Sample from the book:
LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM &
UNDERSTANDING DISCIPLINE AND SUBJECTS
By
Dr. Santhosh Areekkuzhiyil
Asst.
Professor
Govt.
Brennen College of teacher Education, Thalassery
(Research
Centre, Kannur University)
Kannur,
Kerala, India
09447847053
SCHOOL SUBJECT AND ACADEMIC
DISCIPLINE
1. School Subject
Dewey
viewed subject matter as a distinctive and specialized domain of experience for
learners. Subject matter consists of a body of facts, concepts, values, and
techniques that are selected, organized, and sequenced in a way that centers
upon the predetermined objectives.
According to Zongyi Deng, (2013) School subject refers
to ‘an area of learning within the school
curriculum that constitutes an institutionally defined field of knowledge and
practice for teaching and learning’. A school subject is a distinctive
purpose-built enterprise, constructed in response to social, cultural, and
political demands and challenges toward educative ends.
School
subjects can be traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and
geography that could have direct affiliations with their parent academic
disciplines. They can also be unconventional ones such as tourism and
hospitality that have no or minimal connections with academic disciplines.
1.2. Features of School Subjects
Grossman
and Stodolsky (1995) defined three features of school subjects: Statue,
perceived sequentiality and scope.
(i)
School subjects differ in the status they have in the school and larger
community.
(ii)
Sequentiality is perceived as important in school subjects, where certain
knowledge and skills have to be known before proceeding to a new learning. For
example in mathematics, learners should have number concept and the concept of
place value before proceeding to addition, subtraction etc.
(iii)
The scope of the subject refers to the different disciplinary areas included in
the subjects, which can be broad or restricted. An example of broad based
subject is social studies, which draws on discipline like history, political
science, economics, geography etc.
2. Academic Discipline
The term ‘discipline’ originates
from the Latin words discipulus, which means pupil, and disciplina,
which means teaching. Discipline is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as
“a branch of learning or scholarly instruction.” A discipline is a branch of learning or domain of knowledge that
is characterised by distinct objects, concepts, principles, theories, skills,
tools and applications.
An academic discipline as a branch of knowledge
incorporates expertise, people, projects, communities, challenges, studies,
inquiry, and research areas that are strongly associated with a given academic
discipline. For example, the branches of science are commonly referred to as
the scientific disciplines, e.g. physics, mathematics, computer science.
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2.1. Characteristics of
Discipline
1) Disciplines have a particular object of research (e.g. law,
society, politics), though the object of research may be shared with another
discipline;
2) Disciplines have a body of accumulated specialist knowledge
referring to their object of research, which is specific to them and not
generally shared with another discipline;
3) Disciplines have theories and concepts that can organize the
accumulated specialist knowledge effectively;
4) Disciplines use specific terminologies or a specific
technical language adjusted to their research object;
5) Disciplines have developed specific research methods
according to their specific research requirements; and maybe most crucially
6) Disciplines must have some institutional manifestation in the
form of subjects taught at universities or colleges, respective academic
departments and professional associations connected to it.
Not all disciplines have all of the aforementioned six
characteristics.
2.2. Typology of Discipline
Anthony Biglan (1973) based on empirical
research drew distinction between discipline based on three dimensions. First
he found difference in the degree to which one paradigm exists in a discipline
(hard-soft). For discipline with one important paradigm there is more consensus
about method of study and content (E.g: physics) than in discipline without a
single paradigm (E.g: humanities). Secondly Biglan distinguished discipline
based on their degree of concern with application (pure – applied). Disciplines
like education and engineering is more concerned with application to practice.
Finally a distinction was drawn between disciplines concerning biological or
social areas and those that are concerned with inanimate objects (life- non life).
Becher
(1989) modified Biglan’s typology based
on first two dimensions, which resulted in four types of disciplines: Hard
pure, Hard Applied, Soft Pure, and Soft Applied.
2.3. Strengths and weaknesses of disciplines
3. The relationships between academic disciplines and school
subjects
School subjects can have different and
variable relationships to academic disciplines, depending on their aims,
contents, and developmental phases. Stengel (1997) identifies five
possible relationships between academic disciplines and school subjects.
(1) Academic
disciplines and school subjects are essentially continuous;
(2) Academic
disciplines and school subjects are basically discontinuous;
(3) Academic
disciplines and school subjects are different but related in one of the three ways:
(3a)
academic discipline precedes school subject,
(3b)
school subject precedes academic discipline, or
(3c)
the relation between the two is dialectic.
She argues further
that each of the relationships implies a curricular position, reflecting
particular political and moral interests.
4. Distinction between academic disciplines and school subjects
(i)
Subjects
are not, in fact, drawn directly or readily from their parent studies, and
parent studies are not all disciplines.
(ii)
The
disciplines are arranged for the expedient advancement of investigations and
researches, but the school subjects are organized for the facilitation of
learning and teaching in particular contexts.
(iii)
The
formation of school subjects is driven by social and political needs.
(iv)
The
school subject is a ‘transformed’ version of the academic discipline.
(v)
The
academic discipline, not the school subject, is providing the frame of
reference for defining and delineating what classroom teachers need to know
about the subject matter they are supposed to teach.
(vi)
School subjects
come first and academic disciplines later in one’s learning journey from school
to university.
(The book is framed as per NCTE curriculum framework)
