The British Academic Written English Secondary School (BAWESS) corpus project will investigate the role of language in representing knowledge in different disciplines. We’ll focus on the writing required for standardised high-stakes exams such as the iGCSE/GCSE, A Level and the International Baccalaureate (IB).

Through a multifaceted analysis, we aim to provide unique and systematic insights into the patterns, structures and language choices of effective writing in the exam years in different disciplines.  

We are working to develop the first discipline-specific large language database (corpus) of student written texts in the exam years. This corpus will be shared as a publicly accessible online resource that enables users (teachers, students, researchers and the public) to explore disciplinary literacy, language development and various teaching and learning aspects of writing.

Working closely with teachers, we aim to co-create resources that support teaching and learning. We hope the BAWESS Project will lead to an improvement in the teaching and learning of disciplinary literacy, enhancing writing and access to the curriculum in schools.

Background information

Language is the primary resource for making meaning and constructing and sharing knowledge. The main form of assessment in high-stakes exams typically requires students to demonstrate their knowledge using written, discipline-specific academic language.

Students at secondary school often find academic writing demands to be very challenging, regardless of their cultural and linguistic background. Accessing ways of knowing and understanding in a specific discipline, then translating this into the language assessed in school exams relies on first being able to read and write in the language of that discipline, often referred to as disciplinary literacy.

At times, students may display the knowledge and understanding of a subject area, but then fall short when writing in an exam. Their inability to properly reflect their content knowledge through discipline-appropriate language may translate into under-achievement and eventually limit their future opportunities for progression. 

Explicitly teaching discipline-specific writing in the curriculum for subject learning can have huge benefits for learners. Supporting disciplinary literacy development requires teachers to understand and be able to teach not only the content inherently important to a discipline, but also how to express it in ways that meet discipline-specific expectations.

A more in-depth understanding of the disciplinary literacy requirements in terms of the use of concept-bearing words, typical language patterns, and discipline-specific types of texts is needed. This extended knowledge of disciplinary literacy will enhance subject teachers’ understanding and will inform pedagogies for teaching school subjects. 

Be part of the BAWESS project

We’re recruiting schools, networks of schools, and sixth form colleges to be part of the BAWESS Project.

Find out more about how you become part of the project and support disciplinary literacy

Team members

• Professor Gail Forey, Principal Investigator - Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of Education, University of Bath
• Dr Reka Jablonkai, Co-Investigator - Senior Lecturer, Department of Education, University of Bath
• Natalie Cheers, Consultant - Head International Students, Royal High School Bath, Girls’ Day School Trust
• Helen Handford, Consultant - Citizenship, Language and Learning Advisory Teacher, Wolverhampton City Council
• Dr Lee McCallum, Consultant - Lecturer in Assessment and Feedback, Edinburgh Napier University

Advisory Board members

• Professor Hilary Nesi, Research Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, University of Coventry (UK)
• Professor Eniko Csomay, Department of Linguistics and Asian/Middle Eastern Languages, San Diego State University (United States)
• Dr Yaegan Doran, School of Education, Australian Catholic University (Australia)
  
• Professor Phil Durrant, School of Education, Exeter University (UK)
• Professor Momna Hejmadi, Department of Life Sciences, University of Bath (UK)
• Dr Arianna Maiorani, Department of Communication and Media, University of Loughborough (UK)
• Dr Erika Matruglio, School of Education, University of Wollongong (Australia)
• Professor Ana Llinares, Department of English Philology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
• Prof Kay O’Halloran, Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool (UK)
• John Polias, Director of Lexis Education (Australia)
• Dr Paul Thompson, Centre for Corpus Research, Department of Linguistics and Communication, University of Birmingham (UK)

Publications (1/2)

• Csomay, E., Jablonkai, R. R., Wu, S. M. (2024). A corpus-based multidimensional analysis of EMI classroom discourse: The case of Singapore. In S. Curle & J. Pun (Eds.). Researching English Medium Instruction. Quantitative methods for students and researchers, (pp. 246-262). Cambridge University Press.
• Durrant, P., Brenchley, M., McCallum, L. (2021). Understanding development and proficiency in writing: Quantitative corpus linguistics approaches. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
• Durrant, P., Moxley, J., McCallum, L. (2019). Vocabulary sophistication in first-year composition assignments. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 24(1), 31-64.
• Forey, G. (2020) A whole school approach to SFL metalanguage and the explicit teaching of language for curriculum learning Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 44, 1-17.
• Forey, G., Cheung, L.M.E. (2019) The benefits of explicit teaching of language for curriculum learning in the Physical Education classroom. English for Specific Purposes. 54, 91-109.
  
• He, Q., Forey, G. (2018). Meaning-making in a secondary science classroom: A systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis. In K.S. Tang & K. Danielsson (Eds.) Global developments in literacy research for science education. New York: Springer, 183-202.
• Jablonkai, R. R. (2024). Transforming language teaching with corpora - Bridging research and practice. In P. Crosthwaite (Ed.). Corpora for language learning. (pp. 93-110). Routledge.
  
• Jablonkai, R. R., Csomay, E. (Eds). (2022). The Routledge Handbook of corpora and English language teaching and learning. Routledge.
• Jablonkai, R. R. (2022). Building corpora for ELT. In R. R. Jablonkai & E. Csomay (Eds). The Routledge Handbook of corpora and English language teaching and learning. Routledge.
  

Publications (2/2)

• Jablonkai, R. R. (2020). Leveraging professional wordlists for productive vocabulary knowledge. ESP Today 8(1), 2-24.
• Polias, J., Forey, G. (2017) Multi-Semiotic Resources Providing Maximal Input in Teaching Science through English Llinares, A & T. Morton (Eds) Applied Linguistics perspectives on CLIL. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 149-169.
  
• McCallum, L., Durrant, P. (2022). Shaping writing grades: Collocation and writing context effects. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
• Mathew, P., McCallum, L. (2024). A corpus-based analysis of rhetorical moves and p-frames in an Omani learner corpus of research project abstracts. Journal of Language and Education, 10(1), 68-82.
• Sahin-Kizil, A., Vincent, B., & McCallum, L. (2024). A methodological exploration of the p-frame approach: Implications for developing phrase lists. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3(3), 1-16.
• Kim, S., Williams, P., McCallum, L. (2024). Modelling the use of the Tool for the Automatic Analysis of Syntactic Sophistication and Complexity (TAASSC). Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 3(1), 1-20.
• McCallum, L., Curry, N. (2023). Complexity, accuracy and fluency in writing. In H. Mohebbi. & Y. Wang. (Eds.). Insights into teaching and learning writing: A practical guide for early-career teachers, (pp. 27-45). Castledown Publishing.
• Polias, J., Forey, G. (2016) Teaching through English: Maximal Input in Meaning Making. In Miller, D.R. & Bayley, P. (Eds). Permeable contexts & hybridity in discourse. London: Continuum, 109-132.

Information and resources

• Disciplinary literacy (BAWESS) project
  
• Alex Quigley Disciplinary literacy: 50 years of failure
• Education Endowment Foundation Disciplinary literacy guidance and recommendations