Architexts: building structure, building texture

Sizer, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2750-6728 (2026) Architexts: building structure, building texture. EdD thesis, University of Portsmouth. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.20209174

Abstract/Summary

This Professional Doctorate in Education research project investigates the academic writing practices of undergraduate architecture students in the UK, addressing a significant gap in English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) provision for creative disciplines. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), academic literacies theory, and ethnographic methodologies, the study employs a textographic approach to analyse architecture student’s undergraduate dissertations in terms of structure and texture while also incorporating an ethnographic interview and texts collected from ethnographic site study. This research explores architecture students' language choices (linguistic and multimodal), including macrostructure, Thematic progression and image-language relations. Findings reveal diverse dissertation structures: genre-based such as traditional simple and traditional complex; topicbased, and a combination structure, i.e. ‘TopGen’ alongside creative macroTheme naming conventions. Findings also suggest prevalent patterns in terms of texture such as unmarked topical Thematic choices, zigzag (Rheme > Theme) Thematic progression as well as use of images. This study emphasises the importance of contextualised, constructively aligned, and collaborative English for Academic Purposes pedagogy, proposing English for Pracademic Purposes (EPP) as a potential framework. Implications for EAP practice include recommendations for ESAP curriculum design, genre-based instruction, and interdisciplinary collaboration between EAP practitioners and subject specialists.