What is Knowledge in English and Where Does it Come From?

Abstract

By offering a close reading and interpretation of one conversation between fourYear 8 pupils about Robert Swindell's Stone Cold, I aim to address questions of what might count as knowledge in English and to suggest how it might develop not only out of the qualities of a text, but from particular social relations and a set of pedagogic choices. I argue for a refocusing of attention away from the 'acquisition' of 'cultural capital' or 'powerful disciplinary knowledge' by individual pupils, towards the cultural resources and cultural productivity of pupils and teachers. I go on to suggest that serious consideration of such conversations as evidence of learning poses a significant challenge to dominant theories and research methodologies that locate knowledge and ability within the minds of individual pupils. Instead, my reading of this classroom interaction suggests the creative potential of discussion in diverse, urban classrooms to contribute to a fuller account of learning that pays proper attention to its roots in the social and affective realms. Crucially, part of my argument is that classrooms such as the one in which the conversation took place offer unique opportunities and conditions for the development of a pedagogy that both draws on and negotiates difference and is therefore culturally productive in a wider sense.Elsewhere in this issue, Alison Douthwaite (2015) makes a compelling argument for the kinds of learning that might result from the study of a Young Adult fiction text, like Robert Swindell's (1997) Stone Cold, drawing on her own experience as a teacher in a contemporary English classroom. In doing so, she also unpicks some of the assumptions about culture and knowledge that underpin current debates about which texts should be taught in school and why. Here, I present a short conversation between four pupils that took place in a different English classroom. These pupils were in a mixed-ability Year 8 class (12-and 13-year-olds), also studying Stone Cold. I got to know them over a year when I spent one lesson each week observing their class as part of the research for my thesis. The fact that they were a mixed-ability class is of central importance to the argument here.In my analysis, I aim to confirm (and amplify) Alison's claims for the inclusive and generative qualities of Stone Cold, both in itself and as an example of a category that might be called (non-canonical) Young Adult fiction. But I also want to continue her argument in relation to culture and knowledge and to shift the focus away from debates about which texts might offer pupils 'cultural capital' (whether narrowly or more thoughtfully defined), towards an issue she mentions towards the *

Exploring teachers’ curriculum decision making: insights from history education

“…This knowledge debate exists across subject communities. For example in English education Anderson (2015) critiques both the 'cultural capital' and disciplinary models, and in modern languages debate has revolved around mastery of grammatical knowledge versus the development of communicative competence (Macaro, 2014). The debate about knowledge is particularly contentious and politicised in history education given the perceived role history has in shaping collective memories (e.g.…”