A case study of discursive practices and assessment processes in a multi-ethnic context

ELSEVIER

Journal o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 (1996) 2 6 7 - 2 8 9

A case assessment

study of discursive practices and processes in a multi-ethnic context Lesley

~

Farrell

Faculty of Education, School of Graduate Studies. Monash

University, Victoria. Australia

R e c e i v e d O c t o b e r 1994; r e v i s e d v er si o n A u g u s t 1995

Abstract T h i s p a p e r r e p o r t s on an a n a l y s i s o f the u n d e r l y i n g w r i t t e n d i s c o u r s e s t r u c t u r e o f texts w r i t t e n , in E n g l i s h , b y t w o C h i l e a n s t u d e n t s p r e p a r i n g f o r t h e i r t e r t i a r y e n t r a n c e e x a m i n a t i o n in A u s t r a l i a . It a r g u e s t h a t t h e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c w r i t t e n d i s c o u r s e p a t t e r n s r e v e a l e d b y t h e a n a l y sis r e t ] e c t t h e s t u d e n t s " a t t e m p t s t o i n t e r p r e t s i g n i f i c a n t c u l t u r a l v a l u e s in t h e s p e c i f i c c o n t e x t of an Australian examination. These underlying discourse patterns carry negative associations for the A n g l o - A u s t r a l i a n t e a c h e r s w h o g r a d e the texts a c c o r d i n g to n o r m s e s t a b l i s h e d b y the C h i e f E x a m i n e r s in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h A n g l o - A u s t r a l i a n c u l t u r a l o r i e n t a t i o n s , i n t e r p r e t i n g t h e m as e v i d e n c e o f i n a d e q u a t e a c a d e m i c m e r i t r a t h e r t h a n as r e a l i s a t i o n s o f a l t e r n a t i v e c u l t u r a l o r i e n t a t i o n s t o t h e t a s k s . T h e s t u d e n t s a r e , t h e r e f o r e , l i k e l y t o b e d i s a d v a n t a g e d in t h e i r a t t e m p t s to g a i n a c c e s s to tertiary e d u c a t i o n .

1. I n t r o d u c t i o n In Australia, tertiary entrance examinations involve significant and highly specialised literacy practices. The candidates must write examination scripts which will provide unambiguous evidence of their academic ability. Examiners must read the scripts, and in reading them, find a way to interrogate them for the quality of 'acadetrtic ability'. They must develop criteria, derived solely from the examination scripts, which provide an effective means of ranking candidates for tertiary entrance. In a homogeneous community Examiners could assume that the norms and values they called upon to construct concepts of 'relative academic ability', and the literacy practices they take to be realisations o f it, w o u l d n o t b e c o n t e s t e d . Australia is, however, a multi-ethnic community; neither the norms and values nor the literacy prac-

¢~ T h e research reported here is part o f a m o r e e x t e n s i v e study in w h i c h the writing o f V i e t n a m e s e students, and the f o r m a l R e p o r t s o f E x a m i n e r s , w e r e also analysed. S e e Farrell (1994a) for a d e t a i l e d a c c o u n t o f the analysis o f the R e p o r t s o f E x a m i n e r s and Farrell (1995) for an analysis o f the w r i t i n g o f the V i e t n a m e s e students. 0 3 7 8 - 2 1 6 6 / 9 6 / $ 1 5 . 0 0 C o p y r i g h t © 1996 E l s e v i e r S c i e n c e B.V. All rights r e s e r v e d SSDI 0378-2166(95)00064-X

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tices can be taken for granted. Culture makes a difference, in the first instance to the norms and values and literacy practices associated with academic ability and, ultimately, to the educational and social outcomes of schooling and of examination processes. In this paper I give an account of a linguistic analysis of essays written by two students in preparation for their tertiary entrance examinations. ~ The students (whom I shall call Alejandra and Juan) migrated with their families from Chile to Australia about six years before this study was undertaken. In the context of the examination for which they are preparing, Alejandra and Juan write essays which adopt characteristic default patterns of underlying discourse organisation. While the patterns of written discourse organisation that they adopt may be highly valued in other cultures, including their own, they vary from the underlying text structures expected and valued by the examiners who will ultimately assess their work. Calling on their own cultural values, Anglo-Australian teachers, acting as de facto Examiners, interpret these text structures as evidence of inadequate academic ability rather than as realisations of alternative interpretations of the demands of the context.

2. C u l t u r a l i d e n t i t y , l i t e r a c y a n d s c h o o l i n g O u r c u l t u r a l i d e n t i t y is l i k e l y to s h a p e t h e u n d e r l y i n g s t r u c t u r e o f t h e w r i t t e n t e x t s w e p r o d u c e i n a n y s p e c i f i c s o c i a l c o n t e x t . It is w i d e l y a c k n o w l e d g e d that literacy is a social practice (Cook-Gumperz, 1986) and, like other social practices, literacy practices are profoundly influenced by the cultures of which they are a part (Gumperz and Hymes, 1972; Erickson, 1984; Trueba, 1990). The relationships between literacy and culture are not simple and linear, they are complex and recursive; culture influences literacy practices and literacy practices in turn influence all the cultures with which they come in contact. Written texts, like spoken texts, reflect the complex relationship between the specific sociocultural context in which they occur and the sociocultural construction of the individual who produces the text. Indeed, as Rogoff (1990) and Gee (1991), point out, the individual and her sociocultural context cannot usefully be distinguished, the individual shapes her sociocultural c o n t e x t a s m u c h a s , a n d a t t h e s a m e t i m e a s , s h e i s s h a p e d b y it. Specific cultural orientations cannot be identified with fixed and rigid characteristics or values which can be reliably used to identify an individual as belonging to a particular cultural group. Rather, cultural values are dynamic, and exist only in context. For Brunet, language is centrally important in the dynamic of culture: " F o r [folk psychology] is rooted in a language and a shared conceptual structure that are steeped in intentional states -- in beliefs, desires and c o m m i t m e n t s . A n d because it is a reflection of culture, it parThe E x a m i n a t i o n s reported on here were c o n d u c t e d by the E x a m i n a t i o n Boards in the state of Victoria, Australia b e t w e e n 1981 and 1991. The d i s c u s s i o n focusses o n three subject areas: Legal Studies, Australian History and E c o n o m i c s . The f u n c t i o n of the e x a m i n a t i o n s is to d e t e r m i n e a rank order of candidates which will p r o v i d e the basis on which u n i v e r s i t y places will be allocated.

L. k ' a r r e l l / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 2 6 ( 1 9 9 6 ) 2 6 7 - - 2 8 9

269

takes in the cultures" w a y o f v a l u i n g as w e l l as its w a y o f k n o w i n g . In fact it m u s t do so, for the c u l t u r e ' s n o r m a t i v e l y o r i e n t a t e d institutions -- its laws. its e d u c a t i o n a l institutions, its f a m i l y structures -- serve to e n f o r c e folk p s y c h o l o g y . " (1991 : 13--14) Bruner enaphasises the symbiotic relationship between culture, language and social institutions like education and argues that cultural values must be realised in linguistic choices. Analyses of underlying structure of the written texts produced in specific social situations offer support for this view, identifying some of the ways in which these texts realise the values and norms of the cultures in which they arise (for instance Hinds, 1979, 1980, 1984; Clyne, 1981, 1983, I987; Eggington, 1987; Indrasuta, 1988; Taylor and Chert, 1991 ; Montafio-Harmon, 1991). Bruner assumes a relatively homogeneous society. In a multi-ethnic society like Australia the situation is more complex. In such a society literacy "becomes an interactive process that is constantly redefined and renegotiated as the individual transacts with socially fluid surroundings" (Ferdman, 1990). This is not to say that the cultural orientations of individual cultural groups within a multi-ethnic society are lost, although this may be the case for individuals, but rather to argue that they are in a constant state of transformation as they interact with the rest of the society. So, while I and many others argue that cultural identities are clearly crucial in framing and defining literacy practices, it is important to ensure that 'cultural identity' is not portrayed as a static phenomenon and that cultural stereotypes are not invoked in an attempt to understand the differences that culture makes. Clearly, there will be considerable variation in the extent to which members of any cultural group will identify with that cultural group, and the degree to which their behaviour will be based on cultural norms. Individuals will also vary in the extent to which they regard specific cultural attributes and specific cultural values as central to their identity in any specific context. The degree of fluidity and context dependence in cultural orientation that I have described may seem to provide a persuasive argument for abandoning attempts to associate specific cultural orientations with specific underlying written discourse structures. Any associations identified can, after all, only be true for the individual texts in the specific context under study. Certainly, it provides a timely caution against making global claims about culturally specific discourse structure. Caution must, however, be balanced with the urgency of the need to identify some of the ways in which language variation serves to advantage members of some cultural groups and to disadvantage others (Gumperz, 1982; Roberts et al., 1992, etc.). Brunet makes the point that language, culture and educational institutions are intimately connected. This connection is not benign. Language variation is a potent means of discrimination and schools provide one of society's most effective means of discriminating between social groups. In multi-ethnic societies, members of minority groups often do not receive the social and material benefits of education that members of dominant groups expect, and this can partly be explained by the way in which language use is equated with academic merit mad language variation taken to be evidence of variation in academic merit, It is for this reason that it is important to persist with attempts to identify instances in which culturally specific

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language use is transformed into criteria which discriminate against specific cultural groups. It i s n e c e s s a r y t o b e p r e c i s e a b o u t t h e c l a i m s m a d e f o r t h i s a n a l y s i s . I n t h e a n a l y sis which follows I will deal first with the ways in which Examiners read examination scripts in order to attribute degrees of academic ability, then with structural features of the texts that Juan and Alejandra write as practice essays for the examination, and finally with alternative interpretations of these structural features. The analysis provides a reading of the texts that Alejandra and Juan produced as they prepared for a specific examination from the perspective of an Anglo-Australian reader familiar with the requirements of the examination texts. The structures identif i e d a r e s p e c i f i c to t h i s c o n t e x t ; t h e r e is n o r e a s o n to s u p p o s e t h a t t h e s a m e s t r u c tures would emerge in response to a different configuration of contextual circumstances.

3. R e a d i n g

the Examination:

An analysis of ranking

criteria

It is c o m m o n to consider the ways in which thc cultural backgrounds of ethnic minority students influences their writing in school settings (for instance Kaplan, 1 9 7 2 ) . I t is l e s s c o m m o n to consider how cultural background influences the ways in which teachers and Examiners read the texts these students write. However, Examiners are shaped by their cultural identities just as candidates are. When they read an examination script they call on cultural norms and values to inform their judgement just as surely as ethnic minority students call on cultural norms and values to cons t r u c t t h e i r t e x t s . R e a d i n g , n o l e s s t h a n w r i t i n g , is a c u l t u r a l p r a c t i c e . Australian tertiary entrance examinations may be distinguished from many European and American examinations by the extent of their reliance on extended written texts to provide a basis on which students are ranked for entry to university. Candidates for the humanities and social science examinations are required to write comparatively long "essay type' answers in response to the topics set, within a stipulated time period. These essay type answers are identified only by a candidate's examination number and are marked by an Examiner who knows nothing about the candidate or about the school they attend. The criteria that Examiners use to grade candidates must, therefore, refer to features of the written texts. The obvious criterion for distinguishing between candidates in subjects like those under investigation here is the amount of factual knowledge included in the essay answers. However, while the criterion of factual knowledge is an obvious, and apparently o b j e c t i v e , c r i t e r i o n it o c c u p i e s an ambiguous position in examination contexts. The problem, a s it i s d e s c r i b e d in the Reports of Examiners, 2 is a prag-

2 Each year the e x a m i n a t i o n boards provide an a c c o u n t of the e x a m i n a t i o n process that has just been c o m p l e t e d in the Reports o f Examiners. The R e p o rt s o f E x a m i n e r s operate as both an accountability m e c h a n i s m for the students who have been e x a m i n e d , and as g u i d a n c e for students who are about to be e x a m i n e d a n d their teachers. The analysis presented here is based on R e p o r t s o f E x a m i n e r s in Australian History, Legal Studies and E c o n o m i c s from 1981--1991 _

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 (1990) 2 6 7 - 2 8 9 matic one: subject:

most

candidates

have

adequate

control

of

the

factual

271 material

of

their

" T h i s l e n d s w e i g h t to t h e v i e w t h a t m o s t c a n d i d a t e s g a i n a n a d e q u a t e g r a s p o f t h e s u b j e c t m a t t e r ...'" ( L e g a l S t u d i e s , 1 9 8 5 : 1) "'Many Examiners commented that the 1987 cohort of candidates was very familiar with the content of the course.'" (Australian History, 1988: 38) " ' E x a m i n e r s r e p o r t e d t h a t ... m a n y (Economics, 1990: I)

answers

showed

a satisfactory level of economic

knowledge

...'"

Control of the material is obviously not, by itself, an effective means of achieving a rank order of candidates. Reports of Examiners for the Ecole Normale Sup6rieure (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1977), the Victorian Higher School Certificate (Matriculation) examination (Ozolins, 1981; Clyne, 1980) and the New South Wales Higher School Certificate (Freebody, 1990) confirm the relative insignificance of factual knowledge as a grading criterion in the subjects they analyse, and the primacy of criteria concerned with discourse organisation and presentation taken to reveal 'academic merit'. Ozolins records Examiners' comments which appear to disparage reliance on factual material " ' t h e p r e d i c t a b l e list o f f a c t s ... T h e e a r n e s t r e g u r g i t a t i o n o f c l a s s n o t e s ... t h e r e m o r s e l e s s p r e p a r a t i o n o f f a c t s ...'" ( 1 9 8 1 : and Bourdieu subject areas

and

Passeron

establish

149--151)

discourse

organisation

as a central

criteria

in all

:

" A s e x a n l i n e r s n e v e r tire o f s a y i n g , ' t h e e s s e n t i a l t h i n g is t h a t it s h o u l d b e w e l l w r i t t e n . ' R e f e r r i n g t o the E c o l e N o r m a l e Supdrieure e n t r a n c e e x a m i n a t i o n C e l e s t i n B o u g l 6 w r o t e : "It is c l e a r l y u n d e r s t o o d t h a t , e v e n in t h e h i s t o r y d i s s e r t a t i o n , w h i c h p r e s u p p o s e s a c e r t a i n a m o u n t o f f a c t u a l k n o w l e d g e , t h e e x a m i n e r s m u s t a b o v e all a s s e s s t h e q u a l i t i e s o f c o m p o s i t i o n a n d e x p o s i t i o n ' . " ( B o u r d i e u a n d P a s s e r o n , 1 9 7 7 : 103, n o t e 4) Similarly, in the Economics Chief Examiner comments:

Report

of the

examination

under

investigation

here

the

"'Markers [Examiners] reported that while many answers showed evidence of a satisfactory level of econ o m i c k n o w l e d g e , f a r t o o o f t e n t h i s w a s n o t a d e q u a t e l y d i s p l a y e d , a n d t h e r e f o r e r e w a r d e d , d u e to p o o r w r i t i n g s k i l l s a n d i n a b i l i t y t o s t r u c t u r e a n s w e r s a p p r o p r i a t e l y . ' " ( E c o n o m i c s , 1 9 9 0 : 1) A crucial criterion for determining the relative academic merit of candidates is, therefore, the criterion of appropriate underlying discourse structure. It is not the case, however, that this criterion is used exclusively to separate those candidates who have already demonstrated that they have adequate factual knowledge. Candidates who are judged to have inadequate control of factual material, but who do have

272

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control Report

of

the

valued

of Examiners

discursive practices, make this explicit:

are

rewarded.

The

Australian

History

"'Even if their [the able students] i n f o r m a t i o n is thin, they do not relent on the task in hand. T h e y persevere with thinking, rather than writing tons o f c o h e r e n t but irrelevant stuff, all "glued t o g e t h e r ' by a trite c o n c l u s i o n wh i ch fools no m a r k e r w h o has a list o f d i s c r i m i n a t o r s in front o f her or him. F e w o f the disc r i m i n a t o r s are attempted. T h e y are absent from the e s s a y . " (Australian History, 1984: 2) I t is t h e o r g a n i s a t i o n of the content, not the content itself, which is taken to be evidence of academic ability. Candidates who organise their material in ways that are familiar to the Examiners (that resemble their habitual ways of ordering information and expressing i t) a r e l i k e l y t o b e a d v a n t a g e d in this examination. A n o t h e r w a y o f p u t t i n g t h i s is to s a y t h a t s u c c e s s f u l c a n d i d a t e s demonstrate to the Examiners that: "~people like us use language, think, value, and talk in t h e s e w a y s . w i t h t h e s e o b j e c t s a t t h e s e t i m e s a n d in t h e s e p l a c e s . " (Gee, 1992: 123)

If discourse organisation is t h e p r i m a r y m e a n s o f d i s c r i m i n a t i n g between examination scripts, and therefore between candidates, i t is i m p o r t a n t to know what features of discourse organisation signal what kinds of academic abilities to the Examiners. How are the Examiners reading the texts? What qualities do they identify with academic ability, and how do they recognise these qualities in anonymous examination scripts? This analysis of the Reports of Examiners suggests that they seek culturally specific realisations of "literateness', "relevance' and appropriate 'politeness' 3.1.

Literateness

In these examinations candidates are required to present themselves as "literate' in the sense that Reid defines the term, as 'objective, analytical and sequential" (1993). The Examiners place a high premium on "structure' and the structure that they recognise is one in which texts are developed sequentially (rather than episodically), are co-ordinated (rather than subordinated) in organisation, giving equal weight to each part of the question, and in which the points are linked to each other explicitly (rather than implicitly). The production of a text which meets these requirements is taken to indicate that the candidate has the ability to select and analyse information. Where the expected structure does not occur, the Examiners assume that there is no underlying structure to the text: " ' E v e n t h o u g h there was a c l e a r structure g i v e n by the question it was surprising to find m a n y candidates writing in a very c o n f u s e d w a y and j u m p i n g b e t w e e n sanctions and r e m e d i e s . C a n d i d a t e s should be e n c o u r a g e d to let the structure and w e i g h t i n g o f the question g u i d e the approach they take to their answers.'" ( L e g a l Studies, 1988: 234) In this comment, a divergent text structure is taken to be evidence of confusion; it is not read as a deliberate decision to structure a text differently. The structure requirements are taken by the Examiners to be 'clear', there to see for all who can

L. Farrell / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 (1990) 2 6 7 - 2 8 9

273

complete a convergent reading of the examination task. Being able to 'read" the question as the Examiners d o is r e g a r d e d a s a n u n a m b i g u o u s indication of academic ability. "Literateness" implies "order' and "better" candidates are defined by their ability to predict the order in which the Examiners wish to receive the information: "'The very best answers carefully d e f i n e d 'law and o r d e r ' , discussed the extent to which diggers supported what was defined as "law and order" and then discussed the i n f l u e n c e o f their actions.'" (Australian History, 1983: 5) In short, Examiners judge material and arguments presented explicitly, in the order and with the emphasis that they expect, as sequential and linear, as "literate'; other kinds of organisation are experienced as 'digressive' or disordered and 'illiterate'. 3.2. Relevance Like "literateness', 'relevance" is a primary criterion by which Examiners rank scripts. The extent to which any candidate meets the requirements of 'literateness' w i l l s i g n i f i c a n t l y i n f l u e n c e t h e e x t e n t to w h i c h t h e s c r i p t is j u d g e d to b e " r e l e v a n t ' . The Reports of Examiners suggest that scholarly judgements a b o u t w h a t is " r e l e v a n t ' and what is not are both universal and obvious. There are two judgements that candidates need to make with regard to relevance. The first is whether infoH~ation is r e l e v a n t , t h e s e c o n d is h o w it is r e l e v a n t . R e a l i s a t i o n s of 'relevance' are sensitive to the demands of specific contexts because they have embedded in them the values and norms of the discourse to which they belong. The students who reach the final examinations have already succeeded in modifying their understanding of relevance to take account of the particular ways in which relevance might apply in school contexts; if they had not they would have left school well before this examination. If relevance is to be a successful criterion by which Examiners r a n k s c r i p t s t h e n it m u s t apply at very fine degrees of discl-imination. One of the functions that the criterion of 'relevance' performs is to m a r k d o w n c a n d i d a t e s , n o t o n t h e b a s i s o f w h a t t h e y omit, but on the basis of the factual material they include: "'script Examiners are instructed to disregard, and even penalise, irrelevant material" (Legal Studies, 1982:

1 --2). Candidates are expected to distinguish material that is relevant from material that is n o t p a r t l y b y l o o k i n g at t h e i n s t r u c t i o n w o r d s i n t h e q u e s t i o n . Some everyday terms assume narrow and rigid meanings in the context of these examinations: " T h e word "discuss' is used in the E c o n o m i c s paper in its dictionary sense to m e a n "to argue for and against'. 'Discuss" questions should not be c o n f u s e d with ' h o w q u e s t i o n s ' or ' w h y q u e s t i o n s ' or questions that ask for a d e s c r i p t i o n . " ( E c o n o m i c s , 1982: 2) Words like 'discuss' (and 'compare and contrast', etc.) are taken by the Examiners to be code words which not only carry specific, context-dependent meanings but also imply in precise detail the proper organisation of a text: "'students need not only

274

L. Farrell / J o u r n a l o j ' P r a g m a t i c s 26 (1990) 267--289

to be told the meaning of compare and contrast; they need to be drilled in the method" (Legal Studies, 1982: 5). In addition, for each question, judgements about relevance are governed by the application o f ' k e y t e r m s " a n d it i s a r o u n d t h e s e k e y terms that candidates organise their essays: " T h e important w o r d s in this definition are persistent, a p p r e c i a b l e and g e n e r a l . " ( E c o n o m i c s . 1997: 9) An adequate reading of the question involves the candidate in first identifying the topic to which the question is d i r e c t e d , t h e n c o r r e c t l y d e f i n i n g t h e g e n e r a l i n s t r u c tion. Having identified the general instruction they must then identify all the key words, weigh their relative importance and determine, not simply what factual infornaation to include and what to exclude, but often more importantly, the relevance of individual words, and words in combination with other words, in developing the looked for structure in response. This is why examiners can say "'Often the i n f o r m a t i o n they wish to give the e x a m i n e r is not irrelevant, but b e c o m e s so as it is w r o n g l y used." ( A u s t r a l i a n l l i s t o r y . 1985a: 1 ) Candidates cannot learn what the 'key terms" are ahead from question to question. It is easy to see why the reading a fertile field for the development of criteria. Examiners are siderable variation in judgements about relevance between makes the ranking of scripts possible. 3.3. Appropriate

politeness

of time: they will vary of the question provides likely to encounter conscripts and this variation

and face

Concepts of 'politeness' and "face" (Brown and Levinson, 1978; Allan, 1986) govern the extent to which intellectual conflict and dispute are tolerated, or even condoned and encouraged. They influence the roles that indiviudals assume for themselves and other participants in any social interaction. The examination requires candidates to assume specific but unspecified roles. Successful candidates must not only recognise the roles considered appropriate in the examination, but also find it acceptable to assunm them. As Rogoff argues: " v a l u e s about social relationships m a y also influence p e o p l e ' s r e s p o n s e to c o g n i t i v e q u e s t i o n s that w o u l d require thena to o v e r s t e p their r o l e s . " (Rogoff, 1990: 59) Judgements about what is "appropriate" politeness, and of how "face' is understood vary according culture (Janney and Arndt, 1993; Wierzbicka, 1991). Considerations of politeness and face must control how a candidate assesses the appropriate discourse position to adopt in responding to an examination task, and the discursive practices the candidate employs to frame and develop the text. Examiners demand that candidates adopt a specific (but not specified) precisely judged position within the discourse in r e s p o n d i n g to examination tasks, and criteria based on the extent to which they are able to do this provide an effective means of distinguishing between scripts.

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l

The examination combative stance :

questions

~)f P r c t g m a t i c s 26 ( 1 9 9 0 ) 2 6 7 - 2 8 9

set out to invite

disputation,

and Examiners

275

look

for a

"'Specifically, candidates this year had an overwhelming desire to agree with the propositions put forward in the stimulus statements. Why'? They should know by now that the examination setters make up the "quotes' and they ought to be challenged.'" (Australian History, 1987: 2)

One of the features Examiners seek to reward in a script is the development of an argument that takes an unequivocal position with regard to the topic and which ends with a clear conclusion. The criteria applied to examination essays are not static. They are governed by the principles outlined above, they shift in response to the features of the texts that are presented for each individual examination. It is the primary task of the Examiners to provide a rank order of candidates and to do so they must distinguish between the examination essays and exploit whatever differences they find in the texts. Teachers act as 'brokers" (Bourdieu, 1971), interpreting the Reports of Examiners from previous years and predicting the ways in which the criteria might be applied in the current year. They explicitly teach the underlying written text structure described by the Examiners and in many instances candidates adopt, or adapt, these structures. An important consequence of this explicit teaching is that Examiners are faced each year with a corpus of examination papers which are increasingly similar in broad structure, but from which they must, nonetheless, achieve a rank order of students. Examiners, therefore, rely on increasingly subtle differences between texts to achieve their rank order. If relative academic achievement is, from the perspective of the Examiners, largely defined in terms of underlying discourse structure, then it is important to be able to describe the underlying text structures generated by Alejandra and Juan in the examination context and to consider the extent to which they ~nay be influenced by cultural values. The focus of this analysis is, therefore, on "examination essays' of the kind referred to above. Eighteen texts written by Alejandra and Juan over the course of the academic year in Australian History and Legal Studies were analysed. Very short, incomplete texts were discarded. Each of the essays analysed was written in response to a topic set by the subject teacher and most of these topics had been culled directly from previous examination papers. The texts were produced as "practice essays' and so were written within the time lilnit applying during the examination. This is generally a period of forty-five to fifty minutes, although students cat, spend a longer time on one essay, and a correspondingly shorter time on another, if they wish. Students sometimes wrote their essays in class but more often they were written at home with students imposing the time limit on themselves. 3

It i s a p p r o p r i a t e t o c o m m e n t b r i e f l y o n t h e p r o c e s s b y w h i c h A l e j a n d r a a n d J u a n c a m e t o b e s e l e c t e d f o r t h i s c a s e s t u d y . T h e a c c o u n t is i n s t r u c t i v e in t h a t it r e v e a l s t h e f o r m a l a n d i n f o r m a l s e l e c t i o n p r o c e dures Alejandra and Juan had successfully negotiated during their schooling in Australia to come to be

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 (1996) 2 6 ~ 2 8 9

276

4. W r i t i n g

the Examination:

4.1. Alejandra

An analysis of Alejandra's

and Juan's

scripts

and Juan

Aiejandra was eighteen years old when she wrote these texts. She completed her elementary education and two years of her secondary education in Chile and continued her secondary education in Australia. Her father worked as a pattern-maker in C h i l e . H e is c u r r e n t l y unemployed. Her mother did not work outside the home in Chile but works casually in a local factory in Australia. The family speaks Spanish at home and takes many Spanish language newspapers and magazines. Alejandra's friends include Spanish speakers outside school and students of many nationalities within the school. Alejandra speaks English fluently. Alejandra was attempting the Higher School Certificate (HSC) Economics and Legal Studies subjects for the first time when these texts were collected. Juan was also eighteen years old at the time of writing these texts. He completed his primary education in Chile and began his secondary education in Australia. His father worked as a fitter and turner in Chile and continues to do so in Australia. His mother did not work outside the home in Chile but works casually in a local factory in Australia. The family speaks Spanish at home and within the local Chilean community. Spanish language newspapers, magazines and books are prominent in the home. Juan's friendship group includes other male Spanish-speaking students, mostly but not exclusively from Latin America. Juan was repeating his final year of schooling, and the subject Australian History, during the period that these texts were collected.

4.2. A framework

for

analysis

The analytical framework l am using here is informed by many text level analyses which, however, cannot be directly applied to extended written texts. In general, these studies focus on spoken discourse (Kintsch and Van Dijk, 1978), on lower level discourse phenomena (Meyer, 1975; Halliday and nasan, 1976; Halliday, 1985) or on discourse processing (Kintsch, 1974; Rumelhart, 1975; Schank and Abelson, 1977; Kintsch and Van Dijk, 1978; Mcflelland, Rumelhart et al., 1986). In cases where written texts are the subject of cross cultural analyses, the paragraph

e n r o l l e d in final y e a r H u m a n i t i e s and S o c i a l S c i e n c e subjects and p r e p a r i n g for their final e x a m i n a t i o n s . Final y e a r t e a c h e r s in a r a n g e o f s c h o o l s with high e t h n i c m i n o r i t y p o p u l a t i o n s i d e n t i f i e d students f r o m La t i n A m e r i c a n and V i e t n a m e s e b a c k g r o u n d s as c o n s i s t e n t l y w r i t i n g e s s a y s their t e a c h e r s t h o u g h t w e r e structured i n a d e q u a t e l y . In the s c h o o l s w h e r e these students w e r e l o c a t e d it w as m o s t c o m m o n for V i et n a m e s e students to study s c i e n c e and m a t h e m a t i c s subjects and f o r C h i l e a n students to s p e c i a l i s e in visual, g r a p h i c and t e c h n ic a l subjects. T h e school s e l e c t e d as the r e s e a r c h site w as typical in that it had an ethnic m i n o r i t y e n r o l m e n t o f o v e r 90%,, w i t h no single cultural b a c k g r o u n d p r e d o m i n a t i n g . A n y individual final y e a r class i n c l u d e d up to s e v e n t e e n nationalities. At the b e g i n n i n g o f the y e a r f o u r C h i l e a n students w e r e e n r o l l e d in the subjecls selected. B y the end o f the year, t w o o f t h o se students had left sc hool . A l e j a n d r a and Juan w e r e the o n l y C h i l e a n students in this s c h o o l to sit for t h ei r final y e a r e x a m inations in S o c i a l S c i e n c e s and H u m a n i t i e s subjects.

L. Farrell

/ ,lournal of Pragmatics

26 (1996 ) 267-289

277

rather than the whole text is the unit of analysis (Kaplan, 1972). Although the direct application of Giv6n's (1983b) model of discourse analysis to this study is limited by its emphasis on spoken language and its orientation towards lower order discourse phenomena (and its corresponding application to much shorter texts than t h o s e c o n s i d e r e d h e r e ) , it is i n f o r m a t i v e b e c a u s e it p r o v i d e s a d e t a i l e d m o d e l o f t o p i c continuity which enables cross language comparisons. This framework incorporates those aspects of broad text organisation identified by Clyne (1987) in addition to those discussed by Giv6n. The present study follows Clyne in mapping the discourse o r g a n i s a t i o n o f w r i t t e n t e x t s . E a c h t e x t is a n a l y s e d o n f o u r d i m e n s i o n s : (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Linearity Hierarchy Symmetry Continuity

T h e f i r s t s t e p i n t h e a n a l y s i s is t o r e n d e r e a c h t e x t a s a s e t o f p r o p o s i t i o n s . I n t h i s a n a l y s i s I a m u s i n g t h e t e r m ' p r o p o s i t i o n " i n t h e s a m e s e n s e t h a t it i s u s e d i n f o r m a l logic but I am not expressing those propositions formally. According to Richards et al. (1985 : 233), propositions consist of two parts: (a)

something

which

is n a m e d

or talked

about

(known

as the argument

or entity)

and (b)

an assertion

or predication

which

is made

about the argument.

T h e f u n c t i o n o f t h e p r o p o s i t i o n s i n t h i s a n a l y s i s is t o c h a r a c t e r i s e t h e c o m p o n e n t s of the discourse content so that they can be manipulated in the concrete representations of the texts. I developed two representations of each of the texts written by Alejandra and Juan. The first, which represents the evolution of the text, is the graph (Appendix A). 4 It provides a strictly chronological, proposition by proposition, account of the movement of the text from one topic to another, and back again. It is a dynamic repr e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e t e x t i n t h a t it r e v e a l s t h e p o i n t s a t w h i c h a r g u m e n t s a r e i n t r o d u c e d , i n t e r r u p t e d , r e s u m e d a n d r e p e a t e d . A l t h o u g h t h e g r a p h is a c o n c r e t e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of topic continuity in the text, for purposes of discussion this dimension of the analys i s is c o n c e i v e d o f a s a c o n t i n u u m , o n e p o l e o f w h i c h is " v e r y l i n e a r ' a n d t h e o p p o site pole of which is "very digressive'. Following Clyne (1987) texts are characterised as 'linear', "slightly digressive' or 'very digressive'. Texts have been deemed to be 'slightly digressive' if:

4 A p p e n d i x A provides a graphic representation of the text, written by Alejandra, provided in Appendix C.

278 (a)

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l

some propositions proposition) of the

are not segnlent

+~f P r a g m a t i c s

26 (1996) 267

dependent on the overarching of the text in which they are

289

proposition situated,

(macro-

and/or (b)

some

propositions

do

not

follow

the

macroproposition

on

which

they

on

a different

depend,

and/or (c)

some

segments

are

inserted

inside

another

text

segment

topic.

If one or more of these patterns persist throughout the text it is deemed to be 'very digressive." If one or more of these patterns are evident in segments of the text, but do not persist throughout the text, then it is deemed to be "slightly digressive'. If, on the other hand, none of these conditions apply, a text is deemed to be very linear. 5 The second representation of each text is the tree chart, an example of which appears in Appendix B. 6 The tree chart is a static representation of the relationships of conceptual dependency between propositions of the text. It is developed by identifying the macroproposition of the text and arranging subsequent propositions in their order of dependence. The tree chart provides a map of the development of the different topics and illustrates the extent to which each topic is developed and the relationship of topics to each other. Because the propositions are labelled chronologically, as they occur in the text, the tree chart also reveals the distance between separate segments of the topic. The tree chart represents hierarchical relationships between the component topics of the text. It provides the basis on which judgements about relative subordination and co-ordination are made. The measure of degree of co-ordination is a measure of the extent to which the overarching propositions are of the same order. The dimension of symmetry is a judgement of the extent to which each of the topic segments is developed. The final category for analysis of the student texts is labelled "continuity'. Each of the preceding categories for analysis is concerned with aspects of continuity; dis-

s It is d i f f i c u l t to f i n d a n a p p r o p r i a t e t e r m to i d e n t i f y t h e p h e n o m e n o n t h a t is u n d e r d i s c u s s i o n h e r e in the o p p o s i t i o n a l t e r m s o f " l i n e a r i t y a n d " d i g r e s s i v e n e s s ' . T h a t t h e t e r m " d i g r e s s i v e n e s s ' m a y , in E n g l i s h . d e n o t e n e g a t i v e f e a t u r e s o f a t e x t is i n d i s p u t a b l e , a l t h o u g h t h i s is not a l w a y s t h e c a s e . H o w e v e r , w h i l e t h e e v a l u a t i v e d i m e n s i o n o f " d i g r e s s i v e n e s s " is p r o m i n e n t w h e n t h e t e r m is u s e d in a s s e s s i n g s c h o o l w r i t ing, it n e e d n o t b e s o w h e n t h e t e r m is u s e d in r e f e r e n c e to o t h e r k i n d s o f w r i t i n g . I c o n s i d e r e d , a n d rejected, the possibility of adopting the German term "Exkurs', and creating an associated adjective " e x k u r s i v ' . J u s t as " d i g r e s s i v e " is c u l t u r a l l y l o c a t e d in E n g l i s h , s o is +Exkurs" l o c a t e d in G e r m a n c u l t u r e s ; it c o u l d n o t a d e q u a t e l y d e s c r i b e l i n g u i s t i c p h e n o m e n a in t h e w r i t i n g in E n g l i s h o f C h i l e a n s t u d e n t s in A u s t r a l i a . I h a v e r e t a i n e d t h e t e r m " d i g r e s s i v e ' . t h e r e f o r e , p a r t l y b e c a u s e it is t h e l e a s t u n s a t i s f a c t o r y a l t e r n a t i v e c u r r e n t l y a v a i l a b l e a n d p a r t l y b e c a u s e , in t e r m s o f s c h o o l w r i t i n g in A u s t r a l i a . " d i g r e s s i v c n e s s " is g e n e r a l l y u n d e r s t o o d to b e a n e g a l i v e q u a l i t y o f w r i t i n g . It is. h o w e v e r , d e e m e d , in tire d i s c u s s i o n s w h i c h f o l l o w , t o h a v e n o n e g a t i v e , a n d n o p o s i t i v e , c o n n o t a t i o n s b u t s i m p l y to d e s c r i b e t h e c o n d i t i o n s d e f i n e d a b o v e . It s h o u l d a l s o b c c l e a r t h a t "linear" is n o t i n t e n d e d t o b e a c o d e w o r d f o r " g o o d ' . j u s t as " d i g r e s s i v e ' is n o t i n t e n d e d as a c o d e w o r d t b r " b a d ' . A p p e n d i x B is a t r e e c h a r t d e r i v e d f r o m the t e x t , w r i t t e n b y A l e j a n d r a , p r o v i d e d in A p p e n d i x C. TM

L. Farrell / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 (1996) 2 0 ~ 2 8 9

279

c u s s i o n u n d e r t h i s h e a d i n g is c o n f i n e d t o s p e c i f i c f e a t u r e s o f t h e d i s c o u r s e w h i c h contribute to continuity. These include the use of 'bridging sentences' designed to link one topic with another or 'topic sentences' designed to introduce the next topic for discussion, While these representations of the texts reveal underlying patterns of organisation o f i n d i v i d u a l t e x t s a n d m a k e it p o s s i b l e t o i d e n t i f y r e g u l a r i t i e s i n d i s c o u r s e o r g a n i sation and to compare the underlying discourse organisation of texts, they cannot be used to attribute the cause of differences or similarities. The probable function of, for e x a m p l e , r e l a t i v e c o - o r d i n a t i o n o r s u b o r d i n a t i o n in a t e x t , m u s t a l w a y s b e a m a t t e r o f i n t e r p r e t a t i o n a n d t h a t i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is g e n e r a l l y b a s e d o n a c a r e f u l r e a d i n g o f t h e original text. T h e f i n a l p o i n t I n e e d t o m a k e w i t h r e g a r d t o t h e a n a l y t i c a l f r a m e w o r k is c o n c e r n e d w i t h the q u e s t i o n o f o b j e c t i v i t y . T h e a n a l y s i s p r e s e n t e d in this p a p e r has b e e n developed by a member of the discourse community u n d e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n ; it r e p r e sents a series of categories, and a series of judgements, more likely to be made by members of that community than by members of other cultural or social groups. Any form of linguistic analysis requires that linguistic phenomena be categorised. Often the culturally and socially specific nature of the categories, and of the categorisation p r o c e s s , is o b s c u r e d b y a p a t i n a o f " o b j e c t i v i t y ' l a i d d o w n b y t h e d i s c u r s i v e p r a c t i c e s o f l i n g u i s t i c r e s e a r c h . W h e n t h e f o c u s o f t h e a n a l y s i s is c u l t u r a l v a r i a t i o n , h o w e v e r , attempts to declare the categories developed for analysis, or the analytical process, to b e " o b j e c t i v e ' , o r " c u l t u r a l l y u n i v e r s a l ' , a r e n o t c r e d i b l e . T h i s is t h e p o i n t t h a t B r o d k e y ( 1 9 9 2 ) m a k e s w h e n s h e e m p h a s i s e s t h a t a c a r e f u l a c c o u n t o f c o n t e x t is t h e o n l y way in which researchers into language can avoid "naive empiricism' while doing u s e f u l e m p i r i c a l w o r k a n d a c k n o w l e d g i n g t h a t all r e s e a r c h is p a r t i a l , t h a t it is " ' b o t h an incomplete a n d i n t e r e s t e d a c c o u n t o f w h a t e v e r is e n v i s i o n e d " ( 1 9 9 2 : 2 9 8 ) . T h e s u b j e c t i v i t i e s o f t h e r e s e a r c h e r a r e c l e a r l y at w o r k in t h i s s t u d y . T h i s is n o t o n l y a n i n e v i t a b l e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f t h i s a n a l y s i s , it is e s s e n t i a l t o t h e s t u d y . B e c a u s e o f m y b a c k g r o u n d as a " s u c c e s s f u l ' p r o d u c t o f m a i n s t r e a m e d u c a t i o n , a n d m y s u b s e q u e n t involvement in t h e e x a m i n a t i o n processes as a vetting examiner, this analysis i n e v i t a b l y p r o v i d e s a g r a p h i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f a d o m i n a n t r e a d i n g o f t h e t e x t s . It d o e s n o t , h o w e v e r , p r o v i d e a n i d i o s y n c r a t i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e s e t e x t s . T h i s is because, where possible, initial decisions have been checked with the student writers, with students" subject teachers or with other subject teachers who, while not familiar with the work of the student, were familiar with the subject matter of the text, the curriculum and the examination. 4.3. A summary

of the analysis

A d i s t i n c t i v e d e f a u l t p a t t e r n is e v i d e n t i n t h e t e x t s w r i t t e n b y A l e j a n d r a a n d J u a n a n d a n a l y s e d h e r e . T h i s a n a l y s i s i d e n t i f i e s t h e p a t t e r n o f u n d e r l y i n g t e x t s t r u c t u r e as predominantly "very digressive" or "digressive" and 'asymmetrical'. W i t h r e g a r d to h i e r a r c h y , t h e t e x t s t r u c t u r e is e i t h e r p r i m a r i l y " s u b o r d i n a t e d " o r b o t h " c o - o r d i n a t e d " a n d " s u b o r d i n a t e d ' . N o n e o f t h e t e x t s is j u d g e d t o b e p r i m a r i l y " c o - o r d i n a t e d ' in s t r u c t u r e . C o n t i n u i t y is a c h i e v e d b y t h e u s e o f r e p e t i t i o n a n d b r i d g i n g s e n t e n c e s .

280

L. Farrel! / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 20 (1996) 2 6 ~ 2 8 9

T h i s b r o a d p a t t e r n is p e r s i s t e n t , e v i d e n t in o v e r t h r e e q u a r t e r s o f t h e t e x t s a n a l y s e d , a n d it o c c u r s a c r o s s s u b j e c t a r e a s , in t e x t s w r i t t e n b y A l e j a n d r a in Economics and Legal Studies and those written by Juan in Australian History. A summary of the analysis is presented i n T a b l e 1. Table 1 S u m m a r y o f analysis: A l e j a n d r a and Juan Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Ycxt Text Text Text Text

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Linearity

Symmetry

Hierarchy

Continuity

linear digressive linear digressive digressive digressive slight digress digressive digressive digressive digressive slight digress digressive linear slight digress digressive digressive digressive

slight, a s y m m asymmetrical slight, a s y m m asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical asymmetrical

co-ord/subord co-ord/subord co-ord subordinated co-ord/subord subordinated subordinated subordinated subordinated co-ord/subord subordinated co-ord/subord subordinated co-ord/subord subordinated co-ord/subord co-ord/subord subordinated

bridge sentences bridge sentences bridge sentences bridge sentences bridge/repetition repetition bridge/repetition bridge sentences bridge sen t en ces bridge sentences bridge sentences bridge/repetition b r i d g e/ r ep et i t i o n topic/repetition bridge sen t en ces bridge sen t en ces topic sentences b r i d g e/ r ep et i t i o n

Tabulated i n t h i s w a y it i s a p p a r e n t t h a t t h e q u a l i t i e s o f ' d i g r e s s i v e n e s s ' , 'asymmetry 'and 'subordination' tend to occur together in these texts; they appear to be dimensions of the same structural phenomenon. This phenomenon is s u p p o r t e d by the use of bridging sentences and repetition as strategies for achieving continuity. A variation on this pattern is the co-occurrence of "digressiveness" and 'asymmetry" with a hierarchical s t r u c t u r e w h i c h is b o t h c o - o r d i n a t e d and subordinated. This patt e r n is i d e n t i f i e d in h a l f t h e t e x t s a n a l y s e d . It o c c u r s e q u a l l y in A l e j a n d r a ' s texts and in Juan's texts and therefore is not linked to a single subject area or a single writer. The persistence of this pattern of underlying text organisation indicates that, for Alejandra a n d J u a n , it r e p r e s e n t s an alternative pattern of underlying text structure; it d o e s n o t r e p r e s e n t a s e r i e s o f f a i l e d a t t e m p t s a t a m o r e " l i n e a r ' , ' c o - o r d i n a t e d " and 'symmetrical' text structure. 4.4. An

interpretation

of the analysis

The Examiners in this study read examination scripts in the light of their unexatnined assumptions about the way in which discursive practice reveals academic ability. They rank scripts as relatively successful, or unsuccessful attempts to produce "linear', 'co-ordinated' and 'symmetrical' texts, texts which realise to a

L. F a r r e l l I J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 2 0 ( 1 9 9 6 ) 2 6 7

289

281

greater or lesser extent, through their discourse structure, the apparently unambiguous norms of appropriate 'literateness', "politeness" and "relevance'. Alejandra a n d J u a n w r i t e t e x t s t h a t c o n s i s t e n t l y a d o p t a d i f f e r e n t s t r u c t u r e . 7 It m a y b e t h a t in doing so they are realising subtly different understandings of what constitutes a p p r o p r i a t e ' l i t e r a t e n e s s ' , ' r e l e v a n c e ' a n d ' p o l i t e n e s s ' in t h e c o n t e x t o f t h i s e x a m i nation. T h e a n a l y s i s o u t l i n e d a b o v e i n d i c a t e s that A l e j a n d r a a n d J u a n w r i t e texts l i k e l y to b e j u d g e d b y A n g l o - A u s t r a l i a n e x a m i n e r s as ' d i g r e s s i v e ' . A s i m i l a r t e n d e n c y to p e r c e i v e d " d i g r e s s i v e n e s s " i n t h e w r i t i n g in E n g l i s h o f L a t i n A m e r i c a n s t u d e n t s in A m e r i c a n s c h o o l a n d c o l l e g e c o n t e x t s h a s b e e n i d e n t i f i e d in a n u m b e r o f s t u d i e s ( f o r instance Santiago, 1968; Strei, 1971; Santana-Sede, 1974; Norment, 1982; Mont a f i o - H a r m o n , 1 9 9 1 ) . T h i s p e r c e i v e d " d i g r e s s i v e n e s s ' is c o n s i s t e n t w i t h S p a n i s h a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a n s c h o l a r s " d e s c r i p t i o n s o f v a l u e d r h e t o r i c a l s t r u c t u r e s in S p a n i s h . Many of the valued features of Spanish and Latin American rhetorical structure are f e a t u r e s w h i c h , in A n g l o - A u s t r a l i a n school writing, are taken to contribute to 'digression'. For example, Latin American orientation to text structure has been c h a r a c t e r i s e d a s o n e in w h i c h l o n g i n t r o d u c t i o n s a r e g e n e r a l l y e x p e c t e d , t h e r i g i d ( o r s e q u e n t i a l ) o r d e r i n g o f i d e a s is j u d g e d t o b e m o n o t o n o u s , 'excessive' frankness and d i r e c t n e s s is t a k e n t o b e r u d e a n d r e p e t i t i o n is a v a l u e d m e a n s o f e s t a b l i s h i n g c o n t i nuity (Wasquez-Ayora, 1977). In other words, some of the rhetorical features which have been identified as central to Latin American written discourse structure, and which are taken to signify sophistication and a high level of education, signify quite t h e o p p o s i t e in A n g l o - A u s t r a l i a n school writing. In each culture, these preferred structures are not simply matters of style; features which can easily be altered. They are literacy practices, and are profoundly influenced by the cultures of which they are a part. E a r l i e r in t h i s p a p e r I r e i t e r a t e F e r d m a n ' s ( 1 9 9 0 ) p o i n t t h a t , in a m u l t i - e t h n i c s o c i e t y , w h a t c o u n t s a s " l i t e r a c y ' is c o n t i n u a l l y r e d e f i n e d a n d r e n e g o t i a t e d a s i n d i v i d u a l s "transact with socially fluid surroundings'. A redefinition and renegotiation of the q u a l i t y o f " l i t e r a t e n e s s ' m a y b e s i g n a l l e d h e r e in t h e c o m b i n a t i o n o f c o - o r d i n a t i o n a n d s u b o r d i n a t i o n in w r i t t e n t e x t s t r u c t u r e t h a t is c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f A l e j a n d r a " a n d Juan's practice examination essays. They respond by simultaneously complying with, and subverting, the broad texts structures (of linearity, symmetry and co-ordin a t i o n ) that t h e y are i n v i t e d b y t h e i r t e a c h e r s a n d their e x a m i n e r s to a d o p t . In a d o p t ing this structure they risk having their material and argument judged irrelevant by their teachers, operating as de facto Examiners. F r o m t h e " c o - o r d i n a t e d ' s t r u c t u r e o f t h e e a r l y p a r t o f t h e i r t e x t s , it is a p p a r e n t t h a t Alejandra and Juan understand that they are expected to commence their essay with an introduction which addresses the topic directly and which provides working defin i t i o n s o f t h e " k e y t e r m s ' w h i c h a p p e a r in t h e t a s k . T h e y c o m p l y w i t h t h i s e x p e c t a tion, typically beginning their essays with formulaic introductions which rephrase

7 The structure they adopt is different the structure adopted by the Vietnamese

f r o m t h e s t r u c t u r e t h e E x a m i n e r s v a l u e , a n d it i s d i f f e r e n t students who were also part of the study (Farrell, 1995).

from

282

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l

~['Pragrnatics 20 (1990) 267 289

the question (sometimes repeating it w o r d f o r w o r d ) a n d p r o v i d e t e x t - b o o k definitions of key terms. Text 4 (Appendix C), written by Alejandra, provides an example of this structure. The essay is annotated by Alejandra's teacher, and these annotations give an indication of her 'reading' o f it. T h e t e x t i s w r i t t e n i n r e s p o n s e t o t h e q u e s t i o n : To what extent, and in what ways does the Commonwealth of Australia Act (1990) (sic) continue to limit the legislative power of the Commonwealth Parliament? First, the significant term of the question (constitution) is extensively defined (Propositions 1--7). Early definition of terms is normative in English, but this norm is intensified to a requirement in examination essays in the content areas. It is, therefore, likely that Alejandra has followed an explicit instruction to define her terms. This definition appears to lead to a direct consideration of the question (Proposition 8), but the text is immediately diverted to an extended discussion of the factors leading to federation. This text segment is itself interrupted by Propositions 10 a n d 11 w h i c h d e f i n e a n d explain the new term, "federation'. The text segment 'history of federalism' then continues uninterrupted fronl Proposition 12: Each

colony

to Proposition In 1901

had a constitution

from

the UK.

37:

Australia

had

This text segment serves is used in Australia.

its own

parliament.

to further

The Commonwealth of Australia and state parliaments.

define

and elaborate

Constitution

the term

Act divides

"constitution'

powers

between

a s it

federal

marks a return to the main argument and this text segment proceeds uninterrupted to Proposition 58. This digression, extending uninterrupted fronl Proposition 12 t o Proposition 37, contains more propositions than does the main argument. Alejandra's teacher has drawn a heavy black line through this section of the text and has written beneath it This

should

take half a page.

You

have

too much

detail.

Be more

specific.

Acting as a de facto Examiner, Alejandra's teacher is identifying most of the material Alejandra includes in her essay as 'irrelevant'. She is indicating that, even though the material is correct, the Examiner w i l l n o t ' r e a d " it. B e c a u s e t h e t e x t d o e s not meet the Examiners' expectations of 'literateness', because it is neither linear nor co-ordinated in structure, the material "becomes irrelevant'.

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 ( 1 9 9 6 ) 2 6 7 - - 2 8 9

283

An alternative reading suggests that the entire text, until Proposition 38, could be read as one routine definition included to meet the explicit requirements of the school syllabus, followed by an elaborated definition, developed throughout the text, which may be intended to form the authentic response to the task. The introduction, and the definition of key terms it presents, is not used to provide scaffolding f o r t h e t e x t i n t h e w a y t h e R e p o r t s o f E x u m i n e r s s u g g e s t t h a t it s h o u l d b e used. Instead, the 'linear', 'co-ordinated' text structure which is suggested in the early part of their introduction (the structure Examiners read as embodying the valued quality of "literateness') is powerfully subverted by a second, elaborated introduction in which the concepts and key terms are defined again and discussed at length. The elaborated introduction in this case constitutes the bulk of the essay, with the task addressed directly only in an apparently truncated discussion at the conclusion of the text. It is appropriate to refer here to a difficulty that arises in all discussions of text structure in multi-ethnic contexts. In the paragraph above, the text segment which contextualises and reframes the examination task is referred to as an 'elaborated introduction'. The label implies that it is concerned with matters preliminary to the substance of the essay. This is a culturally located interpretation of the function of the text segment; an interpretation that suggests that it should not be considered a substantive part of the text, but merely an 'introductory' one. Therefore, in stating that Juan's and Alejandra's texts typically include an 'elaborated introduction' it could be implied that these texts are overly concerned with peripheral matters and do not address the substantive issues. This is not my intention. While this text segment may read like an elaborated introduction to an Anglo-Australian reader, its function is not simply to introduce the ideas but to describe the scope of the ideas and indicate the relationships between them; it is the substance of the essay rather than an introduction to it and so it is appropriate that it take up the majority of the text. In short, functions of text segments vary across cultures and there is no neutral and universal nomenclature that can be used to describe them. In arguing that Alejandra is not failing to write a good examination essay, but rather, is successfully writing a different kind of text, I am calling upon descriptions of underlying written discourse structure that have been developed in relatively homogeneous Latin American societies or in multi-ethnic societies like the United States where the position of Latin American minority groups is quite different from the positions such groups occupy in Australia. In the absence of analysis undertaken in Australia this research provides the only alternative cultural account of underlying discourse s t r u c t u r e , a n d it m u s t b e u s e d c a u t i o u s l y . Similarly there is, to my knowledge, no research on cultural values and cultural identity in the Chilean community in Australia and so, once again, broad comparative accounts of cultural values and cultural identity are all that is currently available to guide an alternative interpretation of Alejandra's text. While similar caution must be adopted in calling on these values to provide an alternative reading of the texts, the research literature does, nonetheless, provide a basis on which to develop an alternative interpretation of these text structures.

284

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c ' s 2 0 ( 1 9 9 6 ) 2 6 7 - - 2 8 9

The underlying text structure described here is consistent with accounts of significant cultural values understood to apply in Chilean communities as they are experienced from a northern European perspective. From this perspective, Chilean culture has been identified as more a collectivist culture than an individualist one; a culture in which the welfare of the community is o f p r i m a r y c o n c e r n a n d t h e w i s d o m o f t h e community r e s p e c t e d ( H o f s t e d e , 1 9 9 1 ) . T h e t e x t s t r u c t u r e s w h i c h a r e h e l d in h i g h e s t regard are, as Riding (1986) notes with respect to Mexican culture, those which perm i t d i s c u s s i o n w h i l e a v o i d i n g c o n f r o n t a t i o n w h e r e t h i s is p o s s i b l e , a n d m i n i m i s i n g c o n f r o n t a t i o n w h e r e a v o i d a n c e is i m p o s s i b l e . W i t h i n s u c h c u l t u r e s t h e p o i n t b y p o i n t 'linear" argument favoured in Anglo-Australian examination texts may be seen to present an opinion in an unnecessarily confrontationist way, asserting the 'individual' point of view at the expense of group cohesion. A more 'digressive" structure promotes a less confrontationist style, permitting the writer to approach the discussion indirectly and to imply an opinion rather than to state one explicitly. In this way it i s p o s s i b l e t o p r o t e c t r e l a t i o n s h i p s w h i l e a d e q u a t e l y d i s c u s s i n g a n i s s u e . It i s , in a n y e v e n t , l e s s n e c e s s a r y t o h o l d a c l e a r a n d u n w a v e r i n g p o i n t o f v i e w t h a n it m i g h t be in a more individualist culture.

5. Conclusion In attempting to write these texts Alejandra and Juan are engaged in the complex renegotiations and redefinitions of qualities like "literateness', 'relevance" and 'appropriate politeness" in a specific context that are common in multi-ethnic societies. The text structures that result are not so dramatically divergent that a 'native speaker' of English in Australia could not accommodate their idiosyncrasies in e v e r y d a y c o n t e x t s . It i s o n l y w i t h i n t h e c o n t e x t o f s c h o o l l i t e r a c y t h a t t h e s e i d i o s y n cratic structures take on important social meanings associated with the social and cultural construction of "academic ability'. I n t h e c o n t e x t o f t h i s p u b l i c e x a m i n a t i o n it is t h e s e m e a n i n g s w h i c h w i l l b e c o m e c r i t i c a l f o r J u a n a n d A l e j a n d r a b e c a u s e it is t h e t a s k o f t h e E x a m i n e r s t o d i s c r i m i n a t e between, rather than to accommodate, diverse texts. In ranking Alejandra and Juan's examination scripts, the Examiners will, as I have demonstrated, search for those aspects of the text structure which provide a reliable means of distinguishing between texts. The cultural values of the Examiners, as they are defined and ref-med during the process of the examination and under pressure to achieve a rank order, determine what those distinguishing features are, and what they are taken to represent with regard to academic ability.

L. F a r r e l l I J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 ( 1 9 9 0 ) 267--289

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L. F o r r e l l / J o u r n a l

286 Appendix

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Appendix Examination

C task :

To what extent (1990) continue

and in what ways does the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution to limit the legislative power of the Commonwealth government ?

Act

Constitution is t h e b a s i c s y s t e m o f l a w s o f a c o u n t r y , s t a t e , o r p r o v i n c e , o r o f a n o r g a n i s a t i o n . Absolute monarchs have no constitution in this sense of the term, all power being held by the ruler. The constitution of most free nations, such as those of the United States and Canada, are written documents. Written constitutions are generally drafted by a body of appointed or elected representatives of the people and then submitted to a vote of people for approval (sic). If wisely written they contain provisions for modification or improvement.

L. F a r r e l l / J o u r n a l o f ' P r a g m a t i c s

20 (1996) 267-289

287

The Commonwealth of Australia constitution Act 1990 (sic) (UK) came into force in Australia to become a federation since 1 January 1901. In Australia we are governed by a federal system i.e. two tier of government. The commonwealth Parliament and six state Parliaments. Because each colony has a constitution (from UK) each colony became suspicious of each other and that is why Australia became a federation. There are four factors that lead finally to f e d e r a t i o n . 1st E c o n o m i c s : Before the 1900s each colony saw each other as a different count r y r a t h e r t h a n a s b e i n g t h e s a m e c o u n t r y . T h e r e f o r e , w h e n t h e y c r o s s e d t h e b o r d e r s it w a s like crossing between foreign countries so they had to pay for the product they wanted to cross the border. Merchants were very upset by the different customs duties and regulation imposed at the borders of each colony. Then came the severe depression in the 1890s in the A u s t r a l i a n c o l o n i e s s o it w a s d e c i d e d t h a t o n e l a r g e m a r k e t w o u l d s p r e a d r a t h e r s t i f l e c o m p e t i t i o n a c r o s s t h e c o n t i n e n t , a n d it w o u l d b r i n g b e t t e r t i m e s f o r a l l . 2nd Immigration: Because Chinese people began to immigrate in Australia many white people started to believe that for the employees it w a s v e r y m u c h c o n v e n i e n t t o e m p l o y C h i n e s e people than Australian (white) because the Chinese people would work for less money in poor conditions and therefore leaving the Australian people out of a job, without any money. 3rd Defencc: In the 1970s the colonies, especially Queensland, were very scared of the powerful, or at least more powerful countries like for example Germany, would want to take over a s t h i s c o u n t r y w a s j u s t s t a r t i n g t o h a v e a p o p u l a t i o n s o t h a t w h o e v e r w a n t e d t o t a k e o v e r it could have. 4th Nationalism: Australia began to have a growing sense of an Australian nationalism. For example, in 1883 --the federation council was formed, 1890 the referendum was passed by the people of Australia, 1901 --Australia had its first Parliament of the new Federal Governmeat. Under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act; power to legislate on a variety of s p e c i f i e d m a t t e r is d i v i d e d b e t w e e n t h e F e d e r a l P a r l i a m e n t a n d t h e S t a t e p a r l i a m e n t a n d t h e s e powers are specific powers, these powers are the powers that are written under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. Powers like Ss 73 and 76 give the constitution parliament the power to alter the jurisdiction of the High Court of Australia. These and other legislative powers of the Commonwealth are referred to as specific powers. There are also concurrent powers which are the powers shared by federal and state Parliaments such as Ss 51 ( i ) a n d ( i i ) w h i c h a r e t r a d e a n d c o m m e r c e , and taxation. We also have exclusive powers w h i c h a r e t h e p o w e r s t h a t a r c g i v e n e x c l u s i v e l y t o t h e F e d e r a l P a r l i a m e n t s u c h a s S 51 ( v i ) and $51 (xii) which are defence and coinage and last but not least are the residual powers which are powers that are not specified in the Commonwealth Constitution which remain with the states. In a more simpler way they are the powers that are not written down on the constitution. This powers include matters such as education, law enforcement and public transport. In the Australian Constitution, there are prohibitions and some of these include S 116 which prohibits the Commonwealth to make any law for establishing any religion they also cannot prohibit people from exercise their own religion. $92 which states that no Parliament can pass a n y l a w s i m p o s i n g c u s t o m s a n d d u t i e s o n g o o d s m o v i n g b e t w e e n s t a t e s . S 51 ( x x x i ) w h i c h i n summary means (a) just terms (b) must have power for special purposes. And $90

288

L. F a r r e l l

J o u r n a l o f P r a g m a t i c s 26 ( 1 9 9 6 ) 267--289

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