ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the pilot study for a larger research project exploring the interaction between the academic curriculum and student voices, particularly the ways in which students from different communities and cultural practices begin the process of appropriating the discourses and cultures of the university. It reviews the literature on literacy and socio-cultural theory and also describes the computer-based project which provided the context for the student writing. The chapter discusses a methodological framework for text analysis drawing on the work of N. Fairclough and R. Ivanic and draws on Ivanic’s framework for analysing some case studies. The outer layer of Fairclough’s diagram refers to the social context which influences the production and interpretation of the discourse. These are the contesting systems of values, beliefs, norms, conventions and power relations which impact on what is written and spoken.
