How are professional accounting practices represented in university classroom discourse and what are the implications of this for theory and practice in professional learning? Professional accounting practices order the world, and are also ordered. In reducing the complexities of social activity to abstract meanings that render it measurable, diverse and complex structures can be compared ‘apples with apples’. This study investigates the relocalization of professional accounting practices in university classroom discourse, working with tools from Legitimation Code Theory, systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis.udFindings draw on digital recordings of seminars presented by three lecturers in different subjects of a Master of Accounting program in an Australian metropolitan university. The analysis examines movements between context-independent and more context-dependent meanings in classroom discourse that mark shifts in emphasis from accounting as a system of representation, to accounting as interpersonal exchange. It considers two sets of social relations at play in the professional classroom: those between lecturers and students, and those within professional practice that are relocalized in classroom discourse.udThe framework developed in this study complements current research within the sociology of education. Discussion connects the analysis with recent explorations of knowledge practices in education within Legitimation Code Theory. It draws on foundational principles of a systemic functional model of language, considering the basis of professional practice and professional learning in interpersonal exchange. Conclusions are oriented towards theory and practice in professional learning, recognizing professional educators as agents of change and mediators of ways of thinking and acting in their field that are potentially transformative.
展开▼
