop more accurate collaborative governance practices with local activists, and especially those interested in fostering participative action without marginalising the diverse range of local community perspectives.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 September 2022

Chi Kit Chan and Anna Wai Yee Yuen

This study scrutinizes the convergence between commercial advertising and the political vision of social movement in media advertisements. This study deliberates how commercial…

Abstract

Purpose

This study scrutinizes the convergence between commercial advertising and the political vision of social movement in media advertisements. This study deliberates how commercial advertisement could be compatible with movement discourses and social resistance. Such hybridization between commercial narration and movement discourses is different from political advertising sponsored by political and civic organizations. This study uses an advertising campaign in Hong Kong which expressed outcry against police search on an outspoken media as a case study to conceptualize advertising activism with the thematic analysis of the movement discourses shown in printed advertisements. This study aims to engage with scholarly dialogue surrounding social movement studies and discuss how movement discourses could hybridize with commercial advertisement.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines the discourses and textual features of an advertising campaign initiated by the public instead of political elites and social movement organizations in Hong Kong, in which various individual citizens, anonymous participants, business enterprises and civic organizations expressed their anger over a police search against an outspoken media (Apple Daily) by Hong Kong police. This bottom-up advertising campaign shows how the narration of commercial advertising could be hybridized with the activism for social resistance, which is conceptualized as advertising activism in this paper.

Findings

Based on the textual features and discourses embedded in the advertisements, this study investigates the printed advertisements mushroomed in Apple Daily since the police search in August 2020 by the thematic analysis under the concept of advertising activism: frame construction, identities mobilization and decentered solidarity. Advertising activism differs from commercial and political advertising from two ways. Firstly, its advertisements are cosponsored by numerous nonpolitically well-known individuals or organizations. Secondly, advertising activism feature with hybridization between commercial narration and political or movement discourses. Discourses of advertising activism aim to mobilize the commercial identity of consumers for noncommercial means by their consumption behaviors.

Originality/value

The findings illustrate a hybridization of commercial narration and movement discourses stemming from social movement and identity politics, which is coined by our conceptualization of advertising activism. While commercial and political advertising focus on business promotion and political messages, respectively, advertising activism demonstrates multiple layers of cultural meanings on the consumption behaviors which hybridize with political and movement discourses. The authors hope this study could unleash further intellectual dialogue on the social role of advertising in social movement and how movement discourses “spillover” from social events to the commercial advertisement.

Details

Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1871-2673

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2009

Liisa Mäkelä

The purpose of this paper is to identify how pregnant women position themselves in the relationship with their immediate leader as a result of their pregnancy. Secondly, this study

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify how pregnant women position themselves in the relationship with their immediate leader as a result of their pregnancy. Secondly, this study explores what kind of discourses pregnant followers' produce and use when they represent the reasons why the relationship with their leader developed the way it did during their pregnancy.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 40 interviews were carried out among 20 working women, adopting a discursive approach in data analysis while focusing on their representations about their periods of pregnancy both during and after the experience.

Findings

Women positioned themselves as “accepted” or “dismissed” in the relationship with their leader due to their pregnancy. The study identifies three different discourses relating to the positioning, namely “similarity”, “expectations”, and “rooting deeper”.

Originality/value

There is a lack of research exploring the explanations behind the nature of leader‐follower relationships in the context of the followers' pregnancies. Furthermore, the discursive approach adopted in this study is less used within studies concerning relationships between leaders and followers, and studies concerning pregnant working women.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2015

Helge Fischer, Linda Heise, Matthias Heinz, Kathrin Moebius and Thomas Koehler

The purpose of this paper is to introduce methodology and findings of a trend study in the field of e-learning. The overall interest of the study was the analysis of scientific…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce methodology and findings of a trend study in the field of e-learning. The overall interest of the study was the analysis of scientific e-learning discourses. What comes next in the field of academic e-learning? Which e-learning trends dominate the discourse at universities? Answering such questions is the basis for the adaptation of service strategies and IT-infrastructures within institutions of higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

Which e-learning formats dominate the current scientific discourse? To answer this question, a trend study based on a content analysis was performed. The abstracts of 427 scientific articles of leading German-speaking e-learning conferences Gesellschaft für Medien in der Wissenschaft and E-Learning-Fachtagungen der Gesellschaft für Informatik e. V. (GMW and DeLFI) – published from 2007 to 2013 – were examined. A category scheme was derived from the Horizon Report. The category scheme then was gradually expanded and adapted to the data material during the investigation.

Findings

This paper found that the detailed analysis of the frequency distribution over the seven years reflects the intensity of scientific discussion towards e-learning trends within the investigation period, and conclusions about the didactical or technical potentials of innovations can be drawn because both conferences are different in terms of their objective. The authors also classified the life stages of selected innovations based on the Gartner hype cycles, and the striking findings of the study will be formulated in the form of assumptions, which reflect the development potential of learning management, mobile learning, virtual worlds, e-portfolio, social media and Massive Open Online Courses in German Higher Education.

Research limitations/implications

Only abstracts of the selected contributions were investigated. Errors in the category allocation due to unclear terminology cannot be excluded. Organisers of the investigated conferences often define the (main) topics. This influenced the spectrum of represented topics overall, as well as the focus of individual contributions. The above-presented study was conducted at German-speaking conferences and, therefore, reflects the situation in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. No conclusions about actors or institutional relationships can be made, in contrast to the original assumptions of discourse analysis. The categorial classification of contributions does not allow any conclusions about the quality of the discourse.

Originality/value

The study shows how proceedings of scientific conferences can be used for trend studies. It became clear that discourse analytical studies can be used complementary to other methods of future studies. The advantage of this methodology lies mainly in the easy access to the text material, as conference proceedings are mostly available online. In addition, the analysis of large amounts of data (or texts) can be greatly facilitated by use of digital technologies (e.g. by automatic analysis of keyword). This paper makes an important contribution to the diffusion of digital media in higher education.

Details

Interactive Technology and Smart Education, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-5659

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 June 2011

Catherine Closet-Crane

The professional discourse on academic library planning and design is examined. A critical realist philosophical stance and a constructionist perspective constitute the…

Abstract

The professional discourse on academic library planning and design is examined. A critical realist philosophical stance and a constructionist perspective constitute the theoretical framework that, paired with Fairclough's methodology for critical discourse analysis, is used to examine the constitution of interpretative repertoires and of a discourse constructing the academic library as a learning place. The information commons, learning commons, and library designed for learning repertoires are described and the effects of discursive activity are analyzed. Three types of effects are presented: (1) the production by the LIS community of discourse on academic libraries of a sizable body of literature on the information commons and on the learning commons, (2) the construction of new types of libraries on the commons model proposed by Beagle, and (3) the metaphorization of the library as business. The study concludes that the existing discourse takes a facilities management perspective dominated by concerns with technology, equipment, and space requirements that does not address the physical, psychological, and environmental qualities of library space design. Consequently, it is suggested that architectural programming techniques should be used in library planning and design that consider the architectural features and environmental design factors contributing to the making of a place where learning is facilitated.

Details

Advances in Library Administration and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-014-8

Keywords

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