Theoretical Frameworks For A Qualitative Study of Transfer

Abstract

As the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) becomes an important aspect of educational practices in higher education settings, SoTL practitioners, especially those who are new to this type of research, may face the challenge of developing theoretically sound approaches which bring together research, theory and empirical data meaningfully to engage with a given educational problem. For many educators, this may involve learning new ways of enquiry, including exploring new types of data. Qualitative approaches, for example, may be challenging to implement without specific theoretical frameworks. Yet, SoTL researchers have access to an emic perspective in the research area and may usefully adopt a range of qualitative methods which value the student voice and assignments when evaluating the impact of their teaching. This paper aims to share the design of a qualitative transfer study which was conducted over two years at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and explored how students apply knowledge from an English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/academic literacy module to their various core disciplinary module assignments. The paper focusses on the methodology and analytical frameworks adopted to provide explanatory and usable insights into transfer processes and what may hinder it. In particular, the paper describes how theoretical positions on what transfer entails informed specific methodological decisions. The study enacted complementary analytical frameworks using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), a sociological framework dedicated to exploring knowledge practices and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), a linguistic theory which provides insights into language use in various contexts. The paper shows how these frameworks enabled access into students’ dispositions and deep-seated orientation to knowledge which might impact transfer.