Set against the changing historical context of consultancy services to Victorian teachers since 1872, this study examines the role of a curriculum consultant working with primary teachers in two different consultancy situations. The role of the consultant is construed as that of a dialogue partner with teachers, and specific attention is paid to the consultancy dialogue to analyse how the consultant’s language choices contributed to the construction of interpersonal relations with teachers. Consultancy literature gives a primary place to the establishment of mutual trust and respect with teachers and offers a number of processes that consultants might adopt to achieve this goal. However, it appears that no linguistic analysis has been undertaken of the consultancy discourse that provides any detailed picture of how the language behaviour of the consultant is implicated in this important process. The resources of systemic functional linguistic and appraisal theories are used by the consultant-researcher to analyse the texts. The linguistic data suggest that relationships with teachers are built around two elements: camaraderie and solidarity. Camaraderie accounts for the prevailing positive dispositions that underlie the relations between people, like teachers, who share the same profession. Solidarity has to be constructed anew in each consultation through the sharing of the consultant’s appraisals that indicate to teachers the mindset, the nature and intensity of the consultant’s point of view concerning the issues under consideration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245663 |
| Creators | Baker, Graeme J. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Terms and Conditions: Copyright in works deposited in the University of Melbourne Eprints Repository (UMER) is retained by the copyright owner. The work may not be altered without permission from the copyright owner. Readers may only, download, print, and save electronic copies of whole works for their own personal non-commercial use. Any use that exceeds these limits requires permission from the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from these works., Open Access |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds