ABSTRACT

Part 2 of this volume reports on research into the secondary-school discourses of science and humanities conducted in and around the Department of Linguistics at the University of Sydney from 1986 to 1990. Throughout this period Joan Rothery provided ongoing support as far as the educational implications of the work were concerned; in 1986 and 1987 funding provided by the Australian Research Council made it possible for Suzanne Eggins, Radan Martinec and Peter Wignell to work alongside Martin on the research. The joint authorship of two of the chapters reflects the dialogism of this enterprise; and all of the papers in Part 2 draw heavily on the insights of this research team. The work is part of an ongoing longer term research program addressing literacy issues in Australian schools initiated by Martin and Rothery in 1979; very readable introductions to practical aspects of this work are found in Derewianka 1989 and Littlefair 1991 (for a brief overview of the work in general see Martin, 1991).