Textography as a needs analysis and research tool for English for Academic Purposes and learning development practitioners

Jennifer Sizer

doi:10.47408/jldhe.v0i15.554

Abstract

The purpose of this paper to introduce textography as a useful method for English for academic purposes (EAP) and learning development (LD) practitioners to fill gaps in subject-specific knowledge and understanding. Textography is a research method that may be new to many practitioners. Textography combines textual analysis, usually associated with EAP, and ethnographic methods, often associated with LD, to investigate contexts, texts and practices. EAP and LD practitioners can use textography with accessible texts as initial needs analysis before reviewing literature or as a more in-depth, long-term research tool.

Highlights

It is widely accepted that academic literacy practices vary between, and even within, contexts and disciplines (Russell et al, 2005; Lillis and Tuck, 2016)
Developing a greater understanding of the varying, often implicit, demands across diverse contexts/disciplines can be challenging for practitioners working within English for Academic Purposes (EAP) /Learning Development (LD)
Textography can be used by EAP/learning development (LD) practitioners to produce highly contextualised studies of a discipline’s texts and practices

Summary

Introduction

It is widely accepted that academic literacy practices vary between, and even within, contexts and disciplines (Russell et al, 2005; Lillis and Tuck, 2016). Academic literacies research often features ethnography, which can provide highly contextualised academic writing studies (Lillis, 2008; Street et al, 2015) This can be a strength if working in a similar context, but contextual factors can be difficult to identify, when working with a less familiar subject area. Textography as a research method combines textual analysis of contextualised-writing and ethnography (Swales, 1998) This method can be helpful for both learning developers and EAP practitioners, to investigate the context, and to place equal emphasis on both texts and practices of specific communities at university (see equilateral triangles (figure 1 and figure 2) below)

Textual analysis

Conclusion