Disciplinary Literacy and the British Academic Written English Secondary School (BAWESS) Corpus

Young people who leave school without good literacy skills are held back at every stage of life" (Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), 2019:2). The EEF adds that Literacy skills are essential for achievement and successful outcomes for all learners, and the Government emphasise that 'it is particularly important to induct pupils into the language which defines each subject' (Department for Education (DfE), 2014:11). The language of a subject, i.e., 'disciplinary literacy' is defined as "learning how to read, think about, write, communicate, and use information like each discipline's experts" (Zygouris-Coe, 2012: 36). Not having command of disciplinary literacy is an entrenched problem leading to under-achievement of learners from low socio-economic and English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners (Hall & Wicaksono, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly exacerbated the educational attainment gap among disadvantaged children, it is a "slow motion catastrophe... [that] will continue to have far-reaching consequences for an entire generation" (The Public Accounts Committee, 2023).

Language is central to education, and academic language is often challenging for learners regardless of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In teaching and learning language serves as the primary tool for accessing, communicating, and evaluating knowledge. Success in English-language high-stake external exams (GCSE, iGCSE, A Level and IB, henceforth exam) is predominantly based on written responses and the outcome is crucial for higher education and future careers. It's argued that 'by attending to the literacy demands of their subjects, teachers increase their students' chance of success in their subjects' (EEF, 2019:2). Literacy is key for all learners in the UK and the growing number of learners studying through English as the Medium Education (EME) at international schools around the world.

However, no research is available that systematically characterises disciplinary literacy patterns in students' writing during secondary school exam years (iGCSE/GCSE/A Level/IB) or describes the development of disciplinary writing during the transition from iGCSE/GCSE to A Level/IB. This study will create a corpus of student writing and will analyse literacy and writing development during the secondary school exam years. The study will reveal language patterns that characterise student writing across various educational stages and disciplines.

Our comprehensive investigation of language development during the exam years adopts a trinocular perspective, examining language from (Halliday 1996, Matthiessen 2020):

Above - the types of texts that students have to write, considering genres as a 'staged goal-oriented purposeful activity that people engage in as members of their culture' (Martin, 1984:25).

Around - how disciplinary texts are organised and the relationship between different sections of a text.

Below the lexico-grammatical features found in these texts.

To achieve this, we draw on the power of corpus linguistics and discourse analysis to provide an empirically grounded rationale for language development and the role of language in construing and representing disciplinary knowledge. Our findings will offer unique insights into disciplinary language usage and development, with the potential for significant educational and scientific impact by:

Establishing the inaugural corpus and empirical study of language development across the exam years.
2. Uncovering the grammatical and disciplinary literacy patterns in student writing during this period.

3. Creating a publicly accessible online resource based on authentic student writing, enabling users to explore disciplinary literacy, language development, and various teaching and learning aspects.

4. Informing and supporting national and international research, curriculum policies, and teacher education.