Surfing Semantic Waves: Using Semantic Profiling to Focus on Knowledge in Practicum Lessons

Figures & data

Figure 1. Semantic profile of fictive lesson or series of lessons (inspired by Kirk, 2017).

Figure 2. Three semantic profiles (Maton, 2014).

Table 1. Summary of Examination Lessons Observed. School Year, Number of Observations, and Student Teachers (ST 1–19), Subject, and Content Focus.

	Observations
School year	Spring 18	Autumn 18	Spring 19	School subject	Content focus
Year 1–3	3 ST 1-3	1 ST 14	0	Biology, Geography	Bumble bees, water circle, butterflies, north of the polar circle, and the moon
Year 4–6	4 ST 4-8	4 ST 15-18	0	Math, Swedish, Religious studies, English	Negative numbers, Hinduism, types of poetry, parts of speech, Finland, and pronouns
Year 7–9	3 ST 9-11	3 ST10–11, 19	3 ST 10, 19	English	Present tense, nouns, horror, the body, and space
Year 10–12	2 ST 12-13	2 ST 12-13	2 ST 12-13	English	Book review, tenses, language varieties, and current affairs
Total	13	10	4	-	-

Table 2. Translation Device Used to Illustrate How the Semantic Gravity Continuum Translates Semantic Profiling (Modified from Kirk, 2017; Meidell Sigsgaard & Jacobsen, 2020).

Semantic gravity continuum	Observed during lessons	Knowledge focus in lesson plans and/or lessons with examples
Weaker semantic gravity (SG-)	Theory/concepts	Use of key terminology or key concepts relating to the planned content and activities reincarnation & karma, negative numbers, ailment
Neutral	Patterns/generalizations	Generalized understandings of the concepts or experiences reincarnation ≈ recycling, illustration of a number line, I feel pain in my foot
Stronger semantic gravity (SG+)	Experience	Relating to examples from prior lessons or activities or student experiences from outside school I killed a slug with my bike>bad karma?, The temperature when it’s below zero, I can’t walk

Figure 3. Example of semantic profiles constructed from a lesson plan (line) and a lesson (dotted) based on Kirk (2017) with examples of notes from lesson plans or lessons plotted on the semantic gravity continuum to illustrate.

Figure 4. An illustration of some semantic profiles from the lesson plans.

Key: Unbroken line – mathematics lesson plan; dotted line – religious study lesson plan; dot/dash line English lesson plan.

Figure 5. An illustration of a semantic profile from an upper primary school lesson in maths (dotted) with lesson plan (line).

Figure 6. An illustration of a semantic profile from an upper primary school lesson in religion (line) with lesson plan (dotted).

Figure 7. An illustration of a semantic profile from a lower secondary school lesson in English (line) with lesson plan (line & dot).

Table

	Observations
School year	Spring 18	Autumn 18	Spring 19	School subject	Content focus
Lower Primary (Y1–3)	3	1	0	Biology, Geography	bumble bees, water circle, butterflies, north of the polar circle, the moon
Upper Primary (Y4–6)	4	4	0	Math, Religious studies, Swedish, English	negative numbers, Hinduism, types of poetry, parts of speech, Finland, pronouns
Secondary (Y7–9)	3	3	3	English	present tense, nouns, horror, the body, space
Upper secondary (1–3)	2	2	2	English	book review, tenses, language varieties, current affairs
Total	12	10	5	-	-

Kirk, S. (2017). Waves of reflection: Seeing knowledge(s) in academic writing. In Jennifer Kemp (Ed.), EAP in a Rapidly Changing Landscape: Issues, Challenges and Solutions-Proceedings of the 2015 Baleap Conference (pp. 109–118). Garnet.

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Maton, K. (2014). Knowledge and knowers : Towards a realist sociology of education. Routledge.

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Meidell Sigsgaard, A., & Jacobsen, S. (2020). At bølge i en akademisk analyse Globe. A Journal of Language, Communication and Culture, 10(10), 82–101.

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