Student writing in higher education: From texts to practices to textual practices

Abstract

In this article, recordings of academic supervision interactions are examined to inform a discussion of how ‘texts’ and ‘practices’ have been conceptualized in Academic Literacies (AL) research. AL perspectives have contributed to a shift in focus, from texts as linguistic objects to the practices in which texts are embedded. With a starting point in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, we demonstrate the relevance of proximal textual practices as an intermediary between texts and the more abstract dimensions of practice targeted by AL, such as ideology, power, and institutional processes. Thereby we extend initiatives in AL to highlight direct interaction between learners and tutors as central to academic literacies pedagogy, and demonstrate the potential of detailed conversation analytic and ethnomethodological analysis for shedding light on the practices within which texts are embedded in the learning and teaching of academic writing.