Bringing Language to Consciousness: Teacher Professional Learning in Genre-based Reading Pedagogy

This research aims to better understand the relationship between professional learning (PL) in genre-based literacy teaching and its impact on classroom practice. It is a study of teacher uptake of new knowledge about language and pedagogy based on Reading to Learn professional learning (Rose, 2014) offered to secondary school teachers in London. The professional learning aims to make the role of language in learning visible to teachers so that it can be used as a tool for teaching in all subject areas. Large-scale action research projects in Australia and Europe have previously cited positive teacher responses to this PL through the use of teacher self-reporting methods (Acevedo, 2010; Coffin, Acevedo & Lövstedt, 2013; Culican, 2005; Rose, 2011a; Rose & Acevedo 2006a; Rose & Martin, 2012; Whittaker & Acevedo, 2016). Despite the teacher reports indicating shifts in theoretical positioning and pedagogy with a consequent impact on student learning, data focusing on the specific nature of the classroom implementation has been lacking. This research, undertaken in England, draws on a range of empirical data to study the uptake of the professional learning by observing the practice of a group of teachers who took part in the PL and focusing in detail on the case of one history teacher’s implementation. Using tools drawn from Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1978) for discourse analysis and multimodal analysis (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001), the teacher learning process is examined via the analysis of lesson preparation and classroom implementation. Additionally, to gauge the teacher’s level of consciousness about the impact of the PL on her classroom teaching, the implementation data is compared to the teacher’s perceptions concerning her learning about language and pedagogy. The use of both discourse and multimodal analyses revealed the complexities in classroom implementation that related to issues beyond the new knowledge about language and pedagogy from the professional learning. A range of contextual factors that impinge on teacher uptake of the new learning and the classroom implementation were discerned by an examination of the broad policy and theoretical contexts beyond the classroom. In spite of the impinging factors, this study nonetheless provided detailed empirical evidence of how a teacher consciously developed and implemented significant new knowledge about language and pedagogy from the PL in the classroom. The congruence of the classroom implementation data with the teacher’s perceptions about the learning process demonstrated that the teacher was largely conscious of her own learning process. The precise articulation of the teacher’s linguistic and pedagogical practices at each stage of implementation made visible a ‘linguistically informed pedagogic pathway’ (Coffin, 2006, p. 92) for discipline-based literacy teaching. These findings are particularly relevant to the language teaching context in England where the call for the past century for all teachers to become teachers of English has not yet been translated into practice

Opening the door of the 6th form chemistry laboratory: a study of professional collaboration between a science teacher and an English as a second language (ESL) teacher in senior chemistry

Master of EducationTrue professional teacher collaboration has been limited by the institutional roles which are constructed for us and through which we view ourselves. This thesis is a narrative case study of teacher collaboration for the purpose of addressing the language learning needs of English as a Second Language students in Year 12 Chemistry classes. It explores the issues involved in the professional working relationship through the voices of a Science teacher and an ESL teacher over a two year period. This was done through transcripts of classroom teaching, analysis of teaching and learning materials produced, interviews and reflective journal writing. The study looked at the groundwork which took place to establish a school climate conducive to the collaboration in terms of the Habermasian interests; technical, practical and emancipatory. The emancipatory nature of the collaboration is explained in terms of the repositioning of the teachers with regard to each other, the students, the scientific and linguistic subject matter. By exercising power in their respective fields the collaborating teachers achieved a professional parity which allowed them to reflect on their practice and move beyond the static and ritualised institutional roles of a Chemistry and an ESL teacher. Through the interaction they established language as legitimate content in the science classroom and together explored new practices afforded by the adoption of a social constructivist epistemology. This research points to the emergence of a new more empowering professional development role for ESL teachers in the future. At the heart of this collaboration is a commitment to conversations about issues of fundamental importance in classroom practice which reconcile boundaries of differing departmental cultures and discourses

Genres and society II: Teaching guide for the improvement of literacy skills

Este trabajo recoge el fruto de dos proyectos de innovación docente: Géneros y sociedad I y II (nº128 y 112). La finalidad de estos proyectos era acompañar a los estudiantes de Grado y postgrado de formación del profesorado en el diseño de secuencias didácticas (SD) para la mejora de las competencias escritas en diferentes géneros, lenguas y áreas disciplinares. Para ello, los estudiantes se han formado en una manera de diseñar SD basada en el modelo sistémico-funcional de la pedagogía de los géneros discursivos (‘genre pedagogy’, cf. Rose y Martin 2012), concretada en el modelo Reading to Learn propuesto por el profesor Rose. La innovación ha permitido estudiar los géneros discursivos en nuestra comunidad escolar y adaptar la propuesta educativa R2L a nuestro entorno. EL resultado final es una Guía docente que incluye las estrategias del programa R2L y diferentes secuencias didácticas diseñadas por profesores y estudiantes.El objetivo de este proyecto de innovación docente ha sido presentar a los estudiantes del Grado de Maestro, y a profesores en activo, la pedagogía de los géneros discursivos concretada en el modelo Reading to Learn con vistas a completar su formación para la mejora de la enseñanza de la lectura y de la escritura. El equipo ha traducido y adaptado los materiales incluidos en Rose (2014) sobre teoría y metodología del modelo R2L: análisis de géneros discursivos; la secuencia de enseñanza-aprendizaje, la organización de estrategias dentro de la secuencia didáctica R2L (preparación para la lectura, lectura detallada, reescritura conjunta, reescritura individual) y la evaluación de la escritura. Los estudiantes han podido adquirir habilidades relativas a la planificación de secuencias didácticas y al conocimiento de los géneros textuales y han creado diferentes secuencias didácticas para la mejora de la lectura y de la escritura que podrán utilizar en su práctica futura.The goal of this innovation project has been to introduce future teachers, and practising teachers, to the Reading to Learn model of genre pedagogy, providing them with a sound foundation for literacy teaching. The research team has translated and adapted the R2L teaching resources included in Rose (2014): Analysis of stages and phases of genres; the R2L teaching sequence, the R2L lesson plan strategies (Preparing for Reading, Detailed Reading, Joint Construction, Joint Rewriting, and Individual Construction, Individual Rewriting), and the Assessment of writing. Students and teachers have acquired skills in planning and knowledge of genres and they have created a variety of literacy lesson plans for use in the primary and secondary classroom.Depto. de Didáctica de las Lenguas, Artes y Educación FísicaFac. de EducaciónFALSEsubmitte

Coronal Heating as Determined by the Solar Flare Frequency Distribution Obtained by Aggregating Case Studies

Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counter-intuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the heating, but there are two competing mechanisms that could explain it: nanoflares or Alfv\'en waves. To date, neither can be directly observed. Nanoflares are, by definition, extremely small, but their aggregate energy release could represent a substantial heating mechanism, presuming they are sufficiently abundant. One way to test this presumption is via the flare frequency distribution, which describes how often flares of various energies occur. If the slope of the power law fitting the flare frequency distribution is above a critical threshold, $\alpha=2$ as established in prior literature, then there should be a sufficient abundance of nanoflares to explain coronal heating. We performed $>$600 case studies of solar flares, made possible by an unprecedented number of data analysts via three semesters of an undergraduate physics laboratory course. This allowed us to include two crucial, but nontrivial, analysis methods: pre-flare baseline subtraction and computation of the flare energy, which requires determining flare start and stop times. We aggregated the results of these analyses into a statistical study to determine that $\alpha = 1.63 \pm 0.03$. This is below the critical threshold, suggesting that Alfv\'en waves are an important driver of coronal heating.Comment: 1,002 authors, 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, published by The Astrophysical Journal on 2023-05-09, volume 948, page 7

Global variation in postoperative mortality and complications after cancer surgery: a multicentre, prospective cohort study in 82 countries

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licenseBackground: 80% of individuals with cancer will require a surgical procedure, yet little comparative data exist on early outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared postoperative outcomes in breast, colorectal, and gastric cancer surgery in hospitals worldwide, focusing on the effect of disease stage and complications on postoperative mortality. Methods: This was a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for primary breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer requiring a skin incision done under general or neuraxial anaesthesia. The primary outcome was death or major complication within 30 days of surgery. Multilevel logistic regression determined relationships within three-level nested models of patients within hospitals and countries. Hospital-level infrastructure effects were explored with three-way mediation analyses. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03471494. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2019, we enrolled 15 958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries (high income 9106 patients, 31 countries; upper-middle income 2721 patients, 23 countries; or lower-middle income 4131 patients, 28 countries). Patients in LMICs presented with more advanced disease compared with patients in high-income countries. 30-day mortality was higher for gastric cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (adjusted odds ratio 3·72, 95% CI 1·70–8·16) and for colorectal cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (4·59, 2·39–8·80) and upper-middle-income countries (2·06, 1·11–3·83). No difference in 30-day mortality was seen in breast cancer. The proportion of patients who died after a major complication was greatest in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (6·15, 3·26–11·59) and upper-middle-income countries (3·89, 2·08–7·29). Postoperative death after complications was partly explained by patient factors (60%) and partly by hospital or country (40%). The absence of consistently available postoperative care facilities was associated with seven to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications in LMICs. Cancer stage alone explained little of the early variation in mortality or postoperative complications. Interpretation: Higher levels of mortality after cancer surgery in LMICs was not fully explained by later presentation of disease. The capacity to rescue patients from surgical complications is a tangible opportunity for meaningful intervention. Early death after cancer surgery might be reduced by policies focusing on strengthening perioperative care systems to detect and intervene in common complications. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide. Methods: A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study—a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3·85 [95% CI 2·58–5·75]; p<0·0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63·0% vs 82·7%; OR 0·35 [0·23–0·53]; p<0·0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer. Interpretation: Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised. Funding: National Institute for Health and Care Research