Educational Semiotics Symposium

Saturday, July 25, 2015, 8:30am

 

Towards high impact research in school education contexts: methodological synergies

Responsible chairs: Sally Humphrey, Kristina Love, Mette Vedsgaard Christiansen


In response to calls to extend empirical studies which meet the stringent evidence-based standards demanded by educational institutions and policy makers (Fang & Coatam, 2012; Myhill, 2011), we invite researchers using SFL educational semiotics to a symposium on July 25, 2015 at the University of Aachen, Germany, prior to the 42nd International Systemic Functional Congress. In keeping with the conference theme, the symposium will provide a forum for researchers conducting qualitative and/or quantitative investigations of teaching and learning in school education to share their methodologies and findings as a means of building a critical evidence base about the value of SFL oriented research in education, thereby challenging perceptions of it as inward-looking. Issues to be covered include:

• Challenges and affordances in investigating the impact of SFL oriented pedagogical innovations (early years, middle years and secondary schooling)
• Building and sharing conceptual understandings of sustainable, effective textual (including multimodal) practices in a range of school contexts
• Designing meta-analyses of SFL oriented research in order to build an evidence base about the “state of the science” of educational semiotics, from which recommendations can be shaped for sustainable future research

Drawing on the experience and expertise of SFL educational researchers, within and across sectors, methodologies and geographical boundaries, we seek to strengthen the documentation and communication of the evidence base about the impact of educational semiotic research, and to form ongoing collaborative research communities that can influence educational decision makers.

For further information on the symposium as well as the congress in general visit the congress website.