A Practice-Based Enquiry into the Academic Disciplines

Abstract

The present study sets out to investigate the meanings associated with the term practice across specialised domains and, particularly, the patterns of language use and aspects ofsemantic variation that distinguish the academic disciplines. A corpus of English research articles in various domains was investigated qualitatively and quantitatively, paying attention to lexical patterns and collocates of practice, with a focus on adjectives and verbal processes. The analysis of the collocational patterns with a prominently linking nature has highlighted the relational and highly context-bound meaning of practice, also reinforced by the adjectives modifying practice (e. g. cultural, social, etc.) that contribute to the semantic opacity of this word because of their shifting framework-related meanings. Moreover, a tension between a mainly concrete meaning and a conceptual one has been identified within the disciplines as each practice is characterised by the combination and overlapping of mechanical procedures and cognitive aspects. The main findings suggest that in academic discourse practice, far from being removed from theory, actually integrates it, pointing to a constant interplay between action and discipline-based knowledge. In line with the foundations of scientific enquiry, the main focus of all kinds of academic practice appears to be placed on the epistemological dimension, i. e., on the research, theory, method, interpretation and evaluation coming into play in any scientific study. The pedagogical implications are considered and it is suggested that a context-based lexical analysis of high-frequency words can yield significant insights into the epistemological frameworks of the disciplines.