IELTS Research Reports

Tim Moore, Janne Morton and Steve PriceHARDSOFTPUREPhysicsBiologyEconomicsMedia StudiesLinguisticsHistoryAPPLIEDEngineeringComputer ScienceArchitectureBusiness StudiesManagementCommunicationsTable 2. Disciplines investigated in study: Becher (1989) taxonomyDISCIPLINEPhysicsBiologyEconomicsMedia StudiesLinguisticsHistoryEngineeringComputer ScienceArchitectureBusiness StudiesManagementCommunicationsTITLE OF SUBJECTLife sciences and environmentGenetics and the Evolution of LifeMacroeconomicsThe Media in AustraliaIntercultural CommunicationContemporary HistoryEngineering Systems DesignInformatics – Practical ComputingConstructing EnvironmentsDeriving Business ValueBusiness in the Global EconomyProfessional WritingTable 3. List of disciplines and subjectsWithin the twelve discipline areas covered, a single subject in each was selected for investigation(Table 3). All subjects were offered at first year undergraduate level, and were selected partly on thebasis of their having relatively high enrolments of students from second language backgrounds. Whilstthese subjects were chosen as representative of their discipline area, it is acknowledged that any singlesubject can only ever cover a portion of the intellectual content and educational practices of the parentdiscipline as a whole.3.3 Data and procedureThe study was mainly qualitative in nature involving the use of two research methods: an analysisof tasks (both IELTS and academic tasks) and interviews with academic staff. This combination ofmethods fits roughly with what Swales (1998) calls ‘textography’ – described as “something more than adisembodied textual or discoursal analysis, but something less than a full ethnographic account” (p 1).198 www.ielts.org