Academic Discourse: Linguistic Misunderstanding and Professorial Power

Pierre Bourdieu,Jean-Claude Passeron,Monique de Saint Martin

ISBN 10: 0804723338 / ISBN 13: 9780804723336

Published by Stanford University Press May 1994, 1994

About this Item

used hardcover in a dust jacket. jacket is slightly worn about the edges, but with no tears and not price clipped. pages and binding are clean, straight and tight. there are no marks to the text or other serious flaws.

Seller Inventory # 1568076

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Academic Discourse: Linguistic Misunderstanding and Professorial Power
• Publisher: Stanford University Press May 1994
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804723338
• ISBN 13: 9780804723336
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: VG
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • education

About this title

Synopsis

In this innovative work on culture and education, Pierre Bourdieu and his associates examine the role of language and linguistic misunderstanding in the teaching contexts of higher education.

From the Back Cover

Education depends crucially on language: knowledge and skills are taught largely through a process of linguistic exchange. But how much of the language used by teachers and professors is actually understood by students? To what extent does the social background of students affect their capacity to understand the language used in the classroom or the lecture hall? Why do students and teachers over-estimate the success of the educational process and under-estimate the degree of misunderstanding involved?

In this important work Pierre Bourdieu and his associates explore these and other questions through a careful study of the role of language and linguistic misunderstanding in the teaching contexts of higher education. They study the extent to which university students actually understand the academic discourse they hear in lectures, as well as the factors that influence the ways in which students' essays are assessed. They also examine the extent to which the mastery and the misunderstanding of academic discourse depends on the social background of the individuals concerned. Drawing on empirical research and developing a distinctive theoretical perspective, Bourdieu and his associates argue that academic discourse is a medium of communication that both expresses and reproduces a relation of pedagogical power and respect.