LCT is being used to study a wide variety of issues in higher education, including:
- change in higher education
- internationalisation and international students
- academic literacies and disciplinary writing
- autonomy, vocationalism and commercialisation
- assessment
- cultural studies
- design studies
- history
- physics education
- biology education
- nursing education
- sociology
- Indigenous studies
- journalism and media studies
- management studies
- service learning
CHANGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Luckett, K. (2010) Knowledge claims and code of legitimation: Implications for curriculum recontextualisation in South African higher education, Africanus, 40(1): 4-18.
Maton, K. (2005) The Field of Higher Education: A sociology of reproduction, transformation, change and the conditions of emergence for cultural studies. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.
Maton, K. (2004) The wrong kind of knower: Education, expansion and the epistemic device, in Muller, J., Davies, B., & Morais, A. (Eds.) Reading Bernstein, Researching Bernstein. London, Routledge, 218-231.
INTERNATIONALISATION
Overseas students
This research explores how student sojourners from China acculturate to constructivist pedagogies in online learning. Specifically, the study examines the convergence of constructivist-inspired pedagogies, flexible delivery mode, and learners coming from educational backgrounds underpinned by an instructivist paradigm. The research explores how these students interpret the learning context, how they cope, and the impact of their experiences. It uses LCT(Specialisation) to analyse: the educational dispositions brought by Chinese students; the nature of the educational practices in the Australian teaching contexts; and their experiences and responses to these practices. IT shows how students from educational backgrounds dominated by a form of knowledge code experience knower code educational environments as relativist, i.e. as lacking legitimate knowledge or legitimate knowers. This code clash had deleterious educational and psychological effects for these students, whose response in the face of an experience of a vacuum or limbo was to continue their knowledge code practices.
Chen, R., Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (in press, 2011) Absenting discipline: Constructivist approaches in online learning, in Christie, F. & Maton, K. (eds.) Disciplinarity: Systemic functional and sociological perspectives. London, Continuum.
Rainbow Tsai-Hung Chen (2010) Knowledge and Knowers in Online Learning: Investigating the effects of online flexible learning on student sojourners . Unpublished PhD thesis (awarded without corrections), University of Wollongong, Australia.
Chen, R., Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (2010) Developing a language of description: Analysing students’ experiences of constructivist pedagogy online using LCT, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
Chen, R., Bennett, S., & Maton, K. (2008) The adaptation of Chinese international students to online flexible learning: Two case studies, Distance Education 29(3) 307-323.
Chen, R., Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (2008) Knowledge and knowers in online learning: What constructivism does to students, paper presented at Disciplinarity, Knowledge & Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec.
Chen, R., Bennett, S., & Maton, K. (2007) The online acculturation of Chinese student ‘sojourners’. In C. Montgomerie & J. Seale (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007 (pp. 2744-2752). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
This work is now being extended by reversing the heritage/host cultures of students:
2012: Rainbow Chen has won an award from the Taiwan National Science Council to explore: Negotiating a new learning culture: How international students adapt to the Taiwanese academic environment (NSC100-2410-H-004-211). The project looks at whether and how the conceptualization of cross-cultural learning formulated in the above research applies to an educational context in which Taiwan plays the role of the host country (rather than the home country) to international students (especially those from Western countries).
Business teaching
In her PhD and several subsequent papers, Cathie Doherty (QUT, Australia) was one of the first thinkers to bring together new ideas from LCT and systemic functional linguistics.
Doherty, C. (2010) Doing business: knowledges in the internationalised business lecture, Higher Education Research & Development, 29(3): 245-258.
Doherty, C. (2008) Student subsidy of the internationalized curriculum: Knowing, voicing and producing the Other. Pedagogy, Culture and Society 16(3), 269-288.
Cathie Doherty (2007) The Production of Cultural Difference and Cultural Sameness in Online Internationalised Education, unpublished PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
ACADEMIC LITERACIES & DISCIPLINARY WRITING
The issue of how writing differs between disciplines is the focus of Sue Hood (UTS, Australia), who has been a key impulse in bringing together LCT with SFL.
Hood, S. (2011) Travelling into interdisciplinary space: Making sense of worlds of difference, International Systemic Functional Congress, Lisbon, July.
Hood, S. (2011) Writing discipline: Comparing inscriptions of knowledge and knowers in academic writing, in Christie, F. & Maton, K. (eds.) Disciplinarity: Systemic functional and sociological perspectives. London, Continuum.
Hood, S. (2010) Appraising Research: Evaluation in Academic Writing. London, Palgrave (especially chapter 6).
Hood, S. (2010) Language and legitimation: Disciplinary differences in constructing space for new knowledge, he Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies Pearling Appliable Linguistics Seminar Series, City University of Hong Kong, Oct.
Hood, S. (2010) 'I was there': Recontextualising story genres into academic writing, paper presented at 22nd European Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference, Koper, Slovenia, July.
Coffin, C. & Hood, S. (2010) Researching disciplinary writing : Research methods for investigating academic writing: practices and text perspectives, International Systemic Functional Linguistics Association Conference, Vancouver, July.
Hood, S. (2010) Legitimising research differently in different intellectual fields: Instantiating different knowledge-knower structures, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
Hood, S. (2008) Tracking inscriptions of knowledge and knowers in academic writing, Disciplinarity, Knowledge & Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec.
Hood, S. (2007) Arguing in and across disciplinary boundaries: Legitimising stategies in applied linguistics and cultural studies, in McCabe, A., O’Donnell, M., & Whittaker, R. (Eds) Advances in Language and Education. London: Continuum.
Maton, K. & Hood, S. (2005) The languages of disciplinarity: knowledge, knowers and recontextualisation. Discourses of Hope: International Systemic Functional Congress, July 2005: Sydney University
Hood, S. (2004) Ways of writing, ways of knowing: exploring the epistemological implications of writer voice in academic research papers. Reclaiming Knowledge: registers of discourse in the community and school, Conference, University of Sydney, Dec.
AUTONOMY, VOCATIONALISM & COMMERCIALISATION
Changes to higher education in the light of growing pressures to respond to the needs of external interests, especially those of the economy, and to become more commercialised in culture are being studied by a number of researchers.
Tristan Enright (PhD, current) The Rise of an Ideology: The case of neoliberal economic rationality, Department of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Sydney, Australia.
Sophia Stavrou (PhD, current) Curricular Transformations in European Higher Education and the Recontextualisation of Sociological Knowledge, Department of Sociology, University of Provence, France.
Catherine Burnheim (2010) Changing Autonomy in Australian Universities, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne
Burnheim, C. (2007) External engagement and institutional autonomy in higher education, Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Fremantle, Nov.
Gale, T. & Wright, J. (2007) Utility as a first principle for educational research: Reworking autonomy in Australian higher education, ACCESS: Critical Perspectives on communication, cultural and policy studies, 27(1/2): 115-129.
ASSESSMENT
Kilpert, L. & Shay, S. (forthcoming) Kindling fires: examining the potential for cumulative learning in a Journalism curriculum, Teaching in Higher Education.
Shalem, Y. & Slonimsky, L. (2010) Seeing epistemic order: construction and transmission of evaluative criteria, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31(6), 755-778.
Shay, S. (2008) Beyond social constructivist perspectives on assessment: The centring of knowledge. Teaching in Higher Education, 13(5): 595-605.
Shay, S. (2008) Evaluative rules for the assessment of complex performances in Humanities: Work-in-progress on selected disciplinary cases, Fifth International Basil Bernstein Symposium, Cardiff University, July.
CULTURAL STUDIES
Maton, K. (2010) Analysing knowledge claims and practices: Languages of legitimation, in Maton, K. & Moore, R. (Eds.) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education: Coalitions of the mind. London, Continuum, 35-59. [originally published 2000]
Maton, K. (2010) Progress and canons in the arts and humanities: Knowers and gazes, in Maton, K. & Moore, R. (Eds.) Social Realism, Knowledge and the Sociology of Education: Coalitions of the mind. London, Continuum, 154-178.
Maton, K. (2002) Popes, Kings and cultural studies: Placing the commitment to non-disciplinarity in historical context, in Herbrechter, S. (Ed.) Cultural Studies: Interdisciplinarity and translation. Amsterdam, Rodopi, 31-53.
Maton, K. & Wright, H.K. (2002) Returning cultural studies to education, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 5(4): 379-392.
SCIENCE EDUCATION
There is a rapidly growing body of LCT work looking at science education, including by Christine Lindstrom ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), Yaegan Doran, Helen Georgiou and Jing Hao (see PG Research page).
Lct And Science Education Research (LASER) had its first symposium - this links to ppt slides and audio files of the talks:
29 Feb 2012: Illuminating Knowledge: Exploring the nature of knowledge in the natural sciences, 1st Annual Legitimation Code Theory Science and Mathematics Symposium, University of Sydney.
Physics
Christine Lindstrøm (2010) Link Maps and Map Meetings: A theoretical and experimental case for stronger scaffolding in teaching physics novices, unpublished PhD thesis, School of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Australia
Lindstrøm, C. & Sharma, M.D. (2010) Mapping the knowledge structure of physics, paper presented at Creating ACTICE Minds in our Science and Mathematics students: Proceedings of the 16th UniServe Science Annual Conference, Sydney, Sept-Oct.
Lindstrøm, C. (2010) Mapping the hierarchy: Advancing the theoretical and practical understanding of the hierarchical knowledge structure of physics, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
Yaegan Doran (Hons, 2010) Knowledge and Multisemiosis in Undergraduate Physics, Dept of Linguistics, University of Sydney.
Yaegan Doran (PhD, current) Knowledge in Physics and its Recontextualisation for Pedagogic Purposes, Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney.
Helen Georgiou (PhD, current), Investigating and Influencing University Students’ Understanding of Basic Thermodynamic Processes, Department of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
Biology
Hao, J. (2011) Investigating development of ‘semantic waves’ in undergraduate biology, Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association National Conference, University of New England, Armidale, Sept.
DESIGN STUDIES
Research by Andy Dong and Lucila Carvalho (Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney) has embedded LCT(Specialisation) in the creation of a mobile e-learning tool that has been used in a museum to enable informal learning of design. As part of this research, Lucila has analysed the underlying structuring principles (the 'rules of the game') of four design disciplines - engineering, architecture, digital media and fashion design - using quantitative and qualitative methods.
Lucila Carvalho (2010) A Sociology of Informal Learning in/about Design, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sydney.
Carvalho, L. & Dong, A. (2010) Bringing a social realist approach into computer-supported learning environments: The Design Studio case study, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.C
Carvalho, L., Dong, A. & Maton, K. (2009) Legitimating design: A sociology of knowledge account of the field, Design Studies 30(5): 483-502.
Carvalho, L. & Dong, A. (2008) Sociology of education and the design field: Operationalizing the theory, Fifth International Basil Bernstein Symposium, Cardiff University, July.
Carvalho, L. & Dong, A. (2008) Recognising and realising legitimate disciplines of design, Disciplinarity, Knowledge & Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec
Carvalho, L., & Dong, A. (2007) Knowledge and identity in the design field. In Zehner, R. & Reidsema, C. (Eds.) Proceedings of ConnectED International Conference on Design Education. Sydney, UNSW. ISBN - 978-00646-48147-0
HISTORY
Shay, S. (2011) Curriculum formation: A case study from History, Studies in Higher Education, 36(3): 315-329.
Shay, S. (2010) The formation of higher education curriculum: A case study from a South African History programme, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
CRITICAL THINKING
Gina Roach (PhD, current) Critical Thinking in Knowledge Production: Realisations in Masters' students research essays, University of Nottingham China Campus, Ningbo, China.
There is also ongoing research by Martin McNamara and colleagues on 'critical thinking' in nursing education and other disciplines.
NURSING EDUCATION
McNamara, M.S. & Fealy, G.M. (2011) Editorial - Legitimation Code Theory: A new lens through which to view our academic practice, Contemporary Nurse, 38(1-2).
McNamara, M.S., Fealy, G. & Geraghty, R. (2010) Nurse tutors’ tales of transition: a clash of legitimation codes?, Society for Research in Higher Education Annual Conference, Newport, Wales, Dec.
McNamara, M.S. (2010) What lies beneath? The underlying principles structuring the field of academic nursing in Ireland, Journal of Professional Nursing 26(6): 377-384.
McNamara, M.S. (2010) Lost in transition? A discursive analysis of academic nursing in Ireland, Nursing Science Quarterly 23(3): 249-256
McNamara, M.S. (2010) Where is nursing in academic nursing? Disciplinary discourses, identities and clinical practice: a critical perspective from Ireland, Journal of Clinical Nursing 19(5-6): 766-774.
McNamara, M.S. (2009) Nursing academics' languages of legitimation: A discourse analysis, International Journal of Nursing Studies 46: 1566-1579.
McNamara, M.S. (2009) Academic leadership in nursing: Legitimating the discipline in contested spaces, Journal of Nursing Management, 17(4): 484–493.
McNamara, M.S. (2008) The Discursive Construction of the Nursing Academic, unpublished EdD thesis, The Open University, UK.
SOCIOLOGY
Kathy Luckett, University of Cape Town, is exploring how to apply LCT to curriculum development work in higher education. Kathy recently conducted a case study in sociology using LCT and will in future work focus on interdisciplinary programmes using LCT to analyse whether and how disciplinary integration is achieved.
Luckett, K. (2012) Disciplinarity in question: Comparing knowledge and knower codes in sociology, Research Papers in Education, 27(1): 19-40.
Luckett, K. (2009) The relationship between knowledge structure and curriculum: a case study in sociology, Studies in Higher Education, 34(4): 441-453.
Luckett, K. & McEwan, H. (2008) Relationship between knowledge structure and curriculum structure: A case study in Sociology, Higher Education Close-Up 4, University of Cape Town, June.
Luckett, K. (2008) Operationalising Bernstein’s concept of grammaticality in the discipline of Sociology using systemic functional linguistics, Disciplinarity, Knowledge & Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec.
INDIGENOUS STUDIES
Rebecca O'Brien (PhD, current) Ways of Seeing, Ways of Knowing, Ways of Saying: The role of strategic legitimation in native title claims, PhD, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney, Australia.
Kelly, B.L. (2009) Conflict and collaboration: a sociology of knowledge production in the field of Indigenous Studies, Australian Social Policy Conference, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW, July.
JOURNALISM & MEDIA STUDIES
Kilpert, L. & Shay, S. (forthcoming) Kindling fires: examining the potential for cumulative learning in a Journalism curriculum, Teaching in Higher Education.
Jo-Anne Vorster (PhD, awarded 2010) A Social-Realist Analysis of Collaborative Curriculum Development Processes in an Academic Department at a South African University. Rhodes University, South Africa
Vorster, J-A. (in press, 2010) Disciplinary shifts in higher education, in Ivinson, G., Davies, B. & Fitz, J. (eds.) Knowledge and Identity: Bernsteinian approaches and applications. London, Routledge.
Vorster, J-A. (2010) Facing both ways: An analysis of the structuring principles underpinning the integration of theory and practice in a Journalism and Media Studies curriculum in a “research-intensive” university, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
Vorster, J-A. (2009) Knowledge and context in collaborative curriculum development: A case study, paper presented at Knowledge and Curriculum in Higher Education Symposium, University of Cape Town, South Africa, June.
Vorster, J-A. (2008) An analysis of curriculum development processes in a Journalism and Media Studies Department at a South African University, Fifth International Basil Bernstein Symposium, Cardiff University, July
SERVICE LEARNING
Hlengwa, A. (PhD, current) An exploration of systemic enabling and constraining factors on the infusion of service-learning into curricula at a South African University, Rhodes University, South Africa.
Hlengwa, A. (2010) Infusing service-learning in curricula: a theoretical exploration of infusion possibilities, Journal of Education (48): 155-168.
Hlengwa, A. (2010) Towards an understanding of service-learning as a pedagogic tool, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
MANAGEMENT STUDIES
Anna David (PhD, current) The Recontextualisation of Kurt Lewin by Organizational Development, Department of Sociology & Social Policy, University of Sydney, Australia.
OTHER TOPICS
English in China: Gao, L. (2011) Eclecticism or principled eclecticism, Creative Education, 2(4): 363-369.
Rau, A. (2008) Infusing HIV/AIDS content into higher education curricula: Theory and reason - activism and passion, paper presented at Higher Education Close Up 4, University of Cape Town, June