Dr. Sue Hood: 

Associate Professor Susan Hood

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

 

Presentation:  Making the most of you-and-me in the here-and-now: The significance of presence in building uncommon-sense knowledge in undergraduate lectures

 

Abstract:

The presentation reports on aspects of a study of the discourse of live lectures. I will primarily focus on the lecturer’s spoken language with some reference to both images and body language. Working with the systemic functional linguistic notion of presence (Martin & Matruglio 2013/4), the study explores how the lecturer’s language moves between meanings construed as in the you-and-me, here-and-now of the lecture theatre, to meanings construed as beyond that shared immediacy. It is argued that dynamic shifts in the degree of presence in the flow of the lecturer’s discourse afford additional semiotic space to support students into the uncommon sense realms of knowledge in their disciplines.

 

Sue Hood is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Her research interests focus on discourses of knowledge and persuasion, particularly in the context of academic teaching and research. Recent publications include: Hood (2010) ‘Appraising research: evaluation in academic writing’ (Palgrave Macmillan); and Maton, Hood and Shay (eds) (2016) ‘Knowledge-building: educational studies in Legitimation Code Theory’ (Routledge). Sue is currently researching and writing on story telling in academic research writing, and on the role of language and body language in knowledge building in face-to-face lecturing. Sue teaches on postgraduate programs in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at UTS, and supervises PhD students in systemic functional linguistics studies in fields that include education, academic research, media, museums, and social networking.