AKC 8 T&RS – Autumn Term 2006 – Some current issues in Gerontology & Nursing 30/11/06
AKC 8 – 30 NOVEMBER 2006
LANGUAGE ISSUES IN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY STUDIES
DR CARYS JONES, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
1. Nurses’ communication through ward reports: examples not to be emulated!
Allegedly found written in actual British NHS patient notes.
The patient has no previous history of suicides.
Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
Discharge status: Alive but without permission.
Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
Skin: somewhat pale but present
Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
2. Use of the first person in the academic written assignment
‘What needs to be challenged is the assumption held by some nurse educators that literary convention demands third person writing.’
‘In this case study the writer will endeavour to …’
‘Within the context of the assignment one will attempt to critically analyse the nursing assessment of …’
‘In discussing this critical incident the author will draw upon a range of supporting literature to highlight …’
A dichotomy exists between the philosophy underpinning holistic patient care and the perceived formal conventions of academic writing. Students are encouraged to develop therapeutic relationships with patients. This involves the student in a warm, embracing relationship …. Often, as part of course requirements, the student has to write a case study, …. The student is encouraged to write about this experience from the perspective of a neutral and objective position that is totally at odds with his or her subjective experience.’ Hamill (1999)
3. Tensions within the context of Nursing and Midwifery Studies
Practice-based / Vs / ProfessionalizedPractical knowledge / Vs / Theorised knowledge
Homogeneous disciplinary base / Vs / Heterogeneous disciplinary based
Clinical subjects (positivist) / Vs / Ethical subjects (interpretative/critical)
4. Comparisons of definitions of CT
Humanities and SciencesReflection and action (Mc Peck)
Rational Thinking (Ennis 1987)
Judgement (Lippmann 1988)
Self directed thinking, exploration (Warnick and Inch 1994)
Intellectual standards (Paul and Elder 2001) / Nursing
Purposeful thinking, self-directed judgements (Alfaro LeFevere 1995)
Purposeful thinking, attitudes, assumptions, evidence, conclusions, implications, beliefs, actions (Miller and Babcock 1996)
Rational explanation, inferences, arguments (Bandman and Bandman 1998)
Purposeful thinking, reflective reasoning, context of nursing practice (Brunt 2005)
5. Halliday’s definition of a linguistic theory
‘A linguistic theory is also a social theory … for it proposes firstly, that it is in the nature of human behaviour to build reality and/or experience through complex semiotic processes, and secondly, that the principal semiotic system available to humans is their language. In this sense, to study language is to explore some of the most important and pervasive of the processes by which human beings build their world.’ (Halliday and Hasan 1989 p.vii)
6. The components of Halliday’s system of meaning making
Text-generating / Tenor
Role relationships / Mode
Rhetorical modes
Meta-function / Ideational
Mental / Interpersonal
Exchange / Textual
Message
Language function / Reflection
Construing human experience / Action
Enacting personal / social relationships / Making meaning
Constructing text
7. Examples used for textual analysis
7.1 Nursing research: perspectives on critical thinking
(S1) Critical thinking is an important component of professional practice. (A2/C1) It is the hallmark of the competent nursing practitioner (A2/C2) and yet, there is no consensus on its definition, teaching nor learning strategies of critical thinking skills in nursing students. (S3/C1) Although critical thinking appears to be desirable at all levels of nursing practice, (S3/C2) evidence to support its educational development in nurses appears to be limited. (S4/C1) If educators are to prepare nurses to become leaders in their profession, (S4/C2) the educational development of these essential skills in nurses needs to be addressed. (Banning 2006)
7.2 Education without theory
(S1) This paper proceeds through four stages. (S2) First, it provides an account of the origins and evolution of the concept of educational theory. (S3) Second, it uses this historical narrative to show how what we now call 'educational theory' is deeply rooted in the foundationalist discourse of late nineteenth and early twentieth century modernity. (S4) Third, it outlines and defends a postfoundationalist critique of the foundationalist epistemological assumptions on which our understanding of educational theory has been erected. (S5) Finally, it argues that the only conclusion to draw from this postfoundationalist critique is that educational theory has run its course and should now be brought to a dignified end. (Carr 2006)
References
Barnett, R. (2000) Realizing the University in an age of super-complexity The Society for Research into Higher Education and the Open University Press
Baynham, Mike (2000) ‘Academic Writing in New and Emergent Discipline Areas’ Chapter 1 in Lea M. R. and Stierer B. (Eds.) in Student Writing in Higher Education published by The Society for Research into Higher Education, Open University Press
BMJ 2005 ‘Why the next census needs to be ask about language’ Delivery of culturally competent health care and other services depends on such data. Editorial 331: 363-364
Edwards S. 1998 ‘Critical analysis: A model for written assignments’ British Journal of Nursing 7/3:159-166
Gopee N. 2002 ‘Demonstrating critical analysis in academic assignments’ Nursing Standard 16/35:45-52
Halliday M A K (1994). An introduction to Functional Grammar. (2nd ed.): Edward Arnold.
- (1978) Language as a Social Semiotic: Edward Arnold.
Halliday M A K & Hasan R (1985) Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hamill C (1999) ‘Academic Essay writing in the first person: a guide for undergraduates’ Nursing Standard, 13/44: 38-40
Hamilton Mary (2000) ‘Sustainable literacies and the ecology of lifelong learning’ Chapter 11 after the Global Colloquium on Supporting Lifelong Learning, Milton Keynes, Open University
Malinowski B (1923/49) 'The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages'. In C K Ogden & I. A. Richards (Eds.), The Meaning of Meaning, (8th ed., ). Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Noone 2006 ‘Critical Thinking in Nursing Education and Practice – A Literature Review’ unpublished presentation at the 7th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College, Dublin
References for the abstracts used for textual analysis
Banning Maggie (2006) ‘Nursing research: perspectives on critical thinking’ British Journal of Nursing 15/8: 458-461
Carr, Wilfred (2006) ‘Education without Theory’ British Journal of Educational Studies 54/2:136
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