ABSTRACT
In teacher education, an underlying assumption is that engagement with theory will inform and improve students’ current and future practice. Accordingly, assessment tasks typically expect students to relate concrete events and experiences to concepts from lectures and course readings. Such connections are one way to reflect on and demonstrate understanding of theory, as often specified in learning outcomes and marking criteria. This chapter examines how the concept of semantic gravity – from the dimension of Semantics in Legitimation Code Theory – is used to make the expectations of writing academic reflections more visible to students. Examples of teaching practices are from the very first semester of a Bachelor of Education programme. Analysis identifies reoccurring pedagogic strategies and relates these to the broad principle scaffolding, and specifically to teaching about academic writing prior to assignment submission. The pedagogic strategies identified in this chapter contribute to illuminating how concepts in LCT can be adapted and repurposed in classroom metalanguage for discipline-specific academic writing instruction. The findings are of particular relevance to practitioners responsible for, or contributing to, the planning and teaching of academic literacy development in tertiary contexts.
