LCT book series

The LCT Centre is the home for a dedicated book series by Routledge: Legitimation Code Theory.

The series comprises research and practice into knowledge-building in education and beyond. Books in this series focus on both cutting-edge developments in theory and developing new forms of practice.

Current publications

Maton, K. (2014) Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a Realist Sociology of Education

The first founding text of LCT highlight that though we live in ‘knowledge societies’ and work in ‘knowledge economies’, accounts of social change treat knowledge as homogeneous and neutral. While knowledge should be central to educational research, it focuses on processes of knowing and condemns studies of knowledge as essentialist. This book unfolds a sophisticated theoretical framework for analysing knowledge practices: Legitimation Code Theory or ‘LCT’. By extending and integrating the influential approaches of Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein, LCT offers a practical means for overcoming knowledge-blindness without succumbing to essentialism or relativism. Chapter 1 can be downloaded here.

Reviews of Knowledge and Knowers:

Maton, K., Hood, S. and Shay, S. (2016) Knowledge-building: Educational Studies in Legitimation Code Theory

The second founding text of LCT argues that education and knowledge have never been more important to society, yet research is segmented by approach, methodology or topic. Legitimation Code Theory or ‘LCT’ extends and integrates insights from Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein to offer a framework for research and practice that overcomes segmentalism. This book shows how LCT can be used to build knowledge about education and society. Comprising original papers by an international and multidisciplinary group of scholars, Knowledge-building offers the first primer in this fast-growing approach. Chapter 1 can be downloaded here.

Reviews of Knowledge-Building:

Martin, J. R., Maton, K. & Doran, Y. J. (eds, 2020) Accessing Academic Discourse: Systemic Functional Linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory

Academic discourse is the gateway not only to educational success but to worlds of imagination, discovery and accumulated wisdom. Understanding the nature of academic discourse and developing ways of helping everyone access, shape and change this knowledge is critical to supporting social justice. Yet education research often ignores the forms taken by knowledge and the language through which they are expressed. This volume comprises cutting-edge work that is bringing together sociological and linguistic approaches to access academic discourse. Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) is a long-established and widely-known approach to understanding language. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) is a younger and rapidly growing approach to exploring and shaping knowledge practices. Now evermore research and practice are using these approaches together. This volume presents cutting-edge advances from this inter-disciplinary dialogue, focusing on state-of-the-art work in SFL provoked by its productive dialogue with LCT. It showcases work by the leading lights of both approaches, including the foremost scholar of SFL and the creator of LCT. Chapters introduce key ideas from LCT, new conceptual developments in SFL, studies using both approaches, and guidelines for shaping curriculum and pedagogy to support access to academic discourse in classrooms.

Reviews of Accessing Academic Discourse:

Winberg, C., McKenna, S. & Wilmot, K. (eds) (2020) Building Knowledge in Higher Education: Enhancing Teaching and Learning with Legitimation Code Theory

Higher education is facing a series of challenges that are redefining the nature of universities. From initiatives to make higher education economically efficient to social justice calls to open the field to a broader range of students, the field of higher education is in a state of flux. Yet studies about higher education teaching and learning, assessment and curricula remain theoretically underdeveloped and segmented by discipline and country. This book illustrates how Legitimation Code Theory is helping to transform the field by bringing research together from across the disciplinary map and by enabling practical change in a rigorously theorised way.

Clarence, S. (2021) Turning Access into Success: Improving University Education with Legitimation Code Theory

Teaching is crucial for supporting students’ chances of success in higher education, yet often university teaching offers abstract theory. Theorized yet practical ways of empowering university educators are needed to develop their practices and turn access into success for their students. This book harnesses Legitimation Code Theory ‘LCT’ to inspire university educators to understand, reimagine and create socially-just teaching and learning practices. Chapters bring this powerful theory to bear on real-world examples of curriculum design, inclusive practices, cumulative learning, assessment practices, and reflection. Each chapter guides the reader through these cutting-edge ideas, illustrates how they can make real differences in practice, and sets out ways of thinking that educators integrate those ideas into practice. The outcomes will help students access the powerful knowledge and ways of knowing they need for success in higher education.

Maton, K., Martin, J. R. & Doran, Y. J. (eds) (2021) Teaching Science: Knowledge, Language, Pedagogy

Though science is central to modern life, crises in school and university science are widely reported in many advanced societies. Meeting this challenge requires sophisticated understandings of the knowledge, language and pedagogy of science. Bringing together the increasingly influential and complementary approaches of Legitimation Code Theory and Systemic Functional Linguistics, this collection of new work by internationally acclaimed scholars examines a range of sciences from physics to biology, health science to engineering, Earth science to mathematics. It shows how scientific knowledge is realised through language, mathematics, images, body language and digital resources, and how best these can be taught. With dramatic changes occurring in teaching and learning in schools and universities, this volume is essential reading for all serious scholars of science in education, sociology and linguistics.

Blackie, M., Adendorff, H. & Mouton, M. (eds) Enhancing Science Education: Exploring Knowledge Practices with Legitimation Code Theory

This book helps meet a urgent need for theorised, accessible and discipline-sensitive publications to assist STEM educators. The book introduces Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and demonstrates how it can be used to improve teaching and learning in tertiary courses across the sciences. LCT provides a suite of tools which science educators can employ in order to help their students grasp difficult and dense concepts. The chapters cover a broad range of subjects, including biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics, as well as different curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices. This is a crucial resource for any science educator who wants to better understand and improve their teaching.

Hlatshwayo, M. N., Adendorff, H., Blackie, M. A. L., Fataar, A. and Maluleka, P. (eds) Decolonising Knowledge and Knowers: Struggles for University Transformation in South Africa

Decolonizing Knowledge and Knowers contributes to the current struggles for decolonizing education in the global South, focusing on the highly illuminating case of South Africa higher education. Galvanized by #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall student protests, South Africa has seen particularly intense and broad social engagement with debates over decolonizing universities. However, much of this debate has been consumed with definitions and meanings, In contrast, Decolonizing Knowledge and Knowers shows how conceptual tools, specifically from Legitimation Code Theory, can be enacted in research and teaching to meaningfully work towards productive decolonization. Each chapter addresses a key issue in contemporary debates in South African higher education and show how practices concerning knowledge and knowers are playing a role, drawing on quantitative and qualitative research, praxis, and interdisciplinary research.

N. Tilakaratna and E. Szenes (eds) Demystifying Critical Reflection: Improving Pedagogy and Practice with Legitimation Code Theory

Critical thinking is widely held to be a key attribute required for successfully living, learning and earning in modern societies. Universities now list critical thinking as a key graduate quality and use ‘critical reflection’ as a way of teaching students how to become reflective and ethical professionals. Yet, what ‘critical reflection’ actually involves remains vague in research, teaching practice, and assessment. For many teachers and students, ‘critical reflection’ is mystifying. This volume of cutting-edge research reveals the knowledge practices and language of critical reflection in a range of subjects, making clear how it can be taught and learned. Studies draw on Legitimation Code Theory, a fast-growing framework for revealing the knowledge practices that enable educational success. The individual chapters focus on a diverse range of contexts across the disciplinary map, including education, science, arts, sociology and nursing. This volume also relates research and practice by presenting in-depth analyses of critical reflection and providing practical insights into how LCT can be used to design pedagogic interventions.