Translation as a Paradigm Shift: A Corpus Study of Academic Writing

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Agnes Pisanski Peterlin

2013-05-01

Full Text Available In recent decades the increasing reliance on computer technology and the emergence of electronic publishing have precipitated changes in both the production and reception of academic writing. At the same time, the dominance of English as the medium of academic communication has been asserted in all fields of study. While many scholars write their own texts in English, it is not exceptional for others to have their papers translated into English. It is interesting, however, that translation of academic discourse has received relatively little research attention so far. In the study presented here, the question how translated academic texts differ from comparable original English academic texts is addressed. To explore this question, a 700,000-word corpus comprising 104 research articles (Slovene-English translations and comparable English originals is analyzed in terms of references to the entire text itself. The results show considerable differences between the translated texts and the comparable English-language originals.

The Impact of Blended e-Learning on Undergraduate Academic Essay Writing in English (L2)

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Ferriman, Nicholas

2013-01-01

This paper describes a quasi-experimental study into the impact of a blended e-learning environment on academic writing assignments in English (L2) at a Thai international college. An experimental group of 15 students used an on-line bulletin board, as well as face-to-face (F2F) communication in class, to share information for essay topics they…

Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading.

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Munoz-Luna, Rosa

2015-01-01

Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2) academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others) with students' writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergraduates of English Studies; they are in their fourth year, so they are expected to be proficient in English academic writing but their written production quality varies considerably. Results are analysed following a mixed methodology by which metalinguistic items are statistically measured, and then contrasted with semi-structured interview results; SPSS and NVivo provide quantitative and qualitative outcomes, respectively. The analyses reveal that undergraduate students who produce complex sentences and more coherent texts employ a wider range of writing strategies both prior and while writing, being able to (un)consciously structure and design their texts more successfully. These high-scoring students make more proficient use of complex transition markers for coherence and frame markers for textual cohesion; their commonly used (pre-)writing strategies are drafting, outlining, and proofreading.

Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading.

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Rosa Munoz-Luna

Full Text Available Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2 academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others with students' writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergraduates of English Studies; they are in their fourth year, so they are expected to be proficient in English academic writing but their written production quality varies considerably. Results are analysed following a mixed methodology by which metalinguistic items are statistically measured, and then contrasted with semi-structured interview results; SPSS and NVivo provide quantitative and qualitative outcomes, respectively. The analyses reveal that undergraduate students who produce complex sentences and more coherent texts employ a wider range of writing strategies both prior and while writing, being able to (unconsciously structure and design their texts more successfully. These high-scoring students make more proficient use of complex transition markers for coherence and frame markers for textual cohesion; their commonly used (pre-writing strategies are drafting, outlining, and proofreading.

Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading

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Munoz-Luna, Rosa

2015-01-01

Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2) academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others) with students’ writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergraduates of English Studies; they are in their fourth year, so they are expected to be proficient in English academic writing but their written production quality varies considerably. Results are analysed following a mixed methodology by which metalinguistic items are statistically measured, and then contrasted with semi-structured interview results; SPSS and NVivo provide quantitative and qualitative outcomes, respectively. The analyses reveal that undergraduate students who produce complex sentences and more coherent texts employ a wider range of writing strategies both prior and while writing, being able to (un)consciously structure and design their texts more successfully. These high-scoring students make more proficient use of complex transition markers for coherence and frame markers for textual cohesion; their commonly used (pre-)writing strategies are drafting, outlining, and proofreading. PMID:26046836

Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading

OpenAIRE

Munoz-Luna, Rosa

2015-01-01

Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2) academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others) with students' writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergradua...

Reading-Writing Relationships in First and Second Language Academic Literacy Development

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Grabe, William; Zhang, Cui

2016-01-01

Reading and writing relations, as this concept applies to academic learning contexts, whether as a major way to learn language or academic content, is a pervasive issue in English for academic purposes (EAP) contexts. In many cases, this major link between reading/writing and academic learning is true even though explicit discussions of this…

EFL Academic writing. What should Dutch business communication students learn?

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Meurs, Frank van; Hendriks, B.C.; Planken, B.C.; Barasa, S.N.; Groot, E.B. de; Nederstigt, U.; Arnhem, M. van; Smakman, D.

2016-01-01

Many Dutch university students are expected to read and write academic research papers in English. In this article, we discuss a number of areas of EFL academic writing that are relevant for first-year Dutch business communication students. These students need to become familiar with quantitative

WHY MUSLIM STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE IN WRITING ENGLISH TEXTS

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Wakhid Nashruddin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Reasons for copy-pasting someone else’s works has attracted attention from many sides that copy-pasting activities, or more popular with term plagiarism, have been considered as a threat for academic life. It also happens at the case of muslim students, in which Islam teaches the students to be honest and not to steal from others. For understanding why it happens, this exploration is conducted. The students of English Department of IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon have to write many of their assignments in English. The result of my observations, the quality of the students’ writing is not good enough. One of the cases found is the copy-paste works, or plagiarism. Using interviews instrument, I try to figure out why students of English Department of IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon. There are at least three reasons behind why students act plagiarism; ignorance on the quotation and citation rules, poor writing skills, and the need of instant writing result. This paper tries to explore these reasons. Keywords: copy-paste, plagiarism, writing in English

EXPLORING THE TERTIARY EFL STUDENTS' ACADEMIC WRITING COMPETENCIES

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Aunurrahman Aunurrahman

2017-05-01

Full Text Available For tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL students, academic writing is not an easy task. It requires knowledge of the academic writing genres with their particular linguistic features. Moreover, academic writing demands good critical thinking. This research aims to explore the students' academic writing competencies that also focus on critical thinking. The research involved thirty-six first-year tertiary EFL students from a regular class of a private university in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The source for data collection was the students’ texts. Three texts were selected and the students were categorized into low, medium, and high levels of writing achievement. The text analysis utilized functional grammar rooted in systemic functional linguistics (Emilia, 2014. The analysis shows that the students, regardless of their levels of writing achievement, have little control over the schematic structure and linguistic features of an argumentative writing. The text analysis also shows that the students’ texts have some limitations as regards their critical thinking capacity. Still, a few examples of academic language were detected in the texts. The findings suggest that the lecturer should incorporate explicit teaching and cooperative learning activities to alleviate the students' difficulties and develop their academic writing and critical thinking capacity.

Chinese students' writing in English implications from a corpus-driven study

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Leedham, Maria

2014-01-01

Chinese students are the largest international student group in UK universities today, yet little is known about their undergraduate writing and the challenges they face. Drawing on the British Academic Written English corpus - a large corpus of proficient undergraduate student writing collected in the UK in the early 2000s - this study explores Chinese students' written assignments in English in a range of university disciplines, contrasting these with assignments from British students. The study is supplemented by questionnaire and interview datasets with discipline lecturers, writing tutors and students, and provides a comprehensive picture of the Chinese student writer today. Theoretically framed through work within academic literacies and lexical priming, the author seeks to explore what we know about Chinese students' writing and to extend these findings to undergraduate writing more generally. In a globalized educational environment, it is important for educators to understand differences in writing st...

FROM NEEDS ANALYSIS TO DESIGNING ACADEMIC WRITING MATERIALS FOR DIPLOMA STUDENTS OF MARA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (UITM, MALAYSIA

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Nancy Chiuh @ Noemi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available When students begin their undergraduate studies, they will need to adjust to the demands of the undergraduate studies with regard to academic English at university level. Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998, p.37 maintain that “their English tuition up to the tertiary level will generally have been in the area of General English, and is unlikely to have included specific preparation for study at university level…” Barker (2000, p.8, in his study on first year students’ perception of writing difficulties, found that the students “come to realise during first semester that they are not adequately prepared for the writing demands required at university”. Pecorari (as cited in Phakiti & Li, 2011 found that Asian ESL students had problems in academic writing; “the students begin their aca-demic writing from ‘copying’ which implies a lack of training in academic writing and arouses accusations of plagiarism in their writing” (p.232. Being an English-medium public university in Malaysia, MARA University of Technology (UiTM poses challenges to both its students and instructors, as a good command of English is essential. In its attempt to equip its undergraduate students with language skills, UiTM has introduced credit-bearing English courses. This paper presents the findings from a research project to identify the academic writing needs of first-year Diploma in Public Administration students in UiTM Sabah. A total of 110 Diploma in Public Administration students and six instructors responded to the questionnaires. The research examined the students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the importance of academic writing skills the students need in order to complete their undergraduate programmes, assessment of the students’ academic writing skills, and the difficulty of academic writing skills. The findings indicated that there was consistency of response between the students and instructors. The follow-up interviews and focus groups with

Academic writing

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Eremina, Svetlana V.

2003-10-01

The series of workshops on academic writing have been developed by academic writing instructors from Language Teaching Centre, Central European University and presented at the Samara Academic Writing Workshops in November 2001. This paper presents only the part dealing with strucutre of an argumentative essay.

The Process of Writing Research Articles in English and Getting Published: A Case Study

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Süleyman Başaran

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Getting published in indexed English journals is a rather long and challenging process for non-native academics that have to write in English. In this study, we interview four Turkish academics (two physicists and two civil engineers, who use English as a foreign language, and analyze the processes they undergo while writing research articles (RA and striving to get them published. We also interview other four academics (a historian, a linguist, a sociologist and an educational scientist, who have no published works in indexed journals, to gain more insight about the difficulties entailed in getting published in English journals. In Turkey, it is a prerequisite to get published in indexed journals, most of which are English, in order to get a tenure position at Turkish universities. However, this process is much more difficult and demanding for those who have no US or UK background and who have had no formal education in writing of any kind. The interviews we conducted and the observation process hint that science and engineering articles have preset rules and conventions and that writing such articles is a mechanical process

Diction and Expression in Error Analysis Can Enhance Academic Writing of L2 University Students

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Sajid, Muhammad

2016-01-01

Without proper linguistic competence in English language, academic writing is one of the most challenging tasks, especially, in various genre specific disciplines by L2 novice writers. This paper examines the role of diction and expression through error analysis in English language of L2 novice writers' academic writing in interdisciplinary texts…

Supporting the development of postgraduate academic writing skills in South African universities

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Schulze, Salome

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The ability to write according to the conventions and forms of disciplinary academic writing is essential to success at university. Meeting the demands of quality academic writing is a challenge to the increasing number of English Second Language (ESL students worldwide, from undergraduate to postgraduate level, who choose to study and publish in English. In particular, postgraduate students in South African universities struggle with the rigours of dissertation writing. Drawing on Lave and Wenger’s (1991 theory of collaborative learning in a community of practice (CoP, an exploratory, qualitative inquiry was undertaken to examine the support given by six selected South African higher education institutions (HEIs to promote the development of academic writing skills among master’s and doctoral students. Data were gathered from a purposeful sample of 10 expert informants through interviews, email communication, and scrutiny of institutional websites. Findings deal with academic writing skills as the core competence necessary for full participation in the academic CoP; the nature of postgraduate student engagement with core members of the CoP, such as supervisors and language experts; and the availability and efficacy of a range of intra-organisational resources, including informal and formal peer interaction with those who have more expertise in writing, books, manuals, visual representations, and technological tools, to develop academic writing among postgraduate students. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for ways in which institutions can strengthen, enrich, and extend the CoP to support academic writing skills of ESL postgraduate students.

Mentor Texts and the Coding of Academic Writing Structures: A Functional Approach

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Escobar Alméciga, Wilder Yesid; Evans, Reid

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present pedagogical experience was to address the English language writing needs of university-level students pursuing a degree in bilingual education with an emphasis in the teaching of English. Using mentor texts and coding academic writing structures, an instructional design was developed to directly address the shortcomings…

Spanish researchers’ perceived difficulty writing research articles for English-medium journals: the impact of proficiency in English versus publication experience

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Ana I. Moreno

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Previous quantitative studies suggest that the burden researchers who use English as an additional language perceive when writing research articles (RAs for publication in English (as L2 is 24% greater than the burden they perceive when they write RAs for publication in their L1. It remains unclear precisely which aspects of research article (RA writing in English present these writers with the greatest challenge and just why they perceive this increase in difficulty. A structured questionnaire comprising thirty-seven questions about researchers’ publication experiences in scientific journals in English and in Spanish was designed and sent out to all (n = 8,794 Spanish postdoctoral researchers at one research-only institution and four universities in Spain, yielding responses from 1,717 researchers. Our first results show that the discussion is the section that is perceived as more difficult to write for English-medium journals, across the four broad knowledge areas in a way that cannot be fully explained by their lower level of proficiency in English (as L2. This article proposes the rhetorical transfer hypothesis as a possible explanation for their additional difficulty. Our results also reveal that their increased perceived difficulty writing RA discussions in English (as L2 does not decrease noticeably until Spanish researchers report high or very high levels of proficiency in English (as L2 for academic or general purposes or have published on average at least 37 RAs as corresponding author in English-medium journals over the last ten years. Implications for English for Academic Purposes (EAP research and pedagogy are discussed.

ABC's of Writing Medical Papers in English

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Baron, Todd H.

2012-01-01

Publishing medical papers in English is important as English remains the predominant language for most medical papers (both electronic and traditional journal publications). In addition, journals with the highest impact factors are published in English and a publication in English thus enhances the visibility of authors and their institutions, and is important for promotion in some academic centers. This article reviews the basic principles that will help you successfully publish a manuscript in English. Although other books and articles are available on this subject, there are relatively few references. The present article is based on this author's experience of publishing nearly 400 articles in English. It will emphasize writing original articles, but the principles can be applied to virtually any type of manuscript.

Providing Electronic Writing Resources for Academic Purposes: Issues of Control and Flexibility.

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Bruce, Nigel

2001-01-01

Reviews "Academic Writing: An Interactive Language Based CD-ROM for Teaching Academic Writing Skills to University Students." Suggests language teachers in the tertiary sector are required to accommodate the specific disciplinary needs of their students, and that it is rare for most commercial textbooks to find their way into an English for…

Writing by Academics: A Transactional and Systems Approach to Academic Writing Behaviours

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Kempenaar, Larissa Elisabeth; Murray, Rowena

2016-01-01

The literature on academic writing in higher education contains a wealth of research and theory on students' writing, but much less on academics' writing. In performative higher education cultures, discussions of academics' writing mainly concern outputs, rather than the process of producing them. This key component of academic work remains…

Code Glosses in Academic Writing: The Comparison of Iranian and Native Authors

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Mahdi Dehghan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available One of the challenges of academic writing is the creation of a structurally and communicatively well-organized and coherent text. Metadiscourse enables authors of journal articles to achieve this goal by raising the writers‘ awareness about discourse features which can contribute to a better academic content production. Also, L1 background has always been a hot topic in applied linguistics and native versus non-native comparisons have been of particular interest in this field. The purpose of this study was to see whether native English speakers and Iranians use code glosses as a sub-category of metadiscourse similarly in their academic writings. To this end, the introduction section of 30 journal articles written by native and Iranian non-native English authors were investigated and the number of code-glosses in each group was counted and analyzed. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to answer the research question of this study. The result of data analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the frequency count of code glosses used by Iranian and native English authors. This study can have pedagogical implications for EAP course designers as well as academic writing instructors and students.

Teaching Adolescent ELs to Write Academic-Style Persuasive Essays

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Ramos, Kathleen

2014-01-01

The wide adoption of the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the U.S. has increased expectations for all teachers to prepare all learners to read and write in academic ways. More knowledge is needed about instructional approaches that may lead adolescent English learners (ELs) to meet this goal. Developing academic literacy practices…

Moves Analysis on Abstracts Written by the Students in Academic Writing Class

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Ajeng Setyorini

2017-01-01

This paper contains analysis results on abstracts written by students in Academic Writing course. The analysis includes analyses on moves and linguistic features. The analysis aims at finding out how the abstract writing structures of the English Education students are in the Academic Writing course. The abstract analysis also includes the analysis on the use of the linguistic features in the abstracts. The analysis uses a qualitative research approach. There are totally 10 abstracts that are...

Error Analysis in Academic Writing: A Case of International Postgraduate Students in Malaysia

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Fatemeh Amiri

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the different types of writing errors performed by 16 international postgraduate students undertaking an intensive English course at a public university in Malaysia. It was mandatory for international postgraduate students who obtained less than IELTS Band 6 to undertake an Intensive English Course (IEC offered by the University, prior to entering their respective faculties’ academic programs. The students were required to write a 3-5 page term paper assignment on a topic related to their field of study. Mixed methodology approach was employed to examine and analyze corpus of students’ term papers. The errors in the term papers were identified and classified accordingly. The results of the study revealed that four most common English language errors committed by the participants were sentence structure, articles, punctuation and capitalization. This study also shed light on the manner in which students assumed the rules of English to that of their native language. Such insight is useful for both instructors and students because it provides significant information on the building blocks experienced by English language learners in academic writing.

An Analysis of Errors Committed by Saudi Non-English Major Students in the English Paragraph Writing: A Study of Comparisons

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Nuruzzaman, Mohammed; Islam, A. B. M. Shafiqul; Shuchi, Israt Jahan

2018-01-01

The present study investigates the writing errors of ninety Saudi non-English major undergraduate students of different proficiency levels from three faculties, who studied English as a foundation course at the English Language Center in the College of Languages &Translation at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia in the academic year 2016-17.…

Using sources in English - writing about them in Danish

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Klitgård, Ida

2015-01-01

This study investigates the scope of a kind of translation literacy involved in the interlingual translation, summarising and paraphrasing which take place when Danish university students write project reports in their native language about academic texts in English. The resulting changes in re......-contexutalisation and the changes in the representation of various levels of voices in both source and target texts have serious implications for the reader's comprehension of the content as well as for the language and style of the students' writing....

Young people’s writing in senior English classrooms: Opening the classroom door

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LOUISE ANNE PIVA

2018-01-01

The thesis is a practitioner inquiry that examines the teaching of writing to Year 12 students in the subject of English. It uses narrative inquiry to examine the teaching and learning of writing over the course of one academic year. It focuses on the dialogue between the teacher, her students and others as well as the contextual and socio-cultural factors that influence and mediate the teaching and learning of writing.

A Model of Research Paper Writing Instructional Materials for Academic Writing Course: "Needs & Documents Analysis and Model Design"

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Ghufron, M. Ali; Saleh, Mursid; Warsono; Sofwan, Ahmad

2016-01-01

This study aimed at designing a model of instructional materials for Academic Writing Course focusing on research paper writing. The model was designed based on the Curriculum at the English Education Study Program, Faculty of Language and Art Education of IKIP PGRI Bojonegoro, East Java, Indonesia. This model was developed in order to improve…

International Graduate Students' Academic Writing Practices in Malaysia: Challenges and Solutions

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Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar

2015-01-01

This article focuses on the challenges faced by non-native English speaking international graduate students in their academic writing practices while they studied at a university in Malaysia as well as the solutions they employed when faced with the challenges. Academic Literacies Questionnaire was used to collect data. Based on 131 participants,…

Attitudes toward text recycling in academic writing across disciplines.

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Hall, Susanne; Moskovitz, Cary; Pemberton, Michael A

2018-01-01

Text recycling, the reuse of material from one's own previously published writing in a new text without attribution, is a common academic writing practice that is not yet well understood. While some studies of text recycling in academic writing have been published, no previous study has focused on scholars' attitudes toward text recycling. This article presents results from a survey of over 300 journal editors and editorial board members from 86 top English-language journals in 16 different academic fields regarding text recycling in scholarly articles. Responses indicate that a large majority of academic gatekeepers believe text recycling is allowable in some circumstances; however, there is a lack of clear consensus about when text recycling is or is not appropriate. Opinions varied according to the source of the recycled material, its structural location and rhetorical purpose, and conditions of authorship conditions-as well as by the level of experience as a journal editor. Our study suggests the need for further research on text recycling utilizing focus groups and interviews.

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH THESIS WRITING: A Case Study of English Department of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung

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Andang Saehu

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This is a report of a study designed to examine the process of thesis—a final (research-based paper for undergrads prior to academic completion—writing of English Department students who graduated in Academic Year 2007/2008. Using a descriptive method, this case study aimed to describe the stages, to identify the problems, and to explore the techniques of solving problems used by respondents in the thesis writing by involving six students who had engaged in writing and research project course. The data concerning writing stages, problems, and coping with strategies were collected by using questionnaires, interviews, and documentation (thesis. The results showed that all participants went through the thesis writing stages determined by Faculty of Adab of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung, namely: 1 Starting process; 2 Researching; 3 Reporting; and 4 Doing consultation. These also showed that all respondents encountered: 1 Procedural problems, which were likely to be the major problems shared by all respondents; 2 Academic problems; and 3 Nonacademic problems. However, whatever problems they dealt with, each of them had his/her own strategies to cope with. The procedural and academic problems were coped with by reading, doing consultation, and peer-collaboration. Meanwhile, non-academic problems were solved by having a rest and managing time.

Error Analysis in Academic Writing: A Case of International Postgraduate Students in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Fatemeh Amiri; Marlia Puteh

2017-01-01

This paper examines the different types of writing errors performed by 16 international postgraduate students undertaking an intensive English course at a public university in Malaysia. It was mandatory for international postgraduate students who obtained less than IELTS Band 6 to undertake an Intensive English Course (IEC) offered by the University, prior to entering their respective faculties’ academic programs. The students were required to write a 3-5 page term paper assignment on a topic...

Writing Practices for Mainstream Teachers of Middle School English Learners: Building on What We Know Works Effectively

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Haas, Eric; Goldman, Julie; Faltis, Christian

2018-01-01

Improving the writing of middle-school English learners can improve their academic thinking, literacy, and content knowledge. The Writing Reform and Innovation for Teaching Excellence (WRITE) program uses six high-leverage writing practices and develops teacher capacity through professional learning activities anchored in the group grading of…

Reconsidering English Grammar Teaching for Improving Non-English Majors' English Writing Ability

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Shen, Yuru

2012-01-01

With the globalization of world economy, English learners' writing ability has been attached less and less importance. As a result, many college students in China, especially the non-English majors, cannot express themselves effectively in written English. They make various kinds of mistakes, mostly grammar mistakes, such as writing sentence…

Academic Achievements and Satisfaction of the Clicker-Aided Flipped Business English Writing Class

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Zhonggen, Yu; Guifang, Wang

2016-01-01

The flipped classroom has been achieving a great success in teaching innovation. This study, aiming to determine the effectiveness of the flipped model in business English writing course, combined the quantitative with the qualitative research methods. Participants were randomly selected from undergraduate students majoring in business English.…

An Exploration of Discoursal Construction of Identity in Academic Writing

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Davud Kuhi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The view that academic writing is purely objective, impersonal and informational, which is often reflected in English for Academic Purposes materials, has been criticized by a number of researchers. By now, the view of academic writing as embodying interaction among writers, readers and the academic community as a whole has been established. Following this assumption, the present study focused on how second/foreign language writers enact, construct, and invent themselves through writing. In this study, the theoretical stance on identity is grounded on Ivanič’s (1998 four interrelated aspects of writer identity, namely autobiographical self, discoursal self, authorial self, and possibilities for self-hood in the socio-cultural and institutional contexts. Hyland’s model of metadiscourse (2004a was used as the analytical tool for analyzing texts. Based on a corpus of 30 research articles, the overall distribution of evidential markers, hedges, boosters, attitude markers, and self-mentions were calculated across four rhetorical sections (Abstract, Introduction, Methodology, Discussion and Conclusion of the research articles. According to the results of this study, identity is a critical aspect of writing which should be brought into the mainstream of second/foreign language writing pedagogy through consciousness -raising or the specific teaching of certain features.

HOW TO HELP SERBIAN ACADEMIC RESEARCHERS BECOME QUALIFIED ACADEMIC WRITERS FOR INTERNATIONAL READERSHIP

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Savka Blagojevic

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Academic writing for international readership is almost always done in English, which in turn, may bring about certain difficulties to non- English academics who are not accustomed to English academic writing norms. Therefore, some linguistic researches, conducted in order to find out the differences between the English academic style and those of non-English ones, are aimed at making non-English academics aware of cross-cultural differences in writing styles and help them modify their own writing style to the requirements of the English academic norms. Thus, in order to help Serbian academics publish internationally, we have initiated a small-scale research by comparing academic re search articles written by English and Serbian academics: thirty from humanities (sociology, psychology and philosophy and thirty from hard sciences (chemistry, geology and environmental pollution. The research presented in the paper focuses the two most important discourse areas in academic articles written by English and Serbian writers: 1. Discourse organization, and 2.Th e choice of rhetoric strategies. The obtained results have pr oven that the two groups of writers display different preferences in their writing styles (which will be presented numerically and on the basis of this fact certain suggestions have been offered, concerning the form that Serbian academic articles should have in order to be published for the international discourse community.

English reading and writing performance of Xitsonga-speaking Grade 7 learners in township schools: A case study

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Manyike, Tintswalo V.

2010-12-01

Full Text Available A clear preference for English as language of teaching and learning (LoLT is evident in most South African schools. However, discrepancies exist between language policy aims and educational outcomes with regard to the successful acquisition of English among English second language (ESL learners. Effective participation in all learning activities is closely linked to learners’ proficiency in the LoLT; poor English proficiency leads to underachievement across the curriculum. In the light of this, a case study as conducted to investigate the English reading and writing performance of Grade 7 Xitsonga-speaking learners in three selected township schools in the Tshwane metropolitan area, Gauteng Province. Firstly, a literature review was undertaken to explore the importance of reading and writing skills in the classroom with particular reference to the demands made on ESL learners. Following this, standardised tests were used to assess the learners’ English reading and writing performance. Findings indicated that learners performed poorly in both reading and writing; however, no significant relationship could be demonstrated between reading and writing, possibly due to the nature of the components of the test. The overall lack of reading and writing competence in English holds implications for learners’ academic achievement in all learning areas in situations in which English is used as the LoLT.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TRANSFER OF ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS ACROSS TIME

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Tharwat EL-Sakran

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This study investigates university students' perceptions towards an English for advanced academic writing purposes (AAW course taught in a private university in the United Arab Emirates. It probes into the relevance of the skills taught to the students' academic disciplines. Data was gathered through a short survey administered to students who successfully completed the course. The transferability of skills was measured in light of some of the learning objectives of the AAW stated in its syllabus. Findings indicated positive students' attitudes towards the AAW course. They also revealed that some learning outcomes did transfer to students' writing tasks in their major courses. However, transfer of these skills was more noticeable in some university disciplines (e.g. English more than others (e.g. Business Administration. Detailed explanations of reasons and contexts for skill transfer are presented. This research concludes with some pedagogical recommendations and suggestions for course improvement and further research.

Using Cooperative Learning to Foster the Development of Adolescents’ English Writing Skills

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Paula Andrea Caicedo Triviño

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Seventh grade teachers at a Colombian public school chose cooperative learning as a strategy to improve student’s social performance and as a tool to get learners to enrich their academic level. This article reports on an action research and innovation project focused on the results eight students obtained in their written performance in English classes during three cooperative lessons. This article gathers some existing research on writing skills and cooperative learning and a presentation and analysis about students’ real expectations and thoughts about writing in the English language. The systematization of this teaching experience also sheds lights on further actions to analyze closely students’ texts construction in a cooperative environment.

Self-efficacy and Its Relation to ESL Writing Proficiency and Academic Disciplines

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Saeid Raoofi

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Writing is an essential skill for academic development within any disciplinary area. Despite the rapidly growing body of research on the various aspects of second language writing, research on writing self-efficacy remains scarce. This study investigated the relationship the between writing self-efficacy and writing proficiency in English as a second language. In this cross-sectional study, 304 Malaysian undergraduate students completed a writing self-efficacy questionnaire. The participants’ writing proficiency was assessed using two different writing tasks. The results showed that there was a significant difference in writing self-efficacy among the three writing proficiency groups. It was also found that science students had significantly higher writing self-efficacy than those in social sciences. Limitations of the study and Implications for second language writing instruction are also discussed.

The boilerplate : a new look at a familiar device: writing in English for "digital natives" and "digital immigrants"

OpenAIRE

Mattisson, Jane; Schamp-Bjerede, Teri

2012-01-01

Writing is one of the key means of demonstrating one’s knowledge in academe. Increasingly, students and teachers are required to present their research findings in English. The strict conventions pertaining to academic English are not always readily identifiable, neither are they easy to master for English-as-a-Second-Language users. As a template containing guidelines, suggestions, and solutions, the boilerplate (a term used in the publishing industry to denote a template with static element...

TEACHING WRITING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

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I Made Purna Wijaya

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This article aims at describing about teaching writing in English as a foreign Language. The reasons for teaching writing to students of English as a Foreign language include reinforcement, language development, learning style and the most importantly, writing as skill in its own right. Like many other aspects of English language teaching, the type of writing that students should do, will depend on their age, interest and level. These include writing post cards, letters of various kinds, filling in forms such as job applications, writing narrative compositions, report, newspaper and magazine article. The result showed that the students’ success of writing such matters absolutely depend on their motivations.

The Iranian Academicians' Strategies in Writing English Papers

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Marziyeh Nekoueizadeh

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Academicians are identified with their papers and expertise in writing scholarly articles, either for promotion or for satisfying their prestige. Iranian academic members are expected to win a justifiable stance by the quality and quantity of their publications and presentations. Regrettably through pervious studying about second language writing, any studies haven’t been dedicated to the style of writing articles, which are used by academic members. Former studies on second language writing indicate that style in academic paper writing is most likely ignored. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of mind translation strategy among Iranian academic members for expressing their own opinion through writing second language academic papers. The present paper has based its hypothesis on three levels of strategies, effective in writing academic papers, namely: 1-Do Iranian academicians follow specific strategies in writing their academic papers? 2-What role does translation play as a strategy in their writing academic papers? 3-Do they feel a need for a strategy shift in their academic paper writing? Data elicited based on survey and corpora analysis in form of CBDTS- on micro and macro levels, are put into matrices and their analyses are supportive of academicians’ reliance on different types of mental translation use and their shift toward authentic writing after receiving feedback from their reviewers.

Concordancers and Dictionaries as Problem-Solving Tools for ESL Academic Writing

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Yoon, Choongil

2016-01-01

The present study investigated how 6 Korean ESL graduate students in Canada used a suite of freely available reference resources, consisting of Web-based corpus tools, Google search engines, and dictionaries, for solving linguistic problems while completing an authentic academic writing assignment in English. Using a mixed methods design, the…

Deconstructing Attitudes towards Plagiarism of Japanese Undergraduates in EFL Academic Writing Classes

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Teeter, Jennifer

2015-01-01

In this study, a qualitative analysis of 276 first-year Japanese university science major responses to plagiarism to deconstruct prevailing generalizations regarding the incidence of plagiarism by Japanese university students. These students were enrolled in a compulsory yearlong English academic writing course. While utilizing a contextualized…

Business Writing in Freshman English.

Science.gov (United States)

Larmouth, Donald W.

1980-01-01

Suggests incorporating business writing into a freshman English course. Outlines three writing and research assignments: a financial status memorandum, a management analysis report, and an evaluation of applicants for a position at a university. (TJ)

Learning Strategies in Alleviating English Writing Anxiety for English Language Learners (ELLs) with Limited English Proficiency (LEP)

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Wu, Chia-Pei; Lin, Huey-Ju

2016-01-01

This study utilized the Oxford Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and an English writing anxiety scale to examine the relationship between learning strategies and English writing anxiety in 102 university-level English language learners (ELLs) with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in a university in Taiwan. Kruskal Wallis Test…

Plagiarism, Intertextuality and Emergent Authorship in University Students' Academic Writing

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Celia Helen Thompson

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Issues of plagiarism, intertextuality and authorial presence in academic writing are fundamental to the teaching and learning activities of all university lecturers and their students. Knowing how to assist students, particularly those who speak English as an additional language (EAL, to develop a sense of text/knowledge ownership and authorial presence in the creation of discipline-based scholarly texts can be especially challenging. Clarifying what is encompassed by the notion of ‘common knowledge’ is also central to this process. The aim of this paper is to explore the political and intertextual nature of text/knowledge construction and emergent student authorship through the analysis of interviews and written assignments from two EAL students, together with interview data from lecturers from relevant disciplinary fields. Drawing on the work of Bakhtin, Kristeva and Penrose and Geisler, I conclude by suggesting that it is by engaging with, rather than fearing, intertextual connections, that we can create a dialogic pedagogy for academic writing that will enable students to articulate an authoritative authorial identity of their own. The importance of lecturer intervention during the drafting stages of text production is also emphasised. Keywords: plagiarism; intertextuality; emergent authorship; academic writing

Learning to write in science: A study of English language learners' writing experience in sixth-grade science classrooms

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Qi, Yang

Writing is a predictor of academic achievement and is essential for student success in content area learning. Despite its importance, many students, including English language learners (ELLs), struggle with writing. There is thus a need to study students' writing experience in content area classrooms. Informed by systemic functional linguistics, this study examined 11 ELL students' writing experience in two sixth grade science classrooms in a southeastern state of the United States, including what they wrote, how they wrote, and why they wrote in the way they did. The written products produced by these students over one semester were collected. Also collected were teacher interviews, field notes from classroom observations, and classroom artifacts. Student writing samples were first categorized into extended and nonextended writing categories, and each extended essay was then analyzed with respect to its schematic structure and grammatical features. Teacher interviews and classroom observation notes were analyzed thematically to identify teacher expectations, beliefs, and practices regarding writing instruction for ELLs. It was found that the sixth-grade ELLs engaged in mostly non-extended writing in the science classroom, with extended writing (defined as writing a paragraph or longer) constituting roughly 11% of all writing assignments. Linguistic analysis of extended writing shows that the students (a) conveyed information through nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbial groups and prepositional phrases; (b) constructed interpersonal context through choices of mood, modality, and verb tense; and (c) structured text through thematic choices and conjunctions. The appropriateness of these lexicogrammatical choices for particular writing tasks was related to the students' English language proficiency levels. The linguistic analysis also uncovered several grammatical problems in the students' writing, including a limited range of word choices, inappropriate use of mood

A guide of scientific writing in English

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Bang Geun

1987-10-01

This book introduces reference while writing English paper, how to use letters, punctuation, how to use articles, similar word phrases and verbs used in scientific writings, auxiliary verbs, nouns deeply related to scientific writings, expressions about experiment tools and equipment, expressions of chemicals, how to mark numbers, adjectives and pronouns relevant to numbers, how to make plural form, expressions about multiple, surface area, depth, width, time, period, temperature, humidity. It also adds expressions about sensible assessment, statistics, deviation, signs, abbreviations, and how to write letters in English.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Writing Center Consultations on L2 Writers’ Essay Writing Skills

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Shanthi Tiruchittampalam

2018-02-01

Full Text Available With the international growth of English-medium education, tertiary institutions are increasingly providing academic support services to L2 students, and thus, the number of writing centers working with L2 student writers has also increased. Writing center practices originated in L1 English educational contexts and their appropriateness for L2 English writers requires examination. This study investigated the effect of writing center consultations on the essay writing skills of L1 Arabic foundation level students at an English-medium university in the Gulf region. Analysis was based on quantitative measures of writing ability of two distinct groups of students: an experimental group who participated in tutoring sessions at the university’s writing center and a control group who did not. Findings indicated that students who participated in writing center consultations scored significantly higher in overall essay writing scores, as well as in two aspects of writing: task fulfilment (that is ideas and text organization/coherence. These findings contribute to a limited bank of similar empirical studies on effectiveness of writing center sessions on students’ essay writing ability. They also support the case for the expansion of writing center work beyond the domains of predominantly L1 English academic communities.

GUIDED USE OF WRITING PROMPTS TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC WRITING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

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Lina Marcela Trigos Carrillo

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The paper presents empirical data supporting the hypothesis that the systematic and guided use of academic writing prompts is a successful instructional strategy to improve the academic writing in Spanish of college students, mainly during their first semesters. A combined methodology, with pre- and post-tests, was used in this research project conducted from July 2009 to June 2010. The participants were freshmen students of different disciplines of the Human Sciences in a private university in Bogota, Colombia. The aim of this research project was twofold. First, it sought to identify the difficulties students faced in the writing process of academic texts when they are related to real communicative contexts. Second, it involved the design and application of the guided and systematic use of writing prompts for academic writing in a sequence called "The Cognitive Pedagogical Model of Writing for Higher Education". The results show empirical evidence supporting the use of writing prompts designed with specific academic purposes to improve the academic writing level of college students in their first stages of study. However, further research is needed to consolidate the results presented here.

Integration of sources in academic writing: A corpus-based study of citation practices in essay writing in two departments at the University of Botswana

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Boitumelo T. Ramoroka

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The ability to cite sources appropriately is an important feature of academic writing. Academic writers are expected to integrate ideas of others into their texts and take a stance towards the reported material as they develop their arguments. Despite this importance, research has shown that citation presents considerable difficulties for students, particularly non-native English speakers. Such difficulties include using citations effectively in writing and understanding them in reading, expressing one’s voice and signalling citations in writing so that there is a clear distinction between one’s ideas and those derived from source materials. This study investigates the types of reporting verbs used by students to refer to the work of others and the extent to which they evaluate the work of others in their writing. It draws from a corpus of approximately 80 000 words from essays written by students in two departments at the University of Botswana (Botswana. The findings show that students used more informing verbs, associated with the neutral passing of information from the source to the reader, without interpreting the information cited, compared with argumentative verbs (which signify an evaluative role. The results of the study underscore the importance of teaching reporting verbs in the English for academic purposes classroom and making students aware of their evaluative potential.

THE RESULTS OF ENGLISH TEACHING AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR ACADEMIC STAFF IN THE ARTIFICIAL BILINGUALISM ENVIRONMENT

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T. P. Rasskazova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. In the conditions of the modern globalization, one of the most significant indicators of competitiveness of the universities is the academic mobility of students, graduate students, teachers and research associates that implies their free and competent enough foreign language skills, first of all English. Yet, until recently, comparatively little attention has been paid to foreign language skills of the Russian academic teaching staff. However, in recent years, with regard to the process acceleration of internationalization of the higher education to provide own effective functioning and remain a demanded one in education and training market, domestic higher education institutions are forced to quickly fill in the gaps of foreign language knowledge among academic teaching staff. The aim of this article is to analyse and describe the tuition outcomes for academic teaching staff based on the official exam results from Cambridge English Language Assessment for three years (2015–2017. Methodology and research methods. The research, which is grounded in interdisciplinary approach and lies at the intersection of psychology, linguistics and pedagogics, was conducted on the basis of the statistical analysis and generalization of mean scores of English language testing results, taking into account qualitative and quantitative standards of speech skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English (for levels B2, C1. Results and scientific novelty. The essential strengthening and development of the Cambridge English system for level increase of proficiency in English among the Russian academic teaching staff is proved. The data of external peer evaluation provided by exam centre Cambridge English Language Assessment including the foreign language training results of academic teaching staff are analysed. The results obtained show that contrary to the wide-spread opinion that productive skills (speaking and writing take longer

Processfolio: Uniting Academic Literacies and Critical Emancipatory Action Research for Practitioner-Led Inquiry into EAP Writing Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Jayne

2017-01-01

This article reports on the design and implementation of an alternative form of writing assessment in a UK English for Academic Purposes (EAP) pre-sessional course. The assessment, termed processfolio, was a response to research inquiry into how writing assessment in a local context negated student agency and inculcated disempowering models of…

THE STRATEGY OF USING PERSUASIVE ESSAY IN ENGLISH FOR MEDICAL ACADEMIC WRITING

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Ellie Setyo Wahyuni

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Writing persuasive essay has the purpose of providing some techniques in organizing the idea and constructing the sentences in coherence. The content of this essay contains the health issue and medical terms. The students of medical faculty are expected to make a good persuasive essay in order to find out the recommendation solution of a health problem through the strategies (1 brainstorming (2 mapping (3 the 5 W’s (4 setting thesis statement (5 providing fact, statistic, and example (5 conclusion. The techniques have improved the student writing as the essays have been evaluated and given positive input on the content and development of paragraphs. This academic writing aims to give some practices for the Medical Faculty students of Hang Tuah University in order to produce a good persuasive essay in term of coherence, sentence structure, and organization.

Developmental teaching and its challenges for teacher training: a personal report based on the teaching of academic writing in English

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Marília Mendes Ferreira

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Vygotsky is a well-known author in the field of education and applied linguistics. However, pedagogies based on his assumptions are less publicized. At a time when education in general and, more specifically, language teaching, becomes more instrumental and neoliberal, this article aims to reclaim the relevance of V.V. Davydov and his pedagogy (DAVYDOV, 1988 for the transformation of the current educational context. I seek to present this contribution by describing the approach, and by discussing the challenges imposed on teachers and students, as well as their confrontation through my implementation of this pedagogy in courses of academic writing in English.

An Analysis of Errors Committed by Saudi Non-English Major Students in the English Paragraph Writing: A Study of Comparisons

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Mohammed Nuruzzaman

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The present study investigates the writing errors of ninety Saudi non-English major undergraduate students of different proficiency levels from three faculties, who studied English as a foundation course at the English Language Center in the College of Languages &Translation at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia in the academic year 2016-17. The findings reveal that the common errors the Saudi EFL students make in writing English paragraphs fall under four categories namely grammar, lexis, semantics and mechanics. Then it compares the categories, types and frequency of errors committed by these three groups of students. Among these categories, grammar has been observed as the most error-prone area where students commit errors the most. The study also posits that among the three groups, the students of the College of Medicine make the minimum errors in all the types and the highest number of errors is committed by the students of Engineering College. The College of Computer Science is in the second position in making errors. The frequency of error types is also found different among these three groups.

Developing Cultural Awareness in English Writing

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

邹强珍

2014-01-01

Language and culture have an intimate relationship,and cultural awareness plays an important role in language learning,involving aural comprehension,speaking,reading,writing and translation.This paper mainly discusses cultural awareness in English writing.

Moves Analysis on Abstracts Written by the Students in Academic Writing Class

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Ajeng Setyorini

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper contains analysis results on abstracts written by students in Academic Writing course. The analysis includes analyses on moves and linguistic features. The analysis aims at finding out how the abstract writing structures of the English Education students are in the Academic Writing course. The abstract analysis also includes the analysis on the use of the linguistic features in the abstracts. The analysis uses a qualitative research approach. There are totally 10 abstracts that are analyzed. These are then called as the data. Data obtained is analyzed using genre analysis approach. Results of analysis on the 10 abstracts showed that some of the abstracts are written using 5 kinds of moves. All of the abstracts are found using Purpose Move and Method Move. Meanwhile, Situation Move is found in 5 abstracts. 8 abstracts are identified using Result Move. Conclusion Move is found in 5 abstracts. The results also show that all of the abstract writers use pronouns ‘the writer’ and ‘the researcher’. The use of personal pronoun ‘she’ is also found in 1 abstract. Hedges used in abstracts written by students in Academic Writing course vary from modal auxiliary verbs, adjectival, adverbial, nominal to Approximates of degree.

Professional Writing in the English Classroom: Professional Writing--What You Already Know

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Bush, Jonathan; Zuidema, Leah

2010-01-01

This article presents the first installment of "Professional Writing in the English Classroom." The authors begin by answering the obvious question: What is professional writing? It isn't remedial writing, and it involves much more than writing memos, business letters, and resumes (although it certainly includes those genres). Professional writing…

The confounding factors leading to plagiarism in academic writing and some suggested remedies: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Guraya, Salman Yousuf; Guraya, Shaista Salman

2017-05-01

There is a staggering upsurge in the incidence of plagiarism of scientific literature. Literature shows divergent views about the factors that make plagiarism reprehensible. This review explores the causes and remedies for the perennial academic problem of plagiarism. Data sources were searched for full text English language articles published from 2000 to 2015. Data selection was done using medical subject headline (MeSH) terms plagiarism, unethical writing, academic theft, retraction, medical field, and plagiarism detection software. Data extraction was undertaken by selecting titles from retrieved references and data synthesis identified key factors leading to plagiarism such as unawareness of research ethics, poor writing skills and pressure or publish mantra. Plagiarism can be managed by a balance among its prevention, detection by plagiarism detection software, and institutional sanctions against proven plagiarists. Educating researchers about ethical principles of academic writing and institutional support in training writers about academic integrity and ethical publications can curtail plagiarism.

An Investigation into the Methods of Teaching Creative English Writing

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Anastasiia Riabokrys

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the actual problem of teaching creative writing at the English lessons. The value of writing in the process of teaching English language is revealed. The principles and peculiarities of evaluation of creative writing are analyzed. The strategy of choosing methods in teaching creative writing is identified. The benefits of creative writing for learner and teachers are considered.

“Read-To-Write-Tasks” in English for Specific Purposes Classes

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Galina Kavaliauskienė

2011-04-01

Full Text Available At university level students face demanding tasks of reading an enormous amount of professional materials in English. Writing various assignments is another challenging part of higher education. Online activities are the priority for conducting assignments at tertiary level. Students usually start doing the English for Specific Purposes (ESP course before learning subject-matters of the future profession, i.e. in their first year. The cornerstone of the ESP is unfamiliar lexis and numerous concepts of subject-matter. In order to succeed, students need to develop proficiency in reading professional texts and writing skillfully on relevant subject issues. The aim of this paper is to study, first, learners‘ attitudes to online reading of professional materials as well as to writing various assignments online and, second, to examine learners‘ self-assessment of proficiency in these skills. Our research employed brief written surveys designed in accordance with the standards in Social Sciences, which were administered to the students doing the ESP course, and the verbal data obtained during individual interviews intended to assess learners‘ success and achievements throughout the academic year. The respondents were the students specializing in psychology at Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania. All the participants were unanimous in the importance of writing and reading skills for the ESP tasks. 100% of respondents support reading professional materials, and 80% of respondents support exercising online writing. Self-assessment of reading proficiency demonstrates that 90% of students believe they possess very good or good skills of reading, and 70% of learners are sure of their good skills in writing. Respondents’ performance in these skills is less impressive. Some recommendations towards perfecting students’ proficiency in “read-to-write-tasks” are suggested. It is important to help learners develop better rates of reading

Facing the challenge of improving the legal writing skills of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Concise Writing Programme focused on English writing skills and grammar in ... to learn generic English writing skills, but that they also did not find it easy to ... those doing the instruction must be recognised and adequately compensated. ... generic English writing skills; academic disadvantage; legal discourse; legal ...

Teaching writing in English for medical purposes

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Beckles, Nancy María

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This paper describes teaching-learning process shortcomings in the English for Medical Purposes, a subject of fourth-year medical student’s curriculum at the medical university of Camagüey. Its main objective is aimed at the elaboration of a Methodological Alternative distinguished by the use of the Project Method approach to favour the development of writing skills in English. This Methodological Alternative is characterized by being flexible, pertinent and able to develop and integrate knowledge of the English language and medicine. It has two main stages: Socio-affective dynamics for the production of written texts in English for medical purposes and the dynamics for the construction of written texts in English for medical purposes. The results of considering expertise’s’ opinion revealed the feasibility of the proposal as a fostering tool for teaching writing in medical sciences.

Approaches Reflected in Academic Writing MOOCs

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, Subeom

2017-01-01

Since it was first introduced in 2008, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been attracting a lot of interest. Since then, MOOCs have emerged as powerful platforms for teaching and learning academic writing. However, there has been no detailed investigation of academic writing MOOCs. As a result, much uncertainty still exists about the…

LECTURA Y ESCRITURA ACADÉMICA EN INGLÉS BAJO LA MODALIDAD DE APRENDIZAJE MIXTO (B-LEARNING I ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH WITHIN BLENDED-LEARNING COURSES

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Audy Yuliser Castañeda Castañeda

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Nowadays ICTs worldwide use has transformed the global society. Through Virtual Learning Environments teaching is focused on the individual, in a way that, considering the differences among students, each of them is expected to follow his own learning paths. Within the syllabus design of university courses conductive to the degree of teacher of English as a Foreign Language (EFL at Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador, Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas (IPC Venezuela, there is a subject devoted to the development of reading and writing skills, namely Reading and Writing II, whose aim is to promote the students’ incorporation into the academic world pertaining their career as EFL educators, so that they learn how to communicate within such academic discourse community. The purpose of this action-research study was to describe an experience with the course Reading and Writing II course (academic period 2011-II within the b-learning modality in regards to the 42 participants’ motivation to high achievement, as evidenced by the number of students who passed, failed, or dropped the course, as well as by their grades at the end of the academic period. By means of surveys and direct observation, the participants’ perception was that there are advantages in using the IPC Virtual Learning Environment (IPCEVA, as well as some disadvantages and limitations, mainly due to the lack of some participants’ sufficient expertise in using ICTs

Using Genre Pedagogy to Teach Adolescent English Learners to Write Academic Persuasive Essays

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Ramos, Kathleen Ann

2015-01-01

The new "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010) require teachers to prepare all learners, including adolescent English learners (ELs), to develop academic literacy practices. This article describes an instructional intervention in an urban public high school using the genre-based "Reading to Learn" (Rose…

Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Fan; Perfetti, Charles A

2016-01-01

Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

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Fan Cao

Full Text Available Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

English 4090: Collaborative Writing at Work

Science.gov (United States)

Sutton, Mark

2007-01-01

This article presents a course design of English 4090: Collaborative Writing at Work. The course is a senior-level elective designed to reinforce students' existing knowledge of professional writing and to teach students how to apply that knowledge effectively in collaborative contexts. Here, the author focuses on the Spring 2006 class and…

REA's handbook of English grammar, style, and writing

CERN Document Server

REA, The Editors of

1992-01-01

The ability to write and speak correctly and effectively is a prerequisite for doing well in all subjects, including the physical and social sciences, math and the liberal arts. Writing and speaking skills become even more important when seeking a job and trying to succeed in a chosen career. This easy-to-understand, straightforward English handbook does not use the hard-to-understand technical jargon usually found in English grammar books. Instead, this handbook provides hundreds of examples from which it is possible to easily see what is correct and what is incorrect in all areas of English grammar and writing. Learn quickly and easily: 1. Rules and exceptions in grammar, 2. Spelling and proper punctuation, 3. Common errors in sentence structure, 4. 2,000 examples of correct usage, and 5. Effective writing skills. Complete practice exercises with answers follow each chapter.The handbook covers the following in detail: nouns, verbs, adjectives, paragraphs, composition, punctuation, spelling, and much more. A...

AUTHORIAL VOICE IN ISLAMIC COLLEGE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS’ ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING

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Nur Afifi

2014-11-01

Full Text Available While considered elusive and abstract, authorial voice is paramount in English writing. Unfortunately, many of Indonesian EFL learners found it is highly challeging to show their voice in their writing. The importance of voice is even exaggerated in argumentative writing, since this kind of writing needs obvious stance of the writer. This study investigates the authorial voice students made in their argumentative writing. The purpose of this study is to gain the picture of students‟ writing ability especially in authorial voice to map the road in guiding the next writing classes. The object of the study is the argumentative writing made by English department students at one Indonesian State College of Islamic Studies in their writing III course. Using Hyland‟s interactional model of voice (2008 the data analysis results the authorial presence in the essays is in position 2 at 0 – 4 scale which means the reader feels somehow weak presence of the authorial voice in the essay. This result confirms the findings of some previous studies that EFL learners especially from „interdependent‟ cultural background tend to find this authorial voice difficult in writing English essay.

English language writing centres in Japanese universities: What do students really need?

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Jim McKinley

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The installation of English language writing centres in Japanese universities is a relatively recent event—the first ones established with funding from the Ministry of Education in 2004. Because of the EFL writing context, setting up a writing centre requires consideration of students’ needs and cultural expectations of writing and writing centres. In general, writing centres that have been established in Japanese universities follow a structure similar to those in the US. This raises the question as to whether or not this is appropriate for the particular needs of EFL students and the obstacles they face. For this study, in order to explore students’ attitudes toward writing centres and the role they play in writing education, interview data was collected from students of English composition in two different departments at a university in Japan well known for its English language education: the English department, which does not have a writing centre, and the liberal arts department, which has one of the first writing centres established in Japan.

Supporting the Thesis Writing Process of International Research Students through an Ongoing Writing Group

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Li, Linda Y.; Vandermensbrugghe, Joelle

2011-01-01

Evidence from research suggests writing support is particularly needed for international research students who have to tackle the challenges of thesis writing in English as their second language in Western academic settings. This article reports the development of an ongoing writing group to support the thesis writing process of international…

An integrated approach to enhancing prospective English language teachers' writing skills

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Recep Sahin Arslan

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This study reports on the experience of a group of pre-service teachers of English in a compulsory writing coursein the preparatory program of an English language teaching department in the Turkish context. This studyspecifically attempts to investigate to what extent the writing course contributes to the acquisition of basicconventions of written discourse in English when prospective teachers of English are involved in an extensivewriting practice which is based upon integration of product, process and genre based approaches to writing. Thestudy lasted for a period of 28 weeks with fifty-nine pre-service teachers of English who participated in thestudy. The participants studied the basic genre types which included expository writing such as classification,process, argumentation, opinion, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and narrative paragraphs and essays.The participants specifically received instruction as to the basic constituents of paragraph and essays writing;namely, organization, process, unity, coherence, word choice, language use, grammar, and mechanics whichwere further put into 49 observable competencies. Data were collected through an analytic assessment rubricapplied to participants’ pre-study and post-study essays. In addition, participants were distributed a pre-study anda post-study self-perception questionnaire in order to evaluate any possible improvements in their writingcompetence. The results of the study suggest that exposing pre-service teachers of English to various genres byinvolving them in an extensive writing practice adds to their writing competency positively in learning theprocess of writing practice, organizing the text, including relevant content in the text, using languageappropriately, producing correct grammar, coming up with relevant vocabulary, and following correctmechanical conventions.

Towards a systemic functional model for comparing forms of discourse in academic writing Towards a systemic functional model for comparing forms of discourse in academic writing

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Meriel Bloor

2008-04-01

Full Text Available This article reports on research into the variation of texts across disciplines and considers the implications of this work for the teaching of writing. The research was motivated by the need to improve students’ academic writing skills in English and the limitations of some current pedagogic advice. The analysis compares Methods sections of research articles across four disciplines, including applied and hard sciences, on a cline, or gradient, termed slow to fast. The analysis considers the characteristics the texts share, but more importantly identifies the variation between sets of linguistic features. Working within a systemic functional framework, the texts are analysed for length, sentence length, lexical density, readability, grammatical metaphor, Thematic choice, as well as various rhetorical functions. Contextually relevant reasons for the differences are considered and the implications of the findings are related to models of text and discourse. Recommendations are made for developing domain models that relate clusters of features to positions on a cline. This article reports on research into the variation of texts across disciplines and considers the implications of this work for the teaching of writing. The research was motivated by the need to improve students’ academic writing skills in English and the limitations of some current pedagogic advice. The analysis compares Methods sections of research articles across four disciplines, including applied and hard sciences, on a cline, or gradient, termed slow to fast. The analysis considers the characteristics the texts share, but more importantly identifies the variation between sets of linguistic features. Working within a systemic functional framework, the texts are analysed for length, sentence length, lexical density, readability, grammatical metaphor, Thematic choice, as well as various rhetorical functions. Contextually relevant reasons for the differences are considered

INTERACTIONIST DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT IN ACADEMIC PERSUASIVE WRITING: A CASE OF TWO EFL LEARNERS

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Zahra kheradmand Saadi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effects of interactionist dynamic assessment on improving academic persuasive writing of two Iranian EFL learners majoring in English Language and Literature. Qualitative analysis of the interactions between the mediator and learners and the drafts written by the learners indicated that using different types of mediation were effective in developing learners’ persuasive writing. In addition to the factors such as individual, time, and language feature which were shown to be integral in determining mediation, assessment of the two cases showed that factors such as mediator’s role, learners’ responsiveness to mediation, and agency were important in specifying mediation.

Academic Writing : Examples from BUV

OpenAIRE

Engdahl, Ingrid

2016-01-01

This guide is an introduction to academic writing that describes features of scientific writing that are recommended for students in Teacher Education Programmes and in Child and Youth Studies. It includes a style guide, how to structure your text, and an APA Publication Manual for referencing, as well as guides for writing an outline for a study, advice for serving as opponent(s) and respondent(s) and an agenda for a thesis/examining seminar.

Investigate the "Issues" in Chinese Students' English Writing and Their "Reasons": Revisiting the Recent Evidence in Chinese Academia

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Sang, Yuan

2017-01-01

This research synthesis collected, compiled, and analyzed 29 academic research articles that were published in China in recent years. It addressed and explored the issues in Chinese undergraduate students' English writing and the possible reasons causing and/or explaining the issues. It was discovered that many Chinese undergraduate students have…

Writing apprehension and academic procrastination among graduate students.

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Onwuegbuzie, A J; Collins, K M

2001-04-01

Academic procrastination has been associated with both fear of failure and task aversiveness. Researchers have reported that most undergraduate and graduate students delay academic tasks. Among the latter, a large proportion report procrastination in writing term papers. Such procrastination may originate from and lead to anxiety about writing so the present purpose was to investigate the relationship between scores on Daly and Miller's 1975 Writing Apprehension Test and on the two dimensions, i.e., fear of failure and task aversiveness, of Solomon and Rothblum's 1984 Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students. Participants were 135 graduate students of varied disciplinary backgrounds. Correlations between writing apprehension and academic procrastination stemmed from fear of failure (29) and task aversiveness (.41). Implications are discussed.

Roles of Metalinguistic Awareness and Academic Extensive Reading in the Development of EFL/ESL Academic Writing Skills

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Grace H. Wang

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper argues that the development of academic writing proficiency may require both explicit metalinguistic awareness (MA and extensive reading (ER of academic texts. Specifically, it argues that: (a there may be a connection between explicit MA and the development of writing skills; (b there is a connection between ER and the development of writing skills, but academic ER may be required for development of academic writing skills; (c there may be a connection between explicit MA and the development of reading skills, which may be exploited for the development of academic ER skills, which in turn supports the development of academic writing skills.

English language and literature students' perceptions of reflective writing, its effects on engagement in writing and literature

OpenAIRE

Uçar, Hakan

2013-01-01

Ankara : The Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Bilkent University, 2013. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2013. Includes bibliographical references leaves 122-139. This study investigated the effects of the reflective writing process on English Language and Literature students’ engagement with writing and literature and their demonstrated engagement level in the reflective writing process. This study was conducted over a period of nine weeks with...

Research and Teaching: The Pairing of a Science Communications and a Language Course to Enrich First-Year English Language Learners' Writing and Argumentation Skills

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Welsh, Ashley J.; Shaw, Amber; Fox, Joanne A.

2017-01-01

This article explores how English-language learners' writing evolved during a first-year seminar in science course aimed at developing students' argumentation skills. We highlight how a science communications course was paired with a weekly academic English course in the context of a highly coordinated and enriched first-year experience program…

Potential of Mobile Learning in Teaching of ESL Academic Writing

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Zaki, Arlina Ahmad; Yunus, Melor Md

2015-01-01

The potentials of mobile learning in teaching academic writing skills for ESL students are explored in this paper. Although there have been studies on MALL to improve writing skills, academic writing was never really touched. Few aspects are covered like the changes in educational technology, defining MALL, identifying issues in academic writing…

College English Writing Instruction for Non-English Majors in Mainland China: The "Output-Driven, Input-Enabled" Hypothesis Perspective

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Ren, Junhong

2017-01-01

College English writing instruction has been a prominent research area in EFL field in mainland China. This paper has continued the focus by exploring a seemingly effective way for college English writing instruction in China--teaching writing based on reading on the basis of the "output-driven, input-enabled" hypothesis. This hypothesis…

Scaffolding for Second Language Writers: Producing an Academic Essay.

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Cotterall, Sara; Cohen, Robin

2003-01-01

Describes how a group of intermediate learners of English were guided through the process of producing their first academic essays in English. The approach applied the concept of scaffolding to the academic writing process by proving flexible support for the learners throughout the writing of their essays. (Author/VWL)

Designing a Website to Support Students' Academic Writing Process

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Åberg, Eva Svärdemo; Ståhle, Ylva; Engdahl, Ingrid; Knutes-Nyqvist, Helen

2016-01-01

Academic writing skills are crucial when students, e.g., in teacher education programs, write their undergraduate theses. A multi-modal web-based and self-regulated learning resource on academic writing was developed, using texts, hypertext, moving images, podcasts and templates. A study, using surveys and a focus group, showed that students used…

Writing intelligible English prose for biomedical journals.

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Ludbrook, John

2007-01-01

1. I present a combination of semi-objective and subjective evidence that the quality of English prose in biomedical scientific writing is deteriorating. 2. I consider seven possible strategies for reversing this apparent trend. These refer to a greater emphasis on good writing by students in schools and by university students, consulting books on science writing, one-on-one mentoring, using 'scientific' measures to reveal lexical poverty, making use of freelance science editors and encouraging the editors of biomedical journals to pay more attention to the problem. 3. I conclude that a fruitful, long-term, strategy would be to encourage more biomedical scientists to embark on a career in science editing. This strategy requires a complementary initiative on the part of biomedical research institutions and universities to employ qualified science editors. 4. An immediately realisable strategy is to encourage postgraduate students in the biomedical sciences to undertake the service courses provided by many universities on writing English prose in general and scientific prose in particular. This strategy would require that heads of departments and supervisors urge their postgraduate students to attend such courses. 5. Two major publishers of biomedical journals, Blackwell Publications and Elsevier Science, now provide lists of commercial editing services on their web sites. I strongly recommend that authors intending to submit manuscripts to their journals (including Blackwell's Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology) make use of these services. This recommendation applies especially to those for whom English is a second language.

English Writing Teaching Model Dependent on Computer Network Corpus Drive Model

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Shi Lei

2018-03-01

Full Text Available At present, the mainstream lexicalized English writing methods take only the corpus dependence between words into consideration, without introducing the corpus collocation and other issues. “Drive” is a relatively essential feature of words. And once the drive structure of a word is determined, it will be relatively clear what kinds of words to collocate with, hence the structure of the sentence can be derived relatively directly. In this paper, the English writing model that relies on the computer network corpus drive model is put forward. In this model, rich English corpus is introduced in the decomposition of the rules and the calculation of the probability, which includes not only the corpus dependence information, but also the drive structure and other corpus collocation information. Improved computer network corpus drive model is used to carry out the English writing teaching experiment. The experimental results show that the precision and the recall rate are 88.76% and 87.43%, respectively. The F value of the comprehensive index is improved by 6.65% compared with the Collins headword driven English modes of writing.

Writing a case report in English

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Ivančević-Otanjac Maja

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A well-written case report is a clear, concise and informative paper, aimed at professionals from different fields of medicine, with the clear purpose to explain what lesson is to be learnt from the experience. The aim of this paper is to suggest useful guidelines for writing a good case report. It briefly reflects different “moves” in this piece of academic writing, thus outlining the required form, as well as the four principles of good writing: clarity, honesty, reality and relevance.

Singaporean Kindergartners' Phonological Awareness and English Writing Skills

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Dixon, L. Quentin

2011-01-01

This article describes the phonological awareness and English writing skills among a sample of 297 Singaporean kindergarten children, stratified by ethnicity (Chinese, Malay, and Indian), and examines the relationship between oral language and writing skills in this multilingual population. Overall, Singaporean kindergartners, nearly all of whom…

Teaching strategies for improving reading and writing in English ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Teaching strategies for improving reading and writing in English First Additional Language for men and women. ... Reading and writing have become one serious national issue in primary schools in South ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Fostering Topic Knowledge: Essential for Academic Writing

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Proske, Antje; Kapp, Felix

2013-01-01

Several researchers emphasize the role of the writer's topic knowledge for writing. In academic writing topic knowledge is often constructed by studying source texts. One possibility to support that essential phase of the writing process is to provide interactive learning questions which facilitate the construction of an adequate situation…

Peer-Formativity: A Framework for Academic Writing

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Murray, Rowena; Thow, Morag

2014-01-01

The system currently deployed to assess research outputs in higher education can influence what, how and for whom academics write; for some it may determine whether or not they write at all. This article offers a framework for negotiating this performative context--the writing meeting. This framework uses the established theoretical underpinning…

Native-English Speaking Instructors Teaching Writing in China

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Liu, Qing; Zhou, Xiaodi; Fu, Danling

2015-01-01

This article presents two separate but related studies on native-English speaking (NES) instructors' teaching writing practice in Chinese universities. One study is a case study that explores the teaching practice of three NES instructors' writing instruction in a southern Chinese university as well as students' responses to their practice.…

Writing an academic essay: a practical guide for nurses.

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Booth, Y

Writing academic essays can be a major hurdle and source of anxiety for many students. Fears and misconceptions relating to this kind of writing can be dispelled if the task is approached in a logical and systematic manner. This article outlines the key steps involved in successfully completing an essay and provides some practical tips to facilitate critical and analytical writing. These steps are: analysing the task; exploring the subject; planning the essay; writing the account; and revising the drafts. Although this process is challenging, academic writing is a means of developing both personally and professionally.

Pre-TOEFL guide academic English practice

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Stirling, Bruce

2017-01-01

Preparing for TOEFL Do you plan to take TOEFL or IELTS but are not ready for the challenge? Do you need more practice? If you do, then this book is for you. It is also for those who just want to practice their academic English. Whatever your purpose, this book will give you the foundation in academic English you need for TOEFL and IELTS success.

Closing the Loop: Strengthening Disciplinary Writing in an English BA Program

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Wilcox, Miranda

2017-01-01

This program profile narrates how the Department of English at Brigham Young University (BYU) reviewed and revised the disciplinary writing requirements in the English BA program between 2006 and 2015. The story begins in 2006 with the dual problems of recognizing the lack of development in student writing in the major and of responding to…

A Study on Critical Thinking Assessment System of College English Writing

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Dong, Tian; Yue, Lu

2015-01-01

This research attempts to discuss the validity of introducing the evaluation of students' critical thinking skills (CTS) into the assessment system of college English writing through an empirical study. In this paper, 30 College English Test Band 4 (CET-4) writing samples were collected and analyzed. Students' CTS and the final scores of collected…

Exploring Construction of College English Writing Course from the Perspective of Output-Driven Hypothesis

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Ying, Zhang

2018-01-01

English writing is regarded as the most difficult task by Chinese EFL learners. Due to the existing problems in present college English writing instruction, teachers fail to provide effective guidance in students' writing process and students report a low level of motivation and confidence in writing tasks. Through purposeful reading discussions…

English Writing for International Publication in the Age of Globalization: Practices and Perceptions of Mainland Chinese Academics in the Humanities and Social Sciences

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Meng Ge

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Much scholarly attention has been given to the English writing and publishing practices of the academics in non-Anglophone countries, but studies on such practices in the humanities and social sciences (HSS have in general been limited. The case of Mainland Chinese HSS academics is potentially interesting. On the one hand, international publications in these disciplines have been on the increase, which are also encouraged by the national research policy of “going-out”. On the other hand, unlike those in science and technology (S&T, such practices in the HSS are still much less institutionalized at the local level. In the study reported in this article, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine academics in economics, sociology and archaeology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS, and all nine participants had prior experience in international publishing. With a focus on participants’ experiences and perceptions, findings from this study demonstrated the relatively passive role participants played in their international publications, the importance of various resources in bringing forth these publications, and the relations between participants’ alignments with the local or international community and their voluntary investment in participating in their practices. Implications of the study were also discussed.

Developing English Writing Proficiency in Limited English Proficient College Students through Cooperative Learning Strategies.

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Gooden-Jones, Epsey M.; Carrasquillo, Angela L.

A study followed ten limited-English-proficient (LEP) community college students who were taught English largely using a cooperative learning approach. For four months, the students worked together using brainstorming techniques and collaborative reading and writing tasks. Task emphasis was on development of thinking skills through collaboration…

Embedding the Teaching of Academic Writing into Anthropology Lectures

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Mostert, Linda Ann; Townsend, Rodwell

2018-01-01

This paper lends support to the argument that students require a variety of teaching strategies to help them improve their academic writing. The study described here took place in 2014 in the context of embedding the teaching of academic writing into anthropology modules. The strategies implemented were microthemes, peer feedback, annotated…

Language policy and the disengagement of the international academic elite

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John Harbord

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the phenomena of academic multiliteracy (the habit of writing academically in more than one language and of L2 monoliteracy (that of only writing academically in a language that is not one’s own and their impact on policy. Based on interviews and surveys conducted with 33 multiliterate and 15 L2 monoliterate scholars connected to one university in Central Europe between 2010 and 2014, I show how incentives to publish in English constructed by educational policies often push ambitious young researchers whose first language is not English away from engaging in academic and societal debates in their first language community. They may thus disengage from the national community, with negative consequences for the interaction between global and local that is essential for good governance. To overcome the difficulty young scholars encounter in writing in their native languages, they should be taught writing both in their native language and in English. Furthermore, university and state policies should reward scholars for writing not only for the international community but also for local society.

An Action Research on Improving Non-English Majors' English Writing by "Basic Sentence Pattern Translation Drills"

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He, Xiaoyu

2016-01-01

English writing plays an indispensible part in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learning for Chinese students, which accounts for a high score in an English test in China. And it is also a comprehensive reflection of students' abilities in L2 application. However, most non-English majors in vocational and technical colleges have great trouble…

Improving Academic Writing in Nursing Education

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Mattsson, Janet

2016-01-01

Background: At a specialist nursing education in intensive care, located at a University college in Sweden, there was a desire among the faculty to develop their ability to support specialist nursing students in their academic development, as well as in their academic writing, to improve the overall quality of the master theses. A quality…

Academic Writing in Reflexive Professional Writing: Citations of Scientific Literature in Supervised Pre-Service Training Reports

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Lívia Chaves de Melo

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper we investigate citation practices of scientific literature in reflexive writing from the genre of supervised pre-service training report produced by pre-service teachers enrolled in the mandatory pre-service training subject of English Language Teaching, at an undergraduate language teaching course. The aim of this research is to analyze how these pre-services teacher represent themselves based on citation practices of scientific literature, and characterize some of the functions deployed by the citations in the reflexive writing emerging in the academic sphere. We use the dialogic approach to language from Bakhtinian studies as a theoretical base, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions regarding types of sequences and of discourse proposed by Adam and Bronckart. The results of this research show that the practice of citation of scientific literature is an invocation of authority as a form of erudition, amplification and ornamentation of the discourse produced. This practice can also guide pedagogical action developed by pre-service teachers in their supervised training.

International student adaptation to academic writing in higher education

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Tran, Ly Thi

2013-01-01

Academic writing is a key practice in higher education and central to international students' academic success in the country of education. International Student Adaptation to Academic Writing in Higher Education addresses the prominent forms of adaptation emerging from international students' journey to mediate between disciplinary practices, cultural norms and personal desires in meaning making. It introduces new concepts that present different patterns of international student adaptation including surface adaptation, committed adaptation, reverse adaptation and hybrid adaptation. Drawing on

Effects of Academic and Non-Academic Instructional Approaches on Preschool English Language Learners' Classroom Engagement and English Language Development

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Markova, Ivana

2017-01-01

This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic)…

Stories Are Like Water: An Academic Writing Workshop for Nurses.

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Walker, Madeline; Tschanz, Coby

2018-04-01

Traditionally, there is very little formal instruction in academic writing for nurses in graduate programs. We, the writing scholar and a nurse educator and PhD student at a major Canadian university, describe how we collaborated on developing and delivering a 1-day academic writing workshop for incoming master of nursing students. By sharing this description, we hope to motivate nursing faculty to offer similar workshops to address the dearth of writing instruction for graduate students in nursing and to improve scholarship outcomes.

How to Write (Even) Better Academic Student Reports and Papers

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Prætorius, Thim

2017-01-01

and Content of an Academic Report/Paper covers the seven required parts that make up an academic piece of work. That is, introduction (e.g., setting the hook), theory and/or literature review (e.g., which literature to you draw on and contribute to), methods (how did you study the research question), findings......Writing good academic papers or reports that demonstrate academic rigour is not necessarily easy for university students (or academics for that matter). Common problems include lacking academic rigour when studying the research problem and difficulties in identifying literature and using theo-ry...... students write methods before theory but doing so means you need to operationalize theory before you have introduced it. The second theme, Gen-eral Tips and Tricks, provide rules of thumb (e.g., that you should kill your darlings), writing style and argumentation hints (e.g., use direct voice) and layout...

Collaborative Work as an Alternative for Writing Research Articles (El trabajo colaborativo como alternativa para la escritura de artículos investigativos)

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Carvajal Medina, Nancy Emilce; Roberto Flórez, Eliana Edith

2014-01-01

Academic writing in English in our context is a significant aspect that can be innovative when a convergence model of writing stages is used along with collaborative work. This article reports on a study aimed at analyzing how collaborative work relates to undergraduate electronics students' academic writing development in English as a foreign…

Beliefs and Practices about Writing in a Foreign Language among Economists Working in Two Languages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Margrethe; Shaw, Philip

or publishability. Simultaneously language-policy scholars have problematised the predominance of English in many academic fields. There is of course a great deal of individual variation in terms of language choice and publication success. We investigated the writing practices of some 75 Danish academics in various...... to the predominance of English. We identified : a wide range of attitudes to the difficulty of writing in L2; practices associated with successful writing; fields in which international publication was more or less important; and a general reliance on implicit knowledge and intuitive learning, in contrast......Product-oriented analyses have shown that academic English (the predominant L2 in their environment: Phillipson and Skuttnab-Kongas 1995) written by Scandinavian writers differs from that of L1 English writers in ways that might work to the disadvantage of the writers in terms of recognition...

Uncovering the Motivating Factors behind Writing in English in en EFL Context

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Büyükyavuz, Oya; Çakir, Ismail

2014-01-01

Writing in a language, whether the target or native, is regarded as a complex activity operating on multiple cognitive levels. This study aimed to uncover the factors which motivate teacher trainees of English to write in English in an EFL context. The study also investigated the differences in the ways teacher trainees are motivated in terms of…

Training of academic writing: improving competitiveness of Czech universities

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Tomáš Foltýnek

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Project “Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in Higher Education across Europe” has reached its final phase. We have collected lots of data reflecting facts and opinions about plagiarism and related areas. Training of academic writing is one of important means for plagiarism prevention.The paper compares levels of training of academic writing between the Czech republic and the rest of Europe. The answers in a questionnaire survey dealing with plagiarism and training of academic writing will be compared and analysed. According to these answers, best practices in European higher education institutions will be identified, and gaps in the Czech institutions will be described. Removing gaps than poses a step to improve the competitiveness of the Czech higher education institutions.

Examining Academic Writing Motivation of Prospective Indonesian Language Teachers Using Exploratory Factor Analysis

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Surastina; Dedi, Fransisca S. O.

2018-01-01

Motivation determines students' success in academic writing. The current study adopted 28 items of the academic writing motivation questionnaire by Payne (2012) translated into Indonesian language to explore students' motivation in academic writing. This study involved 120 prospective Indonesian language teachers at STKIP PGRI Bandar Lampung that…

LUDIC WRITING: CHALLENGES IN GAMIFYING ENGLISH CREATIVE WRITING CLASS FOR TECHNOPRENEURIAL PURPOSES

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SF. Luthfie Arguby Purnomo

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper, first of three research parts, attempts to describe the challenges English Letters at IAIN (Institut Agama Islam Negeri/State Islamic Institute Surakarta faced in implementing gamification for technopreneurial purposes in regard to the transformation of a creative writing class into a ludic writing class, a gamification infused writing class. The challenges revealed are story-game script adaptation, integration portion, and monetization. Specific problems occur on each challenge. Story-game script adaptation exposes three problems namely (1 conditional branching system (2 visualization (3 copyrighted material issues (4 and writing mechanics adaptation. Integration portion challenge displays a problem on the insufficient alloted time for gamifying the creative writing class. Monetization challenge indicates three problems namely (1 the inexistence of monetization team, (2 the inexistence of institutional regulation for monetization management by study programs, (3 responses to gaming trends. Responding to these problems, solutions specifically designed based on the nature of the problems are implemented.

Teaching and Assessing Academic Writing via the Portfolio: Benefits for Learners of English as an Additional Language

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Romova, Zina; Andrew, Martin

2011-01-01

This paper examines the use of portfolios as pedagogical tools for developing academic writing. In particular, it considers the value of multi-drafting, where learners reflect on the learning of a text type as well as focusing on micro and macro aspects. The paper outlines a situated pedagogical approach, where students come to understand their…

Strategies for successful academic writing - institutional and non-institutional support for students.

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Gopee, Neil; Deane, Mary

2013-12-01

Students develop better academic writing skills as they progress through their higher education programme, but despite recent continuing monitoring of student satisfaction with their education in UK, there has been relatively little research into students' perceptions of the active support that they need and receive to succeed as academic writers. To examine the strategies that university students on health or social care courses utilise to develop as writers in the face of many pressures and demands from different sources. Qualitative research conducted at a British University into undergraduates' writing practices in the field of healthcare. Ten participants took part in semi-structured interviews, half of whom were international students. The data was analysed by the researchers from the field of writing development using thematic analysis. The main findings are that certain students struggle as academic writers if they do not receive tuition on appropriate and effective academic writing through institutional provisions, or through non-institutional strategies, that can promote success with the writing process. There is also uncertainty over the extent to which nurse educators are expected to teach academic writing skills, alongside their discipline-specific subject areas. Both institutional provisions for academic writing development, such as a dedicated writing support department, and non-institutional factors such as peer-collaboration should be fully recognised, supported and resourced in tertiary education at a time when students' satisfaction and performance are high on the agenda. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Challenges in Writing Academically: Iranian Postgraduate Students’ Perspectives

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Sedigheh Shakib Kotamjani

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Academic writing skills are essential tools that postgraduate students reading for their doctoral degree have to master to be able to produce dissertations, research reports and academic assignments of quality in the course of their studies; and publish research-based articles in established journals. This paper discusses the perceptions of a group of Iranian postgraduate students pursuing their doctoral degrees at UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia on the challenges they face in writing academically. They provided the data for this paper via their responses to a survey.  The findings indicate that these postgraduate students perceived some academic writing skills to be more challenging than the others.  The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the findings; and recommendations on how the situation can be improved.

NAEP 1996 Trends in Writing: Fluency and Writing Conventions. Holistic and Mechanics Scores in 1984 and 1996.

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Ballator, Nada; Farnum, Marisa; Kaplan, Bruce

Supplementary to "NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress," this report describes two aspects of writing for which change has been measured since 1984: writing fluency as determined by holistic scoring; and mastery of the conventions of written English as determined by mechanics scoring. The introduction discusses the layout and means of…

Exploring the Roles of Google.doc and Peer e-Tutors in English Writing

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Lin, Wen-Chuan; Yang, Shu Ching

2013-01-01

This study explored college students' experiences with and perceptions of integrating both the Google.doc and peer e-tutors into an English writing course. This socio-cultural study employed online collaborative learning mechanisms with an attempt to develop students' English writing skills and motivation over the course of one year. Participants…

Adolescents' Use of Academic Language in Historical Writing

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Shen, Ting

2011-01-01

Despite its importance of academic language, research on academic language is often limited to academic vocabulary and focused on the English language learners. Informed by systemic functional linguistics, this study examined adolescents' use of academic language and the relationships between its use and students' reading ability and their writing…

Using an e-Portfolio System to Improve the Academic Writing Performance of ESL Students

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Alshahrani, Ali; Windeatt, Scott

2012-01-01

Many intensive English language programmes that English second language (ESL) students enrol in adopt a process approach to writing, interpreting writing as a cognitive process that is highly private or individualistic (Atkinson, 2003), where writers use specific cognitive phases, such as pre-writing, drafting, and revising, to generate their…

The comparative analysis of English and Lithuanian transport terms and some methods of developing effective science writing strategies by non-native speakers of English

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V. Marina

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses the problem of developing more effective strategies and skills of writing scientific and technical texts by non-native speakers of English. The causes of poor writing are identified and general guidelines for developing effective science writing strategies are outlined. The analysis of difficulties faced by non-native speakers of English in writing research papers is made by examining transport terms and international words which are based on different nomination principles in English and Lithuanian. Case study of various names given to a small vehicle used for passenger transportation in many countries is provided, illustrating the alternative ways of naming the same object of reality in different languages. The analysis is based on the theory of linguistic relativity. Differences in the use of similar international terms in English and Lithuanian, which often cause errors and misunderstanding, are also demonstrated. The recommendations helping non-native speakers of English to avoid errors and improve skills of writing scientific and technical texts are given.

Technical Writing in English Renaissance Shipwrightery: Breaching the Shoals of Orality

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Tebeaux, Elizabeth

2008-01-01

Describing the emergence of the first shipbuilding texts, particularly those in English provides another chapter in the story of the emergence of English technical writing. Shipwrightery texts did not appear in English until the middle decades of the seventeenth century because shipwrightery was a closed discourse community which shared knowledge…

Exploring Associations among Writing Self-Perceptions, Writing Abilities, and Native Language of English-Spanish Two-Way Immersion Students

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Neugebauer, Sabina R.; Howard, Elizabeth R.

2015-01-01

The current study, with 409 fourth graders in two-way immersion programs, explored the writing self-perceptions of native English and native Spanish speakers and the relationship between self-perceptions and writing performance. An adapted version of the Writer Self-Perception Scale (WSPS) was administered along with a writing task. Native English…

Indonesian EFL Students’ Perspective on Writing Process: A Pilot Study

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Imelda Hermilinda Abas

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The study was aimed at understanding the EFL Indonesian students’ perspective on the writing process. The pilot study involved two male Indonesian postgraduate students in Universiti Utara Malaysia. The Indonesian students were selected based on the following criteria: (1 had enough knowledge in English writing, indicated by the completion of Academic Writing and Research Methodology courses taken in UUM; (2 had written an unpublished thesis during their undergraduate studies in Indonesia and they are writing their master or doctoral thesis in English; (3 used English extensively in writing their assignments, and in daily activities. Pseudonyms were used to refer to the participants as Sukarno and Suharto. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants. The interview sessions took approximately 15-20 minutes for each participant and were videotaped and audiotaped. Semi-structured interview with 15 questions and probes were used. The results showed that the two participants had positive feelings and attitudes towards writing in English. Although they had a hard time in English writing during their undergraduate in Indonesia, they become fond of writing in English in their postgraduate time due to the exposure to English extensively. In composing, they used brainstorming, drafting, pausing, revising and editing in a recursive manner. Keywords: in-depth interview, pilot study, writing process, English as a Foreign Language (EFL

Academic voice: On feminism, presence, and objectivity in writing.

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Mitchell, Kim M

2017-10-01

Academic voice is an oft-discussed, yet variably defined concept, and confusion exists over its meaning, evaluation, and interpretation. This paper will explore perspectives on academic voice and counterarguments to the positivist origins of objectivity in academic writing. While many epistemological and methodological perspectives exist, the feminist literature on voice is explored here as the contrary position. From the feminist perspective, voice is a socially constructed concept that cannot be separated from the experiences, emotions, and identity of the writer and, thus, constitutes a reflection of an author's way of knowing. A case study of how author presence can enhance meaning in text is included. Subjective experience is imperative to a practice involving human interaction. Nursing practice, our intimate involvement in patient's lives, and the nature of our research are not value free. A view is presented that a visible presence of an author in academic writing is relevant to the nursing discipline. The continued valuing of an objective, colorless academic voice has consequences for student writers and the faculty who teach them. Thus, a strategically used multivoiced writing style is warranted. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

English Writing via a Social Networking Platform

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Yu, Wei-Chieh Wayne

2018-01-01

This study examined students' perceptions of completing an English writing class via a social networking platform. Participants were 162 aboriginal students between 18 and 23 years of age at a nursing college in southern Taiwan. Different ethnicities were defined and represented by different memberships of indigenous groups or tribes, also known…

Using Web 2.0 technologies and collaborative work in teaching academic writing

OpenAIRE

Jekiel, Mateusz

2014-01-01

Paper presented at YLMP 2014 Teaching academic writing to ESL learners can be a difficult task: students are usually unfamiliar with academic style, have difficulties in producing a structured piece of writing and get easily discouraged by an exam­oriented approach, having to use old school pen and paper with no access to technology. Indeed, the gap between everyday writing tasks and the exam is significant: access to online dictionaries, linguistic corpora and academic articles, as well a...

Linguistic Features of Humor in Academic Writing

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Stephen Skalicky

2016-06-01

Full Text Available A corpus of 313 freshman college essays was analyzed in order to better understand the forms and functions of humor in academic writing. Human ratings of humor and wordplay were statistically aggregated using Factor Analysis to provide an overall Humor component score for each essay in the corpus. In addition, the essays were also scored for overall writing quality by human raters, which correlated (r = .195 with the humor component score. Correlations between the humor component scores and linguistic features were examined. To investigate the potential for linguistic features to predict the Humor component scores, regression analysis identified four linguistic indices that accounted for approximately 17.5% of the variance in humor scores. These indices were related to text descriptiveness (i.e., more adjective and adverb use, lower cohesion (i.e., less paragraph-to-paragraph similarity, and lexical sophistication (lower word frequency. The findings suggest that humor can be partially predicted by linguistic features in the text. Furthermore, there was a small but significant correlation between the humor and essay quality scores, suggesting a positive relation between humor and writing quality. Keywords: humor, academic writing, text analysis, essay score, human rating

Writing Professional Documents in English

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

This course is designed for people with a good level of spoken English who need to improve their professional writing (administrative, scientific, technical). Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) Date and timetable will be fixed when there are sufficient participants enrolled. Oral Expression This course is intended for people with a good knowledge of English who want to practise and maintain their speaking skills while extending their vocabulary. There will be approximately 8 participants in a class. Speaking activities will include discussions, meeting simulations, role-plays etc. depending on the needs of the students. Duration: 20 hours (2 hours a week) Timetable: Thursdays from 12.00 to 14.00 Price: 440 CHF (for 8 students) For registration and further information on these two courses, please contact Mr. Liptow: tel. 72957.

Everyday Reading and Writing: English. 5112.24.

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Knowles, Marlene; Wardell, Arlene

A curriculum guide to help students improve their everyday English skills has been designed for the Dade County Public Schools. The course, for grades 8 through 12, is to help students learn to read, write, and interpret letters, business forms, instructions, signs, maps, and magazines. The practical subject matter emphasizes basic reading and…

Designing Academic Writing Analytics for Civil Law Student Self-Assessment

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Knight, Simon; Buckingham Shum, Simon; Ryan, Philippa; Sándor, Ágnes; Wang, Xiaolong

2018-01-01

Research into the teaching and assessment of student writing shows that many students find academic writing a challenge to learn, with legal writing no exception. Improving the availability and quality of timely formative feedback is an important aim. However, the time-consuming nature of assessing writing makes it impractical for instructors to…

Self-Regulation and Approaches to Learning in English Composition Writing

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Magno, Carlo

2009-01-01

It is hypothesized in the present study that when learners are tasked to write a composition in a second language (such as English language for Filipinos), they use specific approaches to learning and eventually undergo self-regulatory processes. The present study tested a model showing the shift from process to outcome in writing (Zimmerman &…

On Writing Scientific Articles in English

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

JamesHartley

2003-01-01

If we examine the text of scientific articles it is clear that there is a generally accepted way of writing them. Scientific prose in English stereotypically uses the third person, the passive tense, complex terminology, and various footnoting and referencing systems. Scientific prose is not known for discursive anecdotes, humour, pictures, colour, bizarre typography or exclamation marks! Often the written text appears quite impersonal-the human element is removed.

Implementing Keyword and Question Generation Approaches in Teaching EFL Summary Writing

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Chou, Mu-hsuan

2012-01-01

Summary writing has been considered an important aspect of academic writing. However, writing summaries can be a challenging task for the majority of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Research into teaching summary writing has focused on different processes to teach EFL learners. The present study adopted two methods--keyword and…

Beyond (F)utilitarianism: English "as" Academic Purpose.

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Pennycook, Alastair

1994-01-01

A discussion of the teaching of English for academic purposes (EAP) focuses on criticism that the content of such courses is thin and that they are offered as a service to other disciplines. It is proposed that the emphasis of EAP instruction be shifted to the role English plays as a medium for conveying meaning to the ways in which English is…

NEGOTIATING INTO ACADEMIC DISCOURSES: TAIWANESE AND U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS IN RESEARCH WRITING

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Yichun Liu

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Cross-national, or cross-cultural, studies of academic writing have moved beyond contrastive rhetoric’s textual focus to broad concerns of students’ first-and second-language literacy development. However, we remain in the dark as to how, in a micro view, students initiate into academic discourses in cross-national contexts. Situating our study in first-year writing courses in a Taiwanese and a U.S. university, we examined students’ negotiation acts when they struggled to enter into social science discourses. Our study reveals that students in both institutions negotiated with academic writing at metacognitive, textual, and contextual levels. They brought rhetorical values, such as writing as a display of knowledge or writing grounded in evidential research, into their writing that they acquired in high school. Further, teachers’ expectations, their new perceptions of research and writing, and their dreams and experiences all came into play in their writing.

English as an Academic Lingua Franca: The ELFA Project

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Mauranen, Anna; Hynninen, Niina; Ranta, Elina

2010-01-01

English is unquestionably the world language of academia--yet its most notable characteristic, being predominantly used by non-native speakers, has not seriously been taken on board in ESP descriptive studies. The project English as an academic lingua franca (ELFA) based at the University of Helsinki investigates academic discourses, branching out…

Online Features of Qzone Weblog for Critical Peer Feedback to Facilitate Business English Writing

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Gao, Xianwei; Samuel, Moses; Asmawi, Adelina

2016-01-01

Qzone weblog is one of the most popular weblogs in China. This study explores Qzone weblog for critical peer feedback to facilitate Business English writing among the Chinese undergraduates. A qualitative case study is conducted by NVivo 8 to analyze the three research data of semistructured interviews, Business English writing assignments, and…

English for writing research papers

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wallwork, Adrian

2011-01-01

... points when you write more papers in the future. The useful phrases in Chap. 19 will help you to structure your paper and give you an indication of the typical coverage of each section. I have written many papers before. Will I still learn something from this book? If you have ever had a paper rejected due to poor English, poor structure or poor readability, then this book will certainly help you. What are the three most important things I will learn from this book? This book is based on three fund...

The English Proficiency of the Academics of the Teacher Training and Education Institutions

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Ali Saukah

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at describing the general English proficiency level of the academics of Teacher Training and Education Institutions (LPTK's as indicated by their TOEFL scores. Specifically, the study is focused on finding out whether there is any difference among the academics' English proficiencies when they are grouped in terms of the geographic regions of their institutions and their fields of study. This study is also intended to reveal any possible relationship between the academics' English proficiency and their age. The results indicate that the English proficiency of the academics on the average is far below the average of that of the international students. The academics in West Java are the highest in their English proficiency, and the English group, as expected, has the best English proficiency. In addition, there is a negative correlation between English proficiency and age

Evidence That International Undergraduates Can Succeed Academically Despite Struggling with English

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Fass-Holmes, Barry; Vaughn, Allison A.

2015-01-01

Many American universities require international applicants whose native language is not English to submit English proficiency exam scores presumably because of proficiency's potential to predict future academic success. The present study provides evidence, however, that such applicants can succeed academically despite struggling with English.…

Linguistic, reading, and transcription influences on kindergarten writing in children with English as a second language

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Gina L. Harrison, Keira C. Ogle & Megan Keilty

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The contribution of linguistic, reading, and transcription processes to writing in kindergarten English as a second language (ESL children and their native-English speaking peers (EL1 were examined. ESL and EL1 performed similarly on one of the two measures of phonological awareness (PA and on measures of early reading, spelling, and writing. EL1 outperformed ESL on a pseudoword repetition task and on the English vocabulary and syntactic knowledge tasks. ESL outperformed EL1 on a writing fluency measure. Correlation and hierarchical regression results varied as a function of the writing tasks (procedural or generative and language status. Across language groups, writing tasks that captured children's developing graphophonemic knowledge were associated with a breadth of cognitive, linguistic, and early literacy skills. PA, reading, and transcription skills, but not oral vocabulary and syntactic knowledge contributed the most variance to writing irrespective of language status. The results suggest that parallel component skills and processes underlie ESL and EL1 children's early writing when formal literacy instruction begins in kindergarten even though ESL children are developing English oral and literacy proficiency simultaneously.

Hip-Hop and a Hybrid Text in a Postsecondary English Class

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Sanchez, Deborah M.

2010-01-01

This study explores the epistemology present in hip-hop music and its reflection in the writing of one African American student in a postsecondary transitional English class. An integration of hip-hop and academic literacy practices in the student's essay challenges the supremacy of a "standard" academic English and deficit perspectives about…

The Present Perfect in World Englishes

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Yao, Xinyue; Collins, Peter

2012-01-01

This paper reports on a comprehensive corpus-based study of regional and stylistic variation in the distribution of the English present perfect. The data represents ten English varieties of both the Inner Circle and Outer Circle, covering four major text types: conversation, news reportage, academic and fictional writing. The results are discussed…

Applying Cultural Project Based Learning to Develop Students’ Academic Writing

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Lulus Irawati

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Writing is considered to be the most demanding and difficult skill for many college students, since there are some steps to be followed such as prewriting, drafting, editing, revising and publishing. The interesting topic like culture including lifestyle, costume, and custom is necessary to be offered in Academic Writing class. Accordingly, this article aims to elaborate the application of a cultural project based learning to develop students’ ability in academic writing. This descriptive qualitative research was conducted in Academic Writing class consisting of 20 students of the fourth semester. The students were divided into some groups, each consisting of 4-5 people assigned to make a cultural project within 6 weeks, in the form of essay. Each member of the groups has to create his/ her own essay and then compile the essays to be a mini-journal. Therefore, one group has one mini-journal consisting of 4-5 essays. To check the content of mini-journal, the lecturer also asked the groups to present in front of the class to get some suggestions, feedback, or comments.

Peer-Mentoring Program and Academic Atmosphere

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Sri Endah Kusmartini

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Management of Sriwijaya State Polytechnic believes that peer-mentoring program has positive effects on students’ academic success. Moreover, it is also believed that good academic atmosphere should be developed. In line with these, researchers tried to investigate whether peer-mentoring program and academic atmosphere correlated significantly to students’ writing achievement partially and simultaneously. The research was conducted in English Department, Sriwijaya State Polytechnic with 60 samples taken randomly. Measures of Peer-mentoring Program and Academic Atmosphere were used sequentially to measure peer-mentoring program and academic atmosphere as perceived by the students. Meanwhile, writing score was used to find out writing achievement of the students. The hypotheses were tested by using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression. The results showed that peer-mentoring program and academic atmosphere as perceived by the students correlated significantly towards students’ writing achievement partially and simultaneously. Therefore it is recommended to continue the programs.

A Case Study of Using Facebook in an EFL English Writing Class: The Perspective of a Writing Teacher

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Yu, Li-Tang

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to address a writing teacher's perspective about integrating Facebook, a social networking site, into a university-level English writing course in Taiwan. Data, including interviews with the teacher and class postings on Facebook, were analyzed inductively, qualitatively, and interpretively, resulting in three…

Critical Thinking through Writing: Expressing Scientific Thought and Process in a Deaf Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Manjarrez, Leslie

Within Deaf classrooms there is often a disconnect between academic areas and writing curriculums that develop in both common and academic language, where often classrooms focus solely on writing as a skill rather than as a method for producing language through an academic area. This work focuses on the development of academic language in ASL and English print of science. The curriculum is written to be implemented as a bilingual academic curriculum to support Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in various self contained classroom settings. Lessons are conducted in three Units, A B and C. Unit A focuses on research, thought and writing of preparatory materials in small groups. Unit B is comprised of procedural lessons on conducting x experiments and the evaluation of those experiments through mathematics. Unit C is a group of lessons that ties together Units A and B through writing and peer teaching as a method of concluding the work and presenting information in an effective manner. The success of the project was evaluated on the basis of student work, rubrics, and final works from the students. The results showed promise in aspects of Critical Thinking, writing development, and expression of new concepts in both ASL and English.

Growth of Business English and the Need to Teach Memo-Writing Skills to Indian Tertiary-Level Learners

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Aruna Arputhamalar

2015-05-01

Full Text Available English has become an inevitable means of communication. Due to globalization and rapid growth in business communication, the need to learn the English language has also gained momentum. Employers are looking for employees who are skilled in the language skills. In India, English has become an important means of communication and learning in the education and professional setup. Though English is being taught in schools and colleges, Indian students miserably fail to produce a good quality lengthy composition. In this respect, this paper aims to focus on the need to teach memo-writing skills to tertiary students. To this end, a group of second year Indian BCA students was taken as samples for the study. The students were given a pre-test on memo writing. They lacked the essential skills in writing a memo. In order to improve their memo writing skills the students had to undergo four tasks. At the end of the tasks, they were able to write a good memo. The corporate world demands accurate business writings and our students have to be trained to meet the demands of the business world. This paper studies the growth of business English, the components of effective business writing and the need to teach business writing to tertiary students, which will enable them to be successful in the business world.

The Contribution of Lexical Diversity to College-Level Writing

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González, Melanie C.

2017-01-01

This article reports on a study that investigated the extent to which lexical frequency and lexical diversity contribute to writing proficiency scores on monolingual English-speaking writers' and advanced multilingual writers' academic compositions. The data consist of essays composed by 104 multilingual English learners enrolled in advanced…

Study of the Academic Members Attitude about Main Factors of Not Approaching to Scientific Writing in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences

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M. Koorki

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction & Objective: one of the important indicators of scientific study and science production in the universities is original research and its scientific article. The aim of this study was to determine the academic members’ attitude about main factors of not approaching to scientific writing in Hamadan Uni. Med. Sci.Material & Methods: The current survey was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Statistical population was all of the academic members of this university in 2006 (N=260. The data collected through a questionnaire consists of 2 parts: I. the demographic characteristics, II. the questions related to their attitude. After distribution of the questionnaires we received 228 completed ones. The data was statistically analyzed by SPSS software.Results: Outcomes showed that the main factors of not approaching to write the scientific articles were: education, teaching and treatment engagement mean with 3.891.16 of 5, the barriers of doing original research and writing the articles (3.880.93, long duration of sending and acceptation of articles in Persian scientific journals (3.841.07 and weakness of English language skill (3.831.05.Conclusion: The barriers of scientific writing were in 3 parts: organizational, personal and personal-organizational problems. The academic members’ activities and university managers’ supports are needed to remove these barriers.

Composition Medium Comparability in a Direct Writing Assessment of Non-Native English Speakers

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Edward W. Wolfe

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL contains a direct writing assessment, and examinees are given the option of composing their responses at a computer terminal using a keyboard or composing their responses in handwriting. This study sought to determine whether performance on a direct writing assessment is comparable for examinees when given the choice to compose essays in handwriting versus word processing. We examined this relationship controlling for English language proficiency and several demographic characteristics of examinees using linear models. We found a weak two-way interaction between composition medium and English language proficiency with examinees with weaker English language scores performing better on handwritten essays while examinees with better English language scores performing comparably on the two testing media. We also observed predictable differences associated with geographic region, native language, gender, and age.

Does Teaching English in Saudi Primary Schools Affect Students’ Academic Achievement in Arabic Subjects?

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Othman Aljohani

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The global trend of introducing second language learning, namely, English, in primary schools is increasing. In Saudi Arabia, where English has never been taught in primary schools, the government to implement English as a second language at the primary level in 2005; however, this generated controversy. Opposition to the learning of English has been based on religious, cultural, and educational arguments. The latter argument consists of claims that learning English at a young age might influence children’s mother tongue development and influence their academic success. This paper investigates the impact of teaching English in Saudi primary schools on students’ achievement in Arabic-language subjects. This quantitative research aims to inform the debate on second language learning in primary schools by studying children’s examination results in the Arabic subject areas of grammar, reading, and writing. The sample consisted of primary school students from years 1 to 6 as well as year 6 students from the last year before (2004 and the first year after (2005 the introduction of English. Student results from four primary schools (two government schools and two private schools were collected and analysed. This study found no indication of a positive or negative impact of learning English on students’ achievement in Arabic subjects. However, private school students who studied English beginning in their first year of school had better results in the Arabic subjects that were the focus of this research. Keywords: second language acquisition, language impact, ESL

Reading and Writing as Academic Literacy in EAP Program of Indonesian Leaners

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Imroatus Solikhah

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigates academic literacy imposed in reading and writing for academic purposes in the EAP program. This study uses descriptive design elaborating data from curriculum documents and interviews.  Involving 45 participants from IAIN Surakarta and Veteran University, data were analyzed using constant-comparison and inductive analysis tecniques. The study diseovers that academic literacy is prominent to serve and recently it has been the growing learning outcomes universities should provide besides discipline and experise. Academic literacy in EAP program is embedded into academic vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing for academic purposes.  Consequently, academic literacy should be incurred in the curriculum, syllabus, aims and objectives, and teaching materials.

An Exploration of the Scientific Writing Experience of Nonnative English-Speaking Doctoral Supervisors and Students Using a Phenomenographic Approach

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Elizabeth Dean

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Nonnative English-speaking scholars and trainees are increasingly submitting their work to English journals. The study’s aim was to describe their experiences regarding scientific writing in English using a qualitative phenomenographic approach. Two focus groups (5 doctoral supervisors and 13 students were conducted. Participants were nonnative English-speakers in a Swedish health sciences faculty. Group discussion focused on scientific writing in English, specifically, rewards, challenges, facilitators, and barriers. Participants were asked about their needs for related educational supports. Inductive phenomenographic analysis included extraction of referential (phenomenon as a whole and structural (phenomenon parts aspects of the transcription data. Doctoral supervisors and students viewed English scientific writing as challenging but worthwhile. Both groups viewed mastering English scientific writing as necessary but each struggles with the process differently. Supervisors viewed it as a long-term professional responsibility (generating knowledge, networking, and promotion eligibility. Alternatively, doctoral students viewed its importance in the short term (learning publication skills. Both groups acknowledged they would benefit from personalized feedback on writing style/format, but in distinct ways. Nonnative English-speaking doctoral supervisors and students in Sweden may benefit from on-going writing educational supports. Editors/reviewers need to increase awareness of the challenges of international contributors and maximize the formative constructiveness of their reviews.

An Investigation into the Effect of English Learners' Dictionaries on International Students' Acquisition of the English Article System

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Julia

2006-01-01

Learners' dictionaries are a resource which is often overlooked by both students and teachers of English as a Second Language. The wealth of grammatical information contained within them, however, can help students to improve their English language skills and, ipso facto, their academic writing. In this study, four groups of university ESL…

Why It Is so Hard for Academics to Write Textbooks

Science.gov (United States)

Sternberg, Robert J.

2017-01-01

Although academics are accustomed to writing articles and books, they much less frequently write textbooks. When they do, they likely find it much harder to do well than they ever would have imagined. This difficulty is likely to surprise them, because they have considerable experience in writing research articles and in teaching. I argue in this…

English Education for Engineers in the World of Globalization : A Report of an Undergraduate and Graduate English Program with an Emphasis on Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Shimazu, Nobuko

In an increasingly globalized world, demand for engineers well versed in English remains strong. As a professor of English in the Faculty of Computer Science and Systems Engineering at the Kyushu Institute of Technology, I have sought with the aid of two associate professors to improve the English program for our engineering students together to help meet that very demand. In order to assist other English teachers in similar situations to improve their own English programs, I would like to report on the ideas and methods presently used in our undergraduate English program, specifically the first-year compulsory and common course with its emphasis on paragraph writing which students from each of the five departments within the Faculty of Computer Science and Systems Engineering are required to take. In addition, I would also like to report my ideas and teaching methods for a graduate research paper writing course. The objective of this course is to teach graduate students how to write presentations for conferences and papers for journals at the international level.

Using gamification to develop academic writing skills in dental undergraduate students.

Science.gov (United States)

El Tantawi, Maha; Sadaf, Shazia; AlHumaid, Jehan

2018-02-01

To assess the satisfaction of first-year dental students with gamification and its effect on perceived and actual improvement of academic writing. Two first-year classes of dental undergraduate students were recruited for the study which extended over 4 months and ended in January 2015. A pre-intervention assessment of students' academic writing skills was performed using criteria to evaluate writing. The same criteria were used to evaluate the final writing assignment after the intervention. Students' satisfaction with game aspects was assessed. The per cent change in writing score was regressed on scores of satisfaction with game aspects controlling for gender. Perceived improvement in writing was also assessed. Data from 87 (94.6%) students were available for analysis. Students' overall satisfaction with the gamified experience was modest [mean (SD) = 5.9 (2.1)] and so was their overall perception of improvement in writing [mean (SD) = 6.0 (2.2)]. The per cent score of the first assignment was 35.6 which improved to 80 in the last assignment. Satisfaction with playing the game was significantly associated with higher percentage of improvement in actual writing skills [regression coefficient (95% confidence interval) = 21.1 (1.9, 40.2)]. Using gamification in an obligatory course for first-year dental students was associated with an improvement in academic writing skills although students' satisfaction with game aspects was modest and their willingness to use gamification in future courses was minimal. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Angst about Academic Writing: Graduate Students at the Brink

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Barbara; Waterbury, Theresa; Baltrinic, Eric; Davis, Arielle

2018-01-01

This paper offers some insights into the anxieties graduate students bring into the classroom about academic or technical writing. In this qualitative study, a focus group of graduate students was utilized to describe the specific negative feelings, attitudes and experiences held about writing. Findings suggest that students were able to identify…

Overlap and Uniqueness: Linguistic Componential Traits Contributing to Expressive Skills in English as a Foreign Language

Science.gov (United States)

Pae, Hye K.; O'Brien, Beth

2018-01-01

This study identified robust predictors of expressive skills in academic English as a foreign language. The participants were 92 Korean-speaking learners of English. The field test of the Pearson Test of English Academic was used as a secondary data analysis. Four communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and six enabling…

Helping Taiwanese Graduate Students Help Themselves: Applying Corpora to Industrial Management English as a Foreign Language Academic Reading and Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, Barry Lee

2015-01-01

Lack of knowledge in the conventional use of vocabulary and multiword patterns in one's respective field of expertise causes Taiwanese students to produce academic writing that is markedly "non-nativelike." This is because Taiwanese students are first and foremost second language readers and often have difficulty "picking up…

Academic writing performance measured for research and instruction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Firssova, Olga

2012-01-01

Firssova, O. (2012, 19 January). Academic writing performance measured for research and instruction. Presentation given at the ICO Masterclass, Theme Domain-Specific Instruction, January 19-February 10, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Teaching English Medical Writing in a Blended Setting

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Jafar Asgari Arani

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Medical writing activities which may have a context and seem to be engaging may be perceived as demotivating by the students of medicine. This opinion was confirmed by the learners' responses to the open-ended question given to them prior to this study. In their responses students evaluated the writing section of English course negatively. The negative views about the writing course posed a problem to the class teacher. The computer technology and the Internet can easily be integrated into language classroom if activities are designed carefully, and carried out systematically. These attempts brought about a new understanding to teaching and learning: blended learning (BL. The purpose of this research was to investigate students of medicine attitude to blended writing classes. It was conducted with second year learners in the Faculty of Medicine at Kashan University of Medical Sciences. The first reflection aimed at finding out medical students' attitude toward blended writing lessons. Although learners' attitude to writing lessons was negative in the first reflections, they changed into positive in the latter ones. The findings indicated that blended writing class had changed students' perception of writing lessons positively. Therefore, this kind of classes may help students develop a positive attitude towards writing by providing meaningful writing opportunities. Like the student portfolio before it, the weblog faces challenges with practicality and security, but ultimately provides an alternative way to teach and assess authentic writing and reading skills. Blog Assisted Language Learning not only provides teachers with an exciting new way to approach communicative language learning, it also gives the students a new reason to enjoy writing! The paper concludes that Internet tools have the potential to be a transformational technology for teaching and learning writing, and teachers ought to give strong consideration to the setting up their

Troubling Our Desires for Research and Writing within the Academic Development Project

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Peseta, Tai

2007-01-01

In this paper, I speculate on the work "usefulness" does to regulate the research and writing of the scholarship of academic development project. My argument is not that academic developers ought to repudiate a fidelity to usefulness; rather, I want to expand our ideas for the possibilities of research and writing beyond purposes of…

Democratizing Academic Writing: A Revision of an Experience of Writing an Autoethnographic Dissertation in Color

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Polanco, Marcela

2013-01-01

In this paper, I revise my experience of writing an autoethnographic (Ellis, 2004) dissertation in the field of family therapy as a Colombian mestiza. I discuss how I grappled with my writing, and, in the process, stumbled into matters of democratizing texts. I problematize male-dominant academic standards, telling of the tensions when maneuvering…

Combined Training of One Cognitive and One Metacognitive Strategy Improves Academic Writing Skills.

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Wischgoll, Anke

2016-01-01

Academic writing is a challenging task. Expert writers apply various writing skills as they anticipate the reader's view of their text while paying attention to structure and content. Research in the high school setting shows that the acquisition of writing skills can be supported by single-strategy training. However, research in higher education is scarce. We tested whether the development of academic writing skills can also be effectively supported by training single strategies or even combined strategies. As metacognition is an important skill for advanced and adult learners, we focused in this study on the benefit of combined cognitive strategies with and without a metacognitive strategy. An experiment including three conditions was conducted (N = 60 German-speaking psychology undergraduates, M = 22.8, SD = 4.4), which lasted for three hours. Each group received a modeling intervention of a basic cognitive strategy on the application of text structure knowledge. Two groups received an additional modeling intervention with either a cognitive strategy treatment on text summarization or a metacognitive strategy treatment on self-monitoring the writing process. One group received no further strategy treatment. Prior knowledge and learning outcomes were measured with a specially developed test on academic writing skills. In addition, all participants wrote an abstract of an empirical article. We found that learners who received the additional self-monitoring strategy intervention benefited significantly more in terms of acquisition of academic writing skills and the quality of their texts than learners who did not receive this intervention. Thus, the results underline the importance of self-monitoring strategies in academic writing. Implications and further research opportunities are discussed.

Combined training of one cognitive and one metacognitive strategy improves academic writing skills

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Anke eWischgoll

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Academic writing is a challenging task. Expert writers apply various writing skills as they anticipate the reader’s view of their text while paying attention to structure and content. Research in the high school setting shows that the acquisition of writing skills can be supported by single-strategy training. However, research in higher education is scarce. We tested whether the development of academic writing skills can also be effectively supported by training single strategies or even combined strategies. As metacognition is an important skill for advanced and adult learners, we focused in this study on the benefit of combined cognitive strategies with and without a metacognitive strategy. An experiment including three conditions was conducted (N = 60 German-speaking psychology undergraduates, M=22.8, SD=4.4, which lasted for three hours. Each group received a modeling intervention of a basic cognitive strategy on the application of text structure knowledge. Two groups received an additional modeling intervention with either a cognitive strategy treatment on text summarization or a metacognitive strategy treatment on self-monitoring the writing process. One group received no further strategy treatment. Prior knowledge and learning outcomes were measured with a specially developed test on academic writing skills. In addition, all participants wrote an abstract of an empirical article. We found that learners who received the additional self-monitoring strategy intervention benefited significantly more in terms of acquisition of academic writing skills and the quality of their texts than learners who did not receive this intervention. Thus, the results underline the importance of self-monitoring strategies in academic writing. Implications and further research opportunities are discussed.

Combined Training of One Cognitive and One Metacognitive Strategy Improves Academic Writing Skills

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Wischgoll, Anke

2016-01-01

Academic writing is a challenging task. Expert writers apply various writing skills as they anticipate the reader’s view of their text while paying attention to structure and content. Research in the high school setting shows that the acquisition of writing skills can be supported by single-strategy training. However, research in higher education is scarce. We tested whether the development of academic writing skills can also be effectively supported by training single strategies or even combined strategies. As metacognition is an important skill for advanced and adult learners, we focused in this study on the benefit of combined cognitive strategies with and without a metacognitive strategy. An experiment including three conditions was conducted (N = 60 German-speaking psychology undergraduates, M = 22.8, SD = 4.4), which lasted for three hours. Each group received a modeling intervention of a basic cognitive strategy on the application of text structure knowledge. Two groups received an additional modeling intervention with either a cognitive strategy treatment on text summarization or a metacognitive strategy treatment on self-monitoring the writing process. One group received no further strategy treatment. Prior knowledge and learning outcomes were measured with a specially developed test on academic writing skills. In addition, all participants wrote an abstract of an empirical article. We found that learners who received the additional self-monitoring strategy intervention benefited significantly more in terms of acquisition of academic writing skills and the quality of their texts than learners who did not receive this intervention. Thus, the results underline the importance of self-monitoring strategies in academic writing. Implications and further research opportunities are discussed. PMID:26941671

"If I write like a scientist, then soy un cientifico": Differentiated Writing Supports and the Effects on Fourth-Grade English Proficient Students' and English Language Learners' Science Content Knowledge and Explanatory Writing About Magnetism and Electricity

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Lichon, Kathryn A.

The purpose of this pre-post quasi-experimental dissertation was to investigate the effects of differentiated writing supports on English Proficient Students' (EPSs) and English Language Learners' (ELLs) science content knowledge and explanatory writing about magnetism and electricity. Eighty-seven fourth-grade students (EPSs = 35; ELLs = 52) were randomly assigned to two groups based on two differentiated writing: guided questions ( n = 43) or targeted writing frames (n = 44). In the guided questions condition, students completed four question sets after a science investigation, and in the targeted writing frames condition, students completed the same four question sets, but with explicit support for vocabulary, transitions, and relational language in the form of if-then statements. Over the course of the four week intervention, students completed a total of nine writing tasks, and were pretested and posttested on six variables: magnetism and electricity content knowledge test, explanatory writing task, total number of words written, total number of sentences written, number of if-then statements, and number of content-based vocabulary words. Results indicate that EPSs and ELLs in both writing conditions improved significantly from pretest to posttest on six content and explanatory writing variables, with statistically significant gain scores occurring for the magnetism and electricity content knowledge test in which the targeted writing frames condition had a larger rate of gain. ANCOVA results indicated that in comparing writing conditions, a statistically significant difference was found for magnetism and electricity content knowledge posttests, when controlling for pretests. No statistically significant effects for language classification on the six variables were found when controlling for pretest scores. Interaction effects between writing condition and language classification were statistically significantly different for the interaction effect found on if

Teachers' implementation of writing as a process in English ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This descriptive study investigated teachers' implementation of writing as a process in English classrooms of Ghimbi Preparatory School. To this effect, two basic research questions were raised. To deal with these research questions, observation, questionnaire and interview were used. One hundred and twenty students ...

Detection of Common Errors in Turkish EFL Students' Writing through a Corpus Analytic Approach

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Demirel, Elif Tokdemir

2017-01-01

The present study aims to explore Turkish EFL students' major writing difficulties by analyzing the frequent writing errors in academic essays. Accordingly, the study examined errors in a corpus of 150 academic essays written by Turkish EFL students studying at the Department of English Language and Literature at a public university in Turkey. The…

Writing Purposefully in Art and Design: Responding to Converging and Diverging New Academic Literacies

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Melles, Gavin; Lockheart, Julia

2012-01-01

In disciplines with long histories in higher education, academic literacies, including writing practices, are less contested than in newer academic fields such as art and design. The relatively recent incorporation of such fields and schools into the university sector has required these fields to create academic writing practices consistent with…

Teaching Techniques: Audiovisual Feedback in EFL/ESL Writing Classes

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Woodard, William J.

2016-01-01

In this article, William J. Woodard, an English teacher preparing students for university-level work in academic English, describes a more effective student feedback technique that decreases the amount of time spent writing such feedback. Woodard explains his discovery of the tool "Jing." Jing is a free application for PCs and Macs by…

Upholding Standards of Academic Writing of Chinese Students in China English

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Ma, Qing

2012-01-01

While the emergence of the plural forms of English widely acknowledges the sociolinguistic realities in many countries and regions, it might also have an equally profound impact on English teaching and learning in those areas. The trend is for pedagogical models no longer to privilege so-called Standard English based on native varieties but to be…

Investigating IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 : Relationships between cognitive writing processes, text quality, and working memory

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Révész, Andrea; Michel, Marije; Lee, MinJin

2017-01-01

This project examined the cognitive processes and online behaviours of second language writers while performing IELTS Academic Writing Test Task 2, and the ways in which the online behaviours of test-takers relate to the quality of the text produced. An additional aim was to assess whether writing

Implementing Gmail Docs and Blogs for Enhancing Motivation towards Writing in English

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Gomez Zapata, Julian Esteban

2010-01-01

This action research paper dealt with how to increase motivation towards writing in English through blogs and Gmail docs in a private school in Medellín, Colombia. It was necessary to explore the concepts of "social interaction," "motivation" and "reasons for writing" to understand how blogs and Gmail docs favored…

The Impact of Training Students How to Write Introductions for Academic Essays: An Exploratory, Longitudinal Study

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Brown, Gavin T. L.; Marshall, Jennifer C.

2012-01-01

Successful academic writing requires strong command of the rhetorical moves that orient the reader to the theme and substantive material of an academic essay. Effective control of the introduction leads to better overall writing. The goal of this study was to devise and evaluate a pedagogy for teaching the writing of academic essay introductions.…

Research on the Application of "Tree Analysis Diagram" to the Teaching of English Argumentative Writing of the Chinese EFL Learners

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Liu, Xiaokai

2018-01-01

Writing as one of essential skills in English learning is attached more and more importance. English writing involves not only the application of lexicon and grammar, but also the construction of the text and the expression of the thought. For Chinese EFL learners, the common problem in English writing is that they tend to apply the Chinese…

Exploring the Relationship among International Students' English Self-Efficacy, Using English to Learn Self-Efficacy, and Academic Self-Efficacy

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Wang, Chih-hsuan; Harrison, Jamie; Cardullo, Victoria; Lin, Xi

2018-01-01

One of the major challenges for international students to pursue academic goals in the United States is English language proficiency, which often negatively affects academic success. Even students with confidence in their English language proficiency encounter challenges using English in class. Previous research indicates self-efficacy positively…

Improving Academic Writing Skills through Contextual Teaching Learning for Students of Bosowa University Makassar

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Syahriah Madjid

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is for helping students to improve their academic writing skills by changing the existing strategies which were considered ineffective at solving this kind of problem. This research was about how to improve student’s academic writing skills through contextual teaching and learning. The clientele of this research was the students of Civil Engineering Department of Bosowa University of Makassar. To gain the final result in this research there are three periods were needed. The result for the first period is only 26.67% or only 8 from 30 students could pass the standard qualifying. The students which passed the standard qualifying becomes 80% from 30 students in next period and in the final period the result was already succeeded, all of the students could pass the standard qualifying. Those experiments prove that this research showed that contextual teaching and learning effects can be used in helping students improve their academic writing skills. This research recommends the lecturer to conduct intensive training in the process of planning to write, the evaluation of sources of references, and the development of writing based on academic writing strategy.

Academic writing performance measured for research and instruction

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Firssova, Olga

2012-01-01

Firssova, O. (2011, January 19). Academic writing performance measured for research and instruction. Presentation at the ICO Course Domain specific research on learning and instruction: theories, methodology and curricular innovations, Utrecht, The Netherlands: Interuniversitair Centrum voor

An Approach to the Teaching of Academic Writing.

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Johnston, Sue Ann

1985-01-01

Discusses solutions to problems in teaching research paper writing skills to English as a second language students in developing countries where library resources are inadequate. Suggests the use of interviews as an alternative research source and shows how an oral report on research results can help to develop synthesizing skills. (SED)

Thailand through travel writings in English: An evaluation and representation

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Soranat Tailanga

2016-01-01

The analytical research studied representation of Thailand in travel writings in English through a stylistic approach, discourse analysis, and conceptions of Orientalism. It found that the writings provide a socio-cultural overview of Thailand and details of tourist attractions. The otherness of “Thainess” is constructed through Thailand's exotic beauty, dangers, social problems, political instability, inadequate freedom of expression, and ‘other habitus’ of Thais. These conceptualizations construct the readers' or tourists' identities as quality travelers and highly knowledgeable and moral individuals.

Student Beliefs and Attitudes about Authorial Identity in Academic Writing

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Pittam, Gail; Elander, James; Lusher, Joanne; Fox, Pauline; Payne, Nicola

2009-01-01

Authorial identity is the sense a writer has of themselves as an author and the textual identity they construct in their writing. This article describes two studies exploring psychology students' authorial identity in academic writing. A qualitative focus group study with 19 students showed that authorial identity was largely unfamiliar to…

Superordinate Precision: An Examination of Academic Writing among Bilingual Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

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Scott, Jessica A.; Hoffmeister, Robert J.

2018-01-01

Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an…

A Model of Critical Peer Feedback to Facilitate Business English Writing Using Qzone Weblogs among Chinese Undergraduates

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Xianwei, Gao; Samuel, Moses; Asmawi, Adelina

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore critical thinking skills in peer feedback for Business English writing in order to facilitate the quality of peer feedback and quality of Business English writing. "Critical peer feedback" was conceptualized with the integration of "critical thinking" and "peer feedback" in…

Emotionality and Formality in Postgraduate ELT Students’ Use of Diction in Farsi and English Writing

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Shabnam Vahidfar

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Diction conveys a wide array of meanings of which formality and emotionality are only two facets. Researchers have investigated various features of written discourse to capture discourse variation in L1 and L2 writings. Likewise, the present ex-post-facto study compared the formality and emotionality of diction in general and emotional English and Farsi texts produced by 20 MA students at Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch. Having verified the initial homogeneity of the participants, we required them to write four paragraphs, two in English and two in Farsi, on a general and an emotional topic. The formality of the words in English texts was determined based on Webster’s Dictionary. Further, the positive and negative emotion words used in English and Farsi texts were measured based on the definitions offered by Pennebaker and King (1999.The results of the statistical analyses revealed no significant difference in the formality of the words used by the participants in general and emotional English texts. The comparison of the research data, however, indicated significant differences in the use of emotion words in general and emotional English and Farsi texts. The findings underscore the need for raising learners’ awareness of the role diction can play in writing.

English Language Proficiency Tests and Academic Achievement: A Study on the Malaysian University English Test as a Predictor of Technical Programme Undergraduates Academic Achievement

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Nurhazlini Rahmat

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In the Malaysian education system, English has always played an important role. In acknowledging its importance, Malaysian University English Test (MUET has been introduced to enable continued emphasis on this role.  MUET has been made compulsory for those who wish to pursue a first degree programme in local universities. This study aims to examine the relationship between English language proficiency test (as measured by MUET bands to predict the undergraduates academic achievement (as measured by Cumulative Grade Point Average score. It also aims to determine the recommended MUET band as an entry requirement for prospective technical programme undergraduates in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM. The study was carried out among 225 final year undergraduates of five different faculties in UPM, namely Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.  The data used were obtained by administering a brief questionnaire and were quantitatively analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 19.  The study revealed that there is a medium positive correlation between English language proficiency and academic achievement where students who have scored higher bands for MUET are the ones who obtained higher CGPA in their study. Based on the findings, it is recommended that UPM and other local universities make changes towards the minimum MUET entry requirement to help prospective undergraduates excel in their academic study. Keywords: English language proficiency, academic achievement, technical programme, MUET, CGPA

Students' Perceptions of Academic Writing as a Mode of Communication

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Majidi, Mojdeh

2005-01-01

Adopting the social theory of writing and new rhetorical genre studies (Bakhtin, 1986; Dias, Freedman, Medway, & Pare, 1999; Freedman & Medway, 1994; Miller, 1984/1994) as the theoretical framework in this study I made an attempt to explore graduate students' perceptions of academic writing as a mode of communication in academia. I interviewed…

Applying Cultural Project Based Learning to Develop Students' Academic Writing

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Irawati, Lulus

2015-01-01

Writing is considered to be the most demanding and difficult skill for many college students, since there are some steps to be followed such as prewriting, drafting, editing, revising and publishing. The interesting topic like culture including lifestyle, costume, and custom is necessary to be offered in Academic Writing class. Accordingly, this…

Academic Motivations of Pre-Service English Language Teachers

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Ariogul, Sibel

2009-01-01

This study examines the academic motivation, in a Turkish context, of Turkish pre-service English teachers to contribute field research. Students (n=287) completed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test, and Pearson product…

A Study of the Relationship between Persian and English Writing Skills among Adult EFL Learners in Iran

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Azim Javadi-Safa

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This research aims at investigating the relationship between writing skill and sub-skills of first language (Persian and foreign language (English. Therefore, 50 upper-intermediate EFL learners in Iran who were majoring in the English language were asked to write on two different topics in Persian and English. Then, the compositions were evaluated based on ESL Composition Profile. Subsequently, using Pearson product-moment correlation, the correlation between the compositions overall scores in L1 and L2, as well as the correlations between each of five major components of writing, including content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics in the two languages were examined. The results displayed large correlations between the compositions overall scores as well as between the four writing sub-skills in L1 and L2. The highest correlations were observed between writing sub-skills of vocabulary, mechanics, language use, and content respectively. These findings entail some pedagogical implications for effective language learning in both L1 and L2, utilizing the enhancing effect of cross-linguistic transfer of writing.

Academic vocabulary in learner writing from extraction to analysis

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Paquot, Magali

2010-01-01

Academic vocabulary is in fashion, as witnessed by the increasing number of books published on the topic. In the first part of this book, Magali Paquot scrutinizes the concept of academic vocabulary and proposes a corpus-driven procedure based on the criteria of keyness, range and evenness of distribution to select academic words that could be part of a common-core academic vocabulary syllabus. In the second part, the author offers a thorough analysis of academic vocabulary in the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) and describes the factors that account for learners difficulties in

[Acquiring Science English: A Plan and System Are Needed].

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Foong, Foo Wah

2018-01-01

　Literary English is different from science English (SE) and pharmaceutical science English (PSE). Therefore, a totally new approach was adopted for students to learn PSE at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University (KPU). In 2012, a 4-year program for teaching PSE was proposed, and a stepwise-stepup tertiary science English education (SSTSEE) system was introduced at KPU. The system provides a novel form of PSE teaching that stretches from year 1 to 4, where the PSE level progresses to higher levels of learning with each passing academic year. With the launch of the SSTSEE system, relevant science-educated staff were provided with training and were also requested to study the syllabi of the respective academic years to write textbooks with the appropriate PSE content for their respective levels. From 2012 to 2015, textbooks and curricula for 4 year academic levels were developed and published to meet the needs for PSE learning at each academic level. Based on results of the SSTSEE system, year 1 students acquired the SE basics, and year 2 students applied the SE basics acquired. In years 3 and 4, students further pursued and developed their PSE ability. Additionally, students participated actively in developing skills in the reading, listening, writing, and speaking of SE/PSE. Active-plus-deep learning prompted students in developing those skills using illustrations, posters, and power-point slideshow presentations. By year 4, average achievers had established an independent level of competency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing PSE. Moreover, the SSTSEE system accommodated students timely in developing communication skills for practical fieldwork (clerkships) at pharmacies/hospitals in year 5 and for their future endeavors.

Teaching writing of scientific abstracts in English: CLIL methodology in an integrated English and Medicine course

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Philippa Mungra

2010-10-01

Full Text Available In the I Faculty at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” Medical School, one of the several methodology courses aims at developing approaches by physicians to patient queries. One such course comprises several disciplines: Pathology, Immunology, Medical Statistics, Internal Medicine and English, with the specific aim of furnishing students, all Italian speakers, with skills for searching and evaluating the medical literature for answers to patient queries regarding risks and effectiveness of therapy. This paper describes the integration of English into a Methodology Course and delineates how the language component uses a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL approach to train students to write the highly specific genre of journal abstracts for medical experimental research articles. A corpus of student writing is presented and discussed with the aim of furnishing one didactic model for language teaching within the Italian Medical Curriculum.

75 FR 13751 - Office of English Language Acquisition; Overview Information; Language Enhancement, and Academic...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-23

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of English Language Acquisition; Overview Information; Language... Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) may... Secretary and Director, Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic...

The 'Build-Up' Approach to Academic Writing Skills Development: The Case for a Discipline-Driven Collaborative Design

OpenAIRE

O'Brien, Orna; Dowling-Hetherington, Linda

2013-01-01

This paper discusses the design and delivery of support for academic writing skills development. The paper also presents a case study of such support on an undergraduate, part-time degree programme at University College Dublin (UCD). Elton (2010) suggests that the approach to academic writing is discipline dependent and that neither specialists in academic writing nor practising academics in a discipline can separately provide students with the necessary support to develop the ability to writ...

Latina/o Academics' Resilient Qualities in Their Linguistically Diverse Practices

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Cavazos, Alyssa G.

2016-01-01

Emphasis placed on academic writing in English may create challenges for multilingual academics as they negotiate diverse languages. Based on personal interviews with bilingual Latina/o academics in rhetoric and composition, this study reveals that their language practices reflect diverse resilient qualities at various stages in their academic…

Linguistic Features of Humor in Academic Writing

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Skalicky, Stephen; Berger, Cynthia M.; Crossley, Scott A.; McNamara, Danielle S.

2016-01-01

A corpus of 313 freshman college essays was analyzed in order to better understand the forms and functions of humor in academic writing. Human ratings of humor and wordplay were statistically aggregated using Factor Analysis to provide an overall "Humor" component score for each essay in the corpus. In addition, the essays were also…

English exposed common mistakes made by Chinese speakers

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Hart, Steve

2017-01-01

Having analysed the most common English errors made in over 600 academic papers written by Chinese undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers, Steve Hart has written an essential, practical guide specifically for the native Chinese speaker on how to write good academic English. English Exposed: Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Speakers is divided into three main sections. The first section examines errors made with verbs, nouns, prepositions, and other grammatical classes of words. The second section focuses on problems of word choice. In addition to helping the reader find the right word, it provides instruction for selecting the right style too. The third section covers a variety of other areas essential for the academic writer, such as using punctuation, adding appropriate references, referring to tables and figures, and selecting among various English date and time phrases. Using English Exposed will allow a writer to produce material where content and ideas-not language mistakes-speak the loudest.

Writing Learning Outcomes for English Language Lessons in Multilingual Schools

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Jones, Sally Ann

2016-01-01

This article proposes a pedagogic innovation in teacher education by articulating a method for writing learning outcomes for English language lessons in multilingual school contexts. The argument for this approach is founded on curriculum studies; however, the practice also draws specifically on applied psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic…

Solving the English-as-a-Second Language Writers' Dilemma

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Nowalk, Thomas

2010-01-01

This brief work stands against a four-year stretch of writing classes at Northern Virginia Community College, with the author teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students how to write academic essays. The courses taught have included high intermediate and advanced writers, many of whom plan to earn a degree at the college or any number of…

English Language Writing Anxiety among Final Year Engineering Undergraduates in University Putra Malaysia

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Min, Lau Sing; Rahmat, Nurhazlini

2014-01-01

Second Language Writing Anxiety (SLWA) is considered one of the most crucial factors affecting all second language learning. This study focused on a group of final year Engineering students' English Language writing anxiety (N = 93) in relation to their gender, race and MUET results. The findings showed that the male gender, Chinese and MUET band…

A Systemic-Functional Analysis of English Language Learners' Writing

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Luciana C. DE OLIVEIRA

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This article presents a systemic-functional linguistic analysis of two writing samples of the University of California Analytical Writing Placement (AWP Examination written by English language learners (ELLs. The analysis shows the linguistic features utilized in the two writing samples, one that received a passing score and one that received a failing score. The article describes some of the grammatical resources which are functional for expository writing, which are divided under three main categories: textual, interpersonal, and ideational resources. Following this brief description is the analysis of both essays in terms of these resources.. The configuration of grammatical features used in the essays make up the detached style of essay 1 and the more personal style of essay 2. These grammatical features include the textual resources of thematic choices and development, clause-combining strategies (connectors, and lexical cohesion; interpersonal resources of interpersonal metaphors of modality; and ideational resources of nominalization and abstractions as ideational metaphors. Implications for educational practice and recommendations for educators based on the analysis are provided.

Barriers to acquiring English reading and writing skills by Zulu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article reflects on an investigation into the barriers that hinder Zulu-speaking. English second language (L2) learners in the Foundation Phase from acquiring reading and writing skills. These barriers are categorised as contextual, language, school and intrinsic learner factors. A questionnaire based on these categories ...

On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

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Masood Khalili Sabet

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFLE. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS listening and listening in academic English programs. The requirements of the two domains were compared through a semi – structured interview with five participating academic English instructors from two state universities of Iran. It was found that whilst IELTS listening bears a little bit of resemblance to the one aspect of academic listening - the literal understanding, there are also some very significant differences. The findings suggests that the type of listening the IELTS requires is different from academic listening in terms of pragmatic understanding, the integration of skills, multiplicity of texts for listening, information literacy and the concept of construct irrelevant variance. The findings also indicate the overall usefulness of the IELTS preparation practices within academic English courses.

Supporting academic publication: evaluation of a writing course combined with writers' support group.

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Rickard, Claire M; McGrail, Matthew R; Jones, Rebecca; O'Meara, Peter; Robinson, Anske; Burley, Mollie; Ray-Barruel, Gillian

2009-07-01

Publication rates are a vital measure of individual and institutional performance, yet many nurse academics publish rarely or not at all. Despite widespread acceptance of the need to increase academic publication rates and the pressure university faculty may experience to fulfil this obligation, little is known about the effectiveness of practical strategies to support academic writing. In this small cohort study (n=8) comprising nurses and other professionals involved in university education, a questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-week "Writing for Publication" course combined with a monthly writers support group to increase publication rates. Two year pre and post submissions increased from 9 to 33 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Publications (in print) per person increased from a baseline of 0.5-1.2 per year. Participants reported increased writing confidence and greater satisfaction with the publishing process. Peer support and receiving recognition and encouragement from line managers were also cited as incentives to publish. Writing for publication is a skill that can be learned. The evaluated model of a formal writing course, followed by informal monthly group support meetings, can effectively increase publication rates.

The Effect of Six Different Corrective Feedback Strategies on Iranian English Language Learners’ IELTS Writing Task 2

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Reza Vahdani Sanavi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Scholars have long studied the effect of corrective feedback strategies on the writing ability of language learners, but few have formed designs in which more than three feedback strategies have been used. In this research, the ultimate goal was to discover how International English Language Testing System (IELTS- candidates could be helped to perform better in the writing component of the test with the feedback they get. To this end, 186 learners attending IELTS preparation classes in three different English language institutes participated in this quasi-experimental study. A one-way ANOVA was run to discover the significant difference among the six groups. The findings proposed that Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL students’ writing ability improved as a result of the employment of writing feedback strategies but that reformulation strategy was the most effective one. Teachers can, thus, benefit from the finding of this research by studying the way they should tackle the learners’ inaccurate productions as far as different writing score band descriptors are concerned.

Incorporating the Use of Writing-to-Learn Strategy in Grade 10 Mathematics Lessons: The Students' Perspectives

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Suhaimi, Zuhairina; Shahrill, Masitah; Tengah, Khairul Amilin; Abbas, Nor'Arifahwati Haji

2016-01-01

This study incorporated the use of writing-to-learn strategy, particularly journal writing, in Grade 10 mathematics lessons. Although part of a study conducted to investigate the effects of journal writing on academically lower-achieving learners with English as their second language, this paper will focus only on the students' perceptions of…

Metadiscourse in Academic Writing of Pre-University Arab Students at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM

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Khairul Zakaria Muhamad

2018-01-01

Full Text Available There is lack of studies on the use of metadiscourse markers; especially amongst international students studying in Malaysia and Malaysia are receiving scores of international students particularly from the Middle East annually. This study involves a textual analysis of students’ academic writing where the metadiscourse markers in 50 Arab IIUM students’ academic texts were identified and analyzed. The findings of this study indicated that Arab writers had a greater inclination for the deployment of the interactive markers (Total counts = 919 than interactional ones (Total counts = 592 as there was a higher percentage of interactive metadiscourse (60.8% usage than the interactional ones (39.2%. It might be useful for English language teachers to integrate cultural considerations within their syllabus with regard to metadiscourse markers in order to prepare relevant materials based on their students’ needs as well as to develop the students’ awareness of the importance of these linguistic features.

Writing and Reading Knowledge of Spanish/English Second-Generation Bilinguals

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Ardila, Alfredo; Garcia, Krystal; Garcia, Melissa; Mejia, Joselyn; Vado, Grace

2017-01-01

Written bilingualism represents a particular type of bilingualism that is not frequently approached. The aim of this study was to investigate the writing and reading abilities of second-generation immigrants, Spanish-English bilinguals in South Florida. 58 participants (36 females, 22 males; 18-39 years of age) were selected. Both parents were…

Passionate Writing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borgström, Benedikte

With care of writing as a method of inquiry, this paper engages in academic writing such as responsible knowledge development drawing on emotion, thought and reason. The aim of the paper is to better understand emancipatory knowledge development. Bodily experiences and responses shape academic...... writing and there are possibilities for responsible academic writing in that iterative process. I propose that academic writing can be seen as possibilities of passionate as well as passive writing....

A Study of English Language Learning Beliefs, Strategies, and English Academic Achievement of the ESP Students of STIENAS Samarinda

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Hayati, Noor

2015-01-01

This research aimed to investigate; students' English academic achievement, beliefs about English language learning, English language learning strategies, and the relationship of them. Descriptive and correlational design, quantitative methods were applied in this research. The students' final English scores of the first year, BALLI, and SILL were…

An investigation of using the computer for reading and writing in the English classroom in secondary schools in the UK

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Bin Zou

2006-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an investigation of using the computer in English teaching at the secondary school in the UK, particularly in respect of reading and writing skills. Many studies suggest that the computer brings significant possibilities for promoting the teaching of reading and writing in the English classroom. The computer can enhance the development of reading and writing. This study adopted interviews as research technique and some student teachers in a university and some English teachers in a secondary school in the UK involved this investigation. The findings of this study show that the computer can enhance students’ reading and writing. However, teachers have to learn how to control the process of teaching of reading and writing with the use of the computer.

The story of a narrative: Teaching and assessing English writing in a township school

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Caroline Akinyeye

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The new language curriculum in South Africa recommends that extended writing be taught through a combination of text-based (or genre and process approaches. This article reports on a study of the teaching and assessment of narrative writing in English as a first additional language (FAL at a time of curriculum change. The setting is a Cape Flats township school. In focusing on a story written by a Grade 9 learner and assessed by her teacher, the study sought evidence of the use of text-based and process approaches. The theoretical frame is informed by genre theory, which draws on Systemic Functional Linguistics and social constructivist approaches to language learning. A qualitative research paradigm was used. Data obtained for this case study included the learner’s writing, interviews with the teacher, and classroom observation. The study finds very little evidence of a scaffolded approach to the teaching and assessment of writing, and explores the constraints on the realisation of the curriculum cycle in English FAL. These relate to the teacher’s understanding of writing as well as to material conditions in township schools.

Interview with Alan Maley on Teaching and Learning Creative Writing

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Ruzbeh Babaee

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Alan Maley is a British, award-winning, internationally-known writer and artist, highly regarded for his unique observation of life at the turn of the century. He has been involved in English Language Teaching (ELT for over 50 years. He worked for the British Council in Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, China and India and was the Director of the Bell Educational Trust in Cambridge for 5 years. He later worked in universities in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and UK. Alan has published over 40 books and numerous articles. In the following, Dr. Maley answered our questions on teaching creative writing in academic centers, the relationship between creative writing and language learning, and the status of creative writing in non-English speaking countries.

Dual Rubrics and the Process of Writing: Assessment and Best Practices in a Developmental English Course

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Pireh, Diane Flanegan

2014-01-01

This article presents strategies for using two types of essay-writing rubrics in a developmental English class of students transitioning into college-level writing. One checklist rubric is student-facing, designed to serve as a guide for students throughout the writing process and as a self-assessment tool. The other checklist rubric is…

After exit: Academic achievement patterns of former English language learners.

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Ester J. de Jong

2004-09-01

Full Text Available With few exceptions, accountability systems for programs for English language learners (ELLs have focused on the achievement patterns of ELLs who are still considered “limited English proficient” and program evaluations have been unable to answer the question whether ELLs actually catch up with English proficient peers after attending a bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL program. Disaggregating data for former ELLs can therefore provide important information for long-term district and program accountability. The study was concerned with the achievement patterns in English language arts, Math, and Science of former ELLs who attended a bilingual and a English as a Second Language (ESL program. It also explored whether length of program participation and grade level exited played a significant role in predicting academic achievement patterns for these exited students. Results indicate that 4th grade students more closely paralleled non- ELL students’ achievement patterns than 8th grade students, particularly for the BE students. While length of program participation is not a significant predictor of former ELLs’ academic success, exit grade does emerge as an important variable to take into consideration in setting exit guidelines.

The Academic English Language Needs of Industrial Design Students in UiTM Kedah, Malaysia

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Adzmi, Nor Aslah; Bidin, Samsiah; Ibrahim, Syazliyati; Jusoff, Kamaruzaman

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyse the academic English language lacks and needs of Industrial Design students in Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah (UiTM). It highlights the lacks and needs for English for Academic Purposes in helping the students to succeed in the program through the usage of English language. The research tools used were in…

Error Analysis in Academic Writing: A Case of International Postgraduate Students in Malaysia

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Amiri, Fatemeh; Puteh, Marlia

2017-01-01

This paper examines the different types of writing errors performed by 16 international postgraduate students undertaking an intensive English course at a public university in Malaysia. It was mandatory for international postgraduate students who obtained less than IELTS Band 6 to undertake an Intensive English Course (IEC) offered by the…

Negotiating Ideologies about Teaching Writing in a High School English Classroom

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Vetter, Amy; Myers, Joy; Hester, Madison

2014-01-01

More research needs to examine how novice teachers successfully negotiate multiple ideologies with others in ways that allow them to construct preferred teaching identities. This qualitative study addressed that need by investigating how one high school English teacher negotiated contradictory ideologies related to writing instruction at her…

Integrating Web 2.0. tools "blog" and "wiki" into academic writing programme at university

OpenAIRE

Jasionavičienė, Sandra

2013-01-01

Article presents a new approach towards teaching writing in English. The 21st century learners communicate basically in writing – writing text messages, instant messages, e-mail messages, etc. Every person wants to become and to be an accomplished writer, engaged learner and active participant in the present-day digital and interconnected world. Therefore, educators around the globe started talking about teaching digital writing and the need to change the teaching methods to meet the needs of...

Relationship between "Form" and "Content" in Science Writing among English Language Learners

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Lee, Okhee; Penfield, Randall D.; Buxton, Cory A.

2011-01-01

Background/Context: While different instructional approaches have been proposed to integrate academic content and English proficiency for English language learning (ELL) students, studies examining the magnitude of the relationship are non-existent. This study examined the relationship between the "form" (i.e., conventions, organization, and…

“When That Wounds Are Evil Healed”: Revisiting Pleonastic That in Early English Medical Writing

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Martín Javier Calle

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The origin of pleonastic that can be traced back to Old English, where it could appear in syntactic constructions consisting of a preposition + a demonstrative pronoun (i.e., for py pat, for pæm pe or a subordinator (i.e., op pat. The diffusion of this pleonastic form is an Early Middle English development as a result of the standardization of that as the general subordinator in the period, which motivated its use as a pleonastic word in combination with many kinds of conjunctions (i.e., now that, if that, when that, etc. and prepositions (i.e., before that, save that, in that (Fischer 1992: 295. The phenomenon increased considerably in Late Middle English, declining rapidly in the 17th century to such an extent that it became virtually obliterated towards the end of that same century (Rissanen 1999: 303-304. The list of subordinating elements includes relativizers (i.e., this that, adverbial relatives (i.e., there that, and a number of subordinators (i.e., after, as, because, before, beside, for, if, since, sith, though, until, when, while, etc.. The present paper examines the status of pleonastic that in the history of English pursuing the following objectives: (a to analyse its use and distribution in a corpus of early English medical writing (in the period 1375-1700; (b to classify the construction in terms of genre, i.e., treatises and recipes; and (c to assess its decline with the different conjunctive words. The data used as source of evidence come from The Corpus of Early English Medical Writing, i.e., Middle English Medical Texts (MEMT for the period 1375-1500 and Early Modern English Medical Texts (EMEMT for the period 1500-1700. The use of pleonastic that in medical writing allows us to reconsider the history of the construction in English, becoming in itself a Late Middle English phenomenon with its progressive decline throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

INVESTIGATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EFL WRITING APPREHENSION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY IN CROATIA

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Moira Kostić Bobanović

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Writing apprehension defines a person's ability to write under various stress types. Depending on a situation, an average person might perform below expectations, or be less apprehensive about writing than a professional. The purpose of this research is to investigate Croatian University students’ English as a foreign language writing apprehension. For the purpose to determine if the variables of students' gender and academic level (age play a role in their writing apprehension, we adapted WAT (Writing Apprehension Test so this would be tailored to our study popu-lation. A longitudinal study was conducted among the students who were studying at the University of Juraj Dobrila, Pula. The participants were tested twice: in the first and in the third year. The results of the study indicated that, in contrary to respondents’ gender, academic level was significant variable in their estimates of writing apprehension. In accordance with the findings stated above, a number of recommendations for handling writing apprehension were set.

English Language Writing Anxiety among Final Year Engineering Undergraduates in University Putra Malaysia

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Lau Sing Min

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Second Language Writing Anxiety (SLWA is considered one of the most crucial factors affecting all second language learning. This study focused on a group of final year Engineering students’ English Language writing anxiety (N=93 in relation to their gender, race and MUET results. The findings showed that the the male gender, Chinese and MUET band 4 participants faced higher levels of anxiety as compared to the other groups respectively. Somatic anxiety was recorded to be the highest subscale of anxiety faced by most of the participants. The findings of this study can help in making suitable amendments in the engineering programme course structure, especially in determining the suitable English papers to be offered to the students.

Ethnography as Method, Methodology, and "Deep Theorizing" Closing the Gap between Text and Context in Academic Writing Research

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Lillis, Theresa

2008-01-01

This article critically explores the value of ethnography for enhancing context-sensitive approaches to the study of academic writing. Drawing on data from two longitudinal studies, student writing in the United Kingdom and professional academic writing in Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, and Portugal, the author illustrates the different contributions…

Creating an Oasis: Some Insights into the Practice and Theory of a Successful Academic Writing Group

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Wardale, D.; Hendrickson, T.; Jefferson, T.; Klass, D.; Lord, L.; Marinelli, M.

2015-01-01

Academic writing groups are acknowledged as a successful approach to increasing research publication output and quality. However, the possible links between the formation and ongoing utilisation of writing groups and improvements in scholarly written research outputs remain relatively undertheorised. In this article, we draw on academic writing…

ELF in English language teaching: Researching attitudes of Serbian academic community

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Ošmjanski Vera B.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the empirical part of the research was to explore the attitude of the Serbian academic community towards the English language used as lingua franca (ELF, i.e. neutral variety of the English language. The results might be a starting point in considering whether to include ELF in the language policy and, consequently, into English curricula in Serbia. The research included members of Serbian academic community, students of different departments, and English language teachers in the state owned and privately owned universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. After examining their attitudes towards key postulates of ELF the conclusions are that it is necessary to start discussions about the concepts of the variety and to reassess current deeply rooted ideas about the English language from the perspective of modern linguistic trends. The need for a more liberal approach to the variety is not generated only in the needs of the market, i.e. those people to whom English is a practical means of international communication, but also the need to adjust ELT (English Language Teaching to modern linguistic tendencies and the European Council recommendations.

Needs Analysis of the English Writing Skill as the Base to Design the Learning Materials

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Tenri Ampa Andi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This research used a descriptive method. It was aimed at identifying students’ learning needs for the English writing skill as the base for designing the learning materials. Writing skill covered the analysis of the types of paragraph, types of text, the components of writing and paragraph development. The subjects of the research were the fourth semester students that consisted of 330 students. The samples were taken 15 % randomly, so the number of samples was 50 students. The research used a questionnaire as the instrument to get responses from the students about their learning needs. The results showed that the learning needs for the writing skills coped with the types of paragraph development, the types of text, and components of writing skill. The types of paragraph development included the ways by definition (79.7%, classification (67.0%, listing (59.3%, cause effect (47.7%, example (47.3%, and comparison (45.7%. The types of text consisted of description (66.0%, news items (59.7%, narration (58.7%, discussion (56.7%, recount (57.0%, and exposition (50.7%. The components of writing skill contained structure (79.6%, vocabulary (79.4%, content (62.0%, organisation (53.6% and mechanic (34.0%. The implication of the findings would be the base of teaching and learning process, especially in designing the learning materials for the English writing skill.

Reading and Writing as Academic Literacy in EAP Program of Indonesian Leaners

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Solikhah, Imroatus

2015-01-01

This study investigates academic literacy imposed in reading and writing for academic purposes in the EAP program. This study uses descriptive design elaborating data from curriculum documents and interviews. Involving 45 participants from IAIN Surakarta and Veteran University, data were analyzed using constant-comparison and inductive analysis…

Leveraging the Potential of Peer Feedback in an Academic Writing Activity through Sense-Making Support

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Wichmann, Astrid; Funk, Alexandra; Rummel, Nikol

2018-01-01

The act of revising is an important aspect of academic writing. Although revision is crucial for eliminating writing errors and producing high-quality texts, research on writing expertise shows that novices rarely engage in revision activities. Providing information on writing errors by means of peer feedback has become a popular method in writing…

Ambivalence toward Black English: Some Tentative Solutions.

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Taylor, Hanni

1991-01-01

Describes the writing problems of a poor, black, urban student who wants to succeed in college but doesn't know how. Asserts that language use, particularly the use of Black English, plays a major role in their lack of academic success. Offers drills and strategies to help with this problem. (PRA)

English Language, Linguistics and Literature. : Selected Readings of Classical Writings for Linguistic Theory, Literature History, and Applications of the English Language.

OpenAIRE

Haase, Fee

2009-01-01

This collection contains selected readings of Ccassical writings for linguistic theory, literature history, and applications of the English language in documents from the early beginnings to the 20th century.

Introduction to and Bibliography of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing in English

OpenAIRE

Vasvári, Louise O.

2009-01-01

In her "Introduction to and Bibliography of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing in English," Louise O. Vasvári discusses aspects and perspectives of women's life writing, including her criteria of selection, the problematics of sourcing, issues of translation, and processes of publication. While the authors listed in the bibliography are overwhelmingly Jewish and from Central and East Europe, there are works listed by others whose experiences also offer important testimony not onl...

Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance in English

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Meera, K. P.; Jumana, M. K.

2015-01-01

This study reviews the relevant self-efficacy related literature, a central point of social cognitive theory, in the area of language learning. Role of self-efficacy in academic performance of learners is also considered. In the global world, English language has become the fundamental means of international affairs and communication. As a…

Action Research on a WebQuest as an Instructional Tool for Writing Abstracts of Research Articles

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Krismiyati Latuperissa

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The massive growth of and access to information technology (IT has enabled the integration of technology into classrooms. One such integration is the use of WebQuests as an instructional tool in teaching targeted learning activities such as writing abstracts of research articles in English for English as a Foreign Language (EFL learners. In the academic world, writing an abstract of a research paper or final project in English can be challenging for EFL students. This article presents an action research project on the process and outcomes of using a WebQuest designed to help 20 Indonesian university IT students write a research article’s abstract in English. Findings reveal that despite positive feedback, changes need to be made to make the WebQuest a more effective instructional tool for the purpose it was designed.

The style of academic e-mails and conventional letters: contrastive analysis of four conversational routines

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Clyde Ancarno

2005-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of a corpus-based study which investigates the genre of academic email and more specifically its pragmatic dimension. Four conversational routines (thank yous, apologies, requests, offers are analysed and compared in two channels: academic e-mails and conventional print letters. In addition, data from both native and non-native speakers of English is considered, which sheds light on some of the differences found in the academic e-mail writing of learners of English. The findings indicate that academic e-mail is a relatively formal type of correspondence which is still largely influenced, as is to be expected, by the genre of the academic letter, and that as a genre, academic e-mail is in the process of formation or semi-formation. Finally, native speakers of English are found to be more informal than non-native speakers of English in academic e-mails.

Humorous Writing Exercise Using Internet Memes On English Classes

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Abdul Aziz Turhan Kariko

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This study discusses Internet memes found by Internet users and how they appeal for them, by deconstructing what internet meme is and what it does. Analysis are conducted especially on how the relation between images, text, and meanings connect with each other to form social messages, political messages, universal emotions, or merely to make humor and entertain its users. Researcher examines five samples of internet memes on the internet and decodes their relation between images, texts, and meanings using semiotics. These samples are then introduced as writing assignments to two BINUS University’s English department classes and one Global English Class. The study reveals that humor and creativity in using internet memes are related to the students’ achievement in their studies.

A Model Of Critical Peer Feedback To Facilitate Business English Writing Using Qzone Weblogs Among Chinese Undergraduates

OpenAIRE

Gao Xianwei; Moses Samuel; Adelina Asmawi

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore critical thinking skills in peer feedback for Business English writing in order to facilitate the quality of peer feedback and quality of Business English writing. “Critical peer feedback” was conceptualized with the integration of “critical thinking” and “peer feedback” in order to improve the quality of peer feedback. This study explored the process, content and factors of critical peer feedback through Qzone weblogs, and summarized the model of crit...

Exploring Atypical Verb+Noun Combinations in Learner Technical Writing

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Luzon Marco, Maria Jose

2011-01-01

Professional and academic discourse is characterised by a specific phraseology, which usually poses problems for students. This paper investigates atypical verb+noun collocations in a corpus of English technical writing of Spanish students. I focus on the type of verbs that most frequently occurred in these awkward or questionable combinations and…

O letramento acadêmico em inglês: dificuldades na confecção da seção introdução de artigos acadêmicos English academic literacy: difficulties in writing the introduction section of research articles

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Marília Mendes Ferreira

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Este trabalho discute as dificuldades de um pós-graduando da área de energia na confecção da introdução de um artigo acadêmico em inglês. Duas versões do texto foram analisadas (uma após a instrução e outra após a conferência com a instrutora, comparando-as com os modelos de introdução de Swales (2004 e de Samraj (2002 ensinados no curso. O aluno apresentou os seguintes problemas: a narração como modo de organização retórica do texto, a ausência do movimento 2 dos modelos, uma escolha inadequada de léxico. A combinação desses elementos impediu que o texto apresentasse o valor cultural do gênero textual artigo acadêmico - a autopromoção. Os dados suscitam questionamentos sobre os limites da descrição empírica dos gêneros textuais e de seu ensino.This paper discusses the difficulties of a graduate student in the area of Energy in writing the introduction of a research paper in English. Two versions of the text (one after the instruction and another after the conference with the instructor were compared with Swales' (2004 and Samraj' (2002 models of introductions taught in the English academic writing course offered. The student revealed the following problems: narration as the rhetorical mode of organization of the text, the absence of Move 2 of the introduction, inappropriate choice of vocabulary. The combination of these factors prevented the article from having the cultural value of the academic article genre: self-promotion. The data raise questions about the limits of empirical description of genres and their teaching based on this kind of description.

Academic essay writing in the first person: a guide for undergraduates.

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Hamill, C

In this article, Conal Hamill aims to contribute to the on-going debate about the appropriate use of first person writing in academic nursing assignments and provide guidance for nursing undergraduates.

English Language Writing Anxiety among Final Year Engineering Undergraduates in University Putra Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Lau Sing Min; Nurhazlini Rahmat

2014-01-01

Second Language Writing Anxiety (SLWA) is considered one of the most crucial factors affecting all second language learning. This study focused on a group of final year Engineering students’ English Language writing anxiety (N=93) in relation to their gender, race and MUET results. The findings showed that the the male gender, Chinese and MUET band 4 participants faced higher levels of anxiety as compared to the other groups respectively. Somatic anxiety was recorded to be the highest subscal...

The Space Between: Pedagogic Collaboration between a Writing Centre and an Academic Department

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Mckay, Tracey Morton; Simpson, Zachary

2013-01-01

The expectations placed on students with respect to appropriate academic writing may hinder successful participation in Higher Education. Full participation is further complicated by the fact that each discipline within the University constitutes its own community of practice, with its own set of literacy practices. While Writing Centres aim to…

Reconfiguring the Role of the Research Paper: Collaborative Writing To Teach Basic Academic Research and Writing Strategies.

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Fleming, Michelle M.

Each year that the author of this paper, an English instructor at Moorhead College (Minnesota), teaches the first-year "research paper," one instructor turns more and more to collaborative writing work. And she admits that some of her motives in reshaping the research paper in collaborative ways can seem to be based in assisting herself…

A Corpus-based Study of English Vocabulary in Art Research Articles

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Ping Wang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The learning of English as a foreign language is an additional burden for art majors. This study aimed to examine high frequency words in art research articles to improve the efficiency of art majors’ English learning, especially their academic reading and writing. For this aim, the study built a corpus, analyzed data from art research articles and compared data with three base word lists. We found that the General Service List (GSL and the Academic Word List (AWL had a high coverage in our corpus, and there was a different high frequency word order in the Art Research Article Corpus (ARAC. These findings provide some implications for teaching English for art majors.

Academic Language Knowledge and Comprehension of Science Text for English Language Learners and Fluent English-Speaking Students

OpenAIRE

Chang, Sandy

2013-01-01

As an initial step toward understanding which features of academic language make science-based expository text difficult for students with different English language proficiency (ELP) designations, this study investigated fifth-grade students' thoughts on text difficulty, their knowledge of the features of academic language, and the relationship between academic language and reading comprehension. Forty-five fifth-grade students participated in the study; 18 students were classified as Engli...

Grammar Errors in the Writing of Iraqi English Language Learners

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Yasir Bdaiwi Jasim Al-Shujairi

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Several studies have been conducted to investigate the grammatical errors of Iraqi postgraduates and undergraduates in their academic writing. However, few studies have focused on the writing challenges that Iraqi pre-university students face. This research aims at examining the written discourse of Iraqi high school students and the common grammatical errors they make in their writing. The study had a mixed methods design. Through convenience sampling method, 112 compositions were collected from Iraqi pre-university students. For purpose of triangulation, an interview was conducted. The data was analyzed using Corder’s (1967 error analysis model and James’ (1998 framework of grammatical errors. Furthermore, Brown’s (2000 taxonomy was adopted to classify the types of errors. The result showed that Iraqi high school students have serious problems with the usage of verb tenses, articles, and prepositions. Moreover, the most frequent types of errors were Omission and Addition. Furthermore, it was found that intralanguage was the dominant source of errors. These findings may enlighten Iraqi students on the importance of correct grammar use for writing efficacy.

Qzone Weblog for Critical Peer Feedback to Improve Business English Writing: A Case of Chinese Undergraduates

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Xianwei, Gao; Samuel, Moses; Asmawi, Adelina

2016-01-01

This study explores Qzone weblog for critical peer feedback (CPF) in Business English writing (BEW) among the Chinese undergraduates. A qualitative case study is conducted by Nvivo 8 to analyze the three research data of semi-structured interviews, BEW writing assignments, and CPF artifacts on Qzone weblog. Three research questions are focused to…

Trait Based Assessment on Teaching Writing Skill for EFL Learners

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Asrobi, Maman; Prasetyaningrum, Ari

2017-01-01

This study was conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of trait based assessment on teaching writing skill for EFL learners. Designed as pre-experimental study with one group pretest and posttest design, it examined 20 students of the second semester of English Department of "Hamzanwadi University" in the academic year…

Drawing on Technical Writing Scholarship for the Teaching of Writing to Advanced ESL Students--A Writing Tutorial.

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Zielinska, Dorota

2003-01-01

Outlines the technical writing tutorial (TWT) that precedes an advanced English as a second language (ESL) writing course for students of English Philology at the Jagiellonian University, Poland. Finds a statistically significant increase in the performance of the students who had taken the TWT. Indicates that technical writing books and journals…

Reading and writing academic practices in the phonoaudiology program at the University of Cauca

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Pilar Mirely Chois-Lenis

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This article presents some results of an investigation aimed to characterize the academic literacy practices that are developed in the Phonoaudiology program at the University of Cauca. In this descriptive study, a sample of 24 students was taken from those in the last semester of the first academic period of 2009, who answered a survey of 26 multiple choice questions. The results indicate that the academic moment for which the students write and read the most is for the courses, who develop these practices primarily to be assessed and predominantly read and write their own lecture notes and the materials prepared by their faculty, to the detriment of scientific articles or papers for publication. It is expected, from these results, to generate reflexion processes and actions that qualify the practices of academic literacy within the program for the benefit of academic and professional performance of their students and graduates.

Unathi: The case study of a South African ESL learner who excels at writing in English

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Susan Ntete

2011-08-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the case study of a learner in Mdantsane Township in the Eastern Cape. Most black learners find it difficult to express themselves effectively in English. According to a survey made by Bot (1996 majority of black grade 7 learners are unable to read in English.  Many black learners in South Africa The study, which focused on five learners was an attempt to explain why some learners whose mother tongue is Xhosa are an exceptionally proficient writers of English. The article describes one of these learners and his writing practices. The data collected include formal interviews with this learner as well as an analysis of some of his writing. Some tentative conclusions are reached relating to the role of the teacher and certain affective factors. The article concludes with a few implications for researching teachers.

The Effectiveness of Pre-Service English Teachers’ Collaborative Genre-Based Writing Feedback

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Didik Rinan Sumekto

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the collaborative genre-based effectiveness among the pre-service English teachers (PSETs. Data collection used the genre-based writing feedback observation upon its reflection and instruction and need analysis questionnaire. The data analysis used multivariate statistics method to generalize the writing tests. The findings showed that the PSETs’ feedback supported the interaction, accountability, and interdependence. These aspects were due to the collaborative participation in groups, in which the PSETs worked with the flexibility, entirely performed the quality, andcontributed in positive attitude during the meetings and assignments. The feedback emphasized the learning improvement within the formative reflection through the general linear model (GLM repeated measures analysis, where F=6,114 and p<0,01. This study concludes that the collaborative genre-based writing feedback has the positive response from the PSETs. The determinant ranges gains in between 85% to 90% after a series of genre-based writing lectures were conducted.

EAP Study Recommendations and Score Gains on the IELTS Academic Writing Test

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Green, Anthony

2005-01-01

The IELTS test is widely accepted by university admissions offices as evidence of English language ability. The test is also used to guide decisions about the amount of language study required for students to satisfy admissions requirements. Guidelines currently published by the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes…

Proposing a Wiki-Based Technique for Collaborative Essay Writing

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Mabel Ortiz Navarrete

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at proposing a technique for students learning English as a foreign language when they collaboratively write an argumentative essay in a wiki environment. A wiki environment and collaborative work play an important role within the academic writing task. Nevertheless, an appropriate and systematic work assignment is required in order to make use of both. In this paper the proposed technique when writing a collaborative essay mainly attempts to provide the most effective way to enhance equal participation among group members by taking as a base computer mediated collaboration. Within this context, the students’ role is clearly defined and individual and collaborative tasks are explained.

THE RELEVANCE OF LEARNING APPLIED ENGLISH FOR ACADEMICS TO FOSTER PROFESSIONALISM

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Lubna Algadrie

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Academics who are not competent in communication skills, particularly language skills, will develop less compared to those who are. Communication skills in general and language skills in particular will foster professionalism since professionals will spend less time doing and more time managing as experience grows. Professionalism grows from qualities that can be learned and developed as well as information learned and acquired. Negotiating skills will enable them to win deals more readily. Moreover, internet based realms of communications are mostly English speaking creations, which vary in terms of level of formality and choice of words. In this paper the writer shares her experience in materials preparations and a classroom-centered research done on a group of academics of non-English majors who came to ITS Language Centre to improve their English language competence for career development and further studies.

Worlds Apart? International Students, Source-Based Writing, and Faculty Development Across the Curriculum

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Murphy, Greer Alison

2016-01-01

This study examined how English as a Second Language (ESL) and Writing program faculty at a professional liberal arts college partnered with faculty across the curriculum to help international students learn to write from sources and avoid unintentional plagiarism. Eight participants joined a series of action research professional development workshops. In these workshops, faculty focused on defining plagiarism in both academic and professional settings, designing culturally inclusive assignm...

Legitimizing Technical Communication in English Departments: Carolyn Miller's "Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing"

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Moore, Patrick

2006-01-01

Carolyn Miller's oft-cited "Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing," published in 1979, tries to give technical communication faculty more cultural capital in English departments controlled by literature professors. Miller replaces a positivistic emphasis in technical communication pedagogy with rhetoric. She shows how technical knowledge is…

Using Educative Assessments to Support Science Teaching for Middle School English-language Learners

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Buxton, Cory A.; Allexsaht-Snider, Martha; Suriel, Regina; Kayumova, Shakhnoza; Choi, Youn-jeng; Bouton, Bobette; Baker, Melissa

2013-03-01

Grounded in Hallidayan perspectives on academic language, we report on our development of an educative science assessment as one component of the language-rich inquiry science for English-language learners teacher professional learning project for middle school science teachers. The project emphasizes the role of content-area writing to support teachers in diagnosing their students' emergent understandings of science inquiry practices, science content knowledge, and the academic language of science, with a particular focus on the needs of English-language learners. In our current school policy context, writing for meaningful purposes has received decreased attention as teachers struggle to cover large numbers of discrete content standards. Additionally, high-stakes assessments presented in multiple-choice format have become the definitive measure of student science learning, further de-emphasizing the value of academic writing for developing and expressing understanding. To counter these trends, we examine the implementation of educative assessment materials—writing-rich assessments designed to support teachers' instructional decision making. We report on the qualities of our educative assessment that supported teachers in diagnosing their students' emergent understandings, and how teacher-researcher collaborative scoring sessions and interpretation of assessment results led to changes in teachers' instructional decision making to better support students in expressing their scientific understandings. We conclude with implications of this work for theory, research, and practice.

Academic Writing in the Business School: The Genre of the Business Case Report

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Nathan, Philip

2013-01-01

The writing of business case reports is a common requirement for students on academic business programmes and presents significant challenges for both native and non-native speaker students. In order to support the development of pedagogical practice in the teaching of case report writing, this paper reports a genre-based study of a corpus of 53…

Diagnosing EAP Writing Ability Using the Reduced Reparameterized Unified Model

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Kim, Youn-Hee

2011-01-01

Despite the increasing interest in and need for test information for use in instructional practice and student learning, there have been few attempts to systematically link a diagnostic approach to English for academic purposes (EAP) writing instruction and assessment. In response to this need for research, this study examined the extent to which…

Global Trends and Research Aims for English Academic Oral Presentations: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities for Learning Technology

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Barrett, Neil E.; Liu, Gi-Zen

2016-01-01

English has become the de facto language for communication in academia in many parts of the world, but English language learners often lack the language resources to make effective oral academic presentations. However, English for academic purposes (EAP) research is beginning to provide valuable insights into this emerging field. This literature…

Writing Abilities Longitudinally Predict Academic Outcomes of Adolescents with ADHD

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Molitor, Stephen J.; Langberg, Joshuah M.; Bourchtein, Elizaveta; Eddy, Laura D.; Dvorsky, Melissa R.; Evans, Steven W.

2016-01-01

Students with ADHD often experience a host of negative academic outcomes and deficits in reading and mathematics abilities contribute to these academic impairments. Students with ADHD may also have difficulties with written expression but there has been minimal research in this area and it is not clear whether written expression abilities uniquely contribute to the academic functioning of students with ADHD. The current study included a sample of 104 middle school students diagnosed with ADHD (grades 6–8). Participants were followed longitudinally to evaluate whether written expression abilities at baseline predicted student GPA and parent ratings of academic impairment 18 months later, after controlling for reading ability and additional relevant covariates. Written expression abilities longitudinally predicted both academic outcomes above and beyond ADHD and ODD symptoms, medication use, reading ability, and baseline values of GPA and parent-rated academic impairment. Follow-up analyses revealed that no single aspect of written expression was demonstrably more impactful on academic outcomes than the others, suggesting that writing as an entire process should be the focus of intervention. PMID:26783650

The Effect of the Peer-Review Technique on Students’ Writing Ability

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Martin Kustati

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The  aim of this  study  was  to investigate  if  there could be a  significant positive effect by using Peer-Review Technique (PRT on students‟ ability in writing  English. An experimental research  method  was used in this study. A writing test based on the indicators of Jacobs et al. (1981 was completed by 65  undergraduate  students  in  English  from  the  English Department  at  the Faculty  of Education and Teacher Training in the  State Institute for Islamic Studies “Imam Bonjol‟  at  Padang.  The students  were divided into two groups:  an  experimental group (n=33 and  a  control group (n=32. Both groups  were similar in terms of academic level,  the  given writing task and their  target language  [English]   proficiency. The experimental participants were introduced to  Peer-Review  Technique in  essay writing sessions whilst the control group participants were taught through the teacher’s traditional feedback (TTF whereby  students worked individually to produce their texts. The findings  showed that PRT gave  a  significant  improvement  effect on  the students‟ writing abilities. This study is expected to serve as (1  data  for further  developing PRT; (2 input for  lecturers  in  writing  to  develop more effective and innovative learning; and (3  additional  material  for  the development of critical and cooperative learning theories in teaching writing.

English language learning materials a critical review

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Tomlinson

2010-01-01

This research collection presents a critical review of the materials used for learning English around the world. The first section includes a discussion of materials for specific learners and purposes, such as young learners, self-study, academic writing and general proficiency. The second section presents a detailed study of the materials used in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Australia, and critically evaluates their effectiveness in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. Taking both the teacher's and the learner's needs into consideration, the book m

Deflating the "Confucian Heritage Culture" Thesis in Intercultural and Academic English Education

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O'Dwyer, Shaun

2017-01-01

This paper develops an interdisciplinary critical perspective on the concept of "Confucian Heritage Cultures" (CHC), used in intercultural and English language teaching theory to explain the supposed culturally distinct learning habits, expectations and schemas many Asian students bring to academic classrooms in English-speaking…

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY THROUGH STORYBOARD

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Miftahul Janah

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This study is a classroom action research which intended to improve students’ writing ability through Storyboard. The participants were the fourth semester students of English Department of STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu in academic year 2014/ 2015. The instruments used in collecting data were observation, questionnaire, and documents.  Observation is used to know what is really happening in the class and the condition when the class activity is taking place. Questionnaire is used to know the students’ perception towards Storyboard in improving their writing ability, and documents is used to get students’ written texts. Then, 1 assembling the data, 2 coding the data, 3 comparing the data, 4 building meanings and interpretations, and 5 reporting the outcomes, are the steps in analyzing the data. Having analyzed the data, it was found that there was improvement of the students’ activeness in writing activity and in writing ability.

Academic Boot Camp for the Writing of Psychology Research Reports

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Skues, Jason L.; Wise, Lisa

2014-01-01

Herein, we describe the implementation of, and responses to, a structured writing workshop in the form of an academic boot camp. Participants were 42 undergraduate psychology students from a medium-sized Australian university who were completing their major assignment for the semester. A majority of the students expressed satisfaction with the…

On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

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Masood Khalili Sabet; Hamid Reza Babaei

2017-01-01

The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFLE. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS listening and listening in academic English programs. The requirements of the two domains were compared through a semi – structured interview with five...

Ethical and Unethical Methods of Plagiarism Prevention in Academic Writing

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Bakhtiyari, Kaveh; Salehi, Hadi; Embi, Mohamed Amin; Shakiba, Masoud; Zavvari, Azam; Shahbazi-Moghadam, Masoomeh; Ebrahim, Nader Ale; Mohammadjafari, Marjan

2014-01-01

This paper discusses plagiarism origins, and the ethical solutions to prevent it. It also reviews some unethical approaches, which may be used to decrease the plagiarism rate in academic writings. We propose eight ethical techniques to avoid unconscious and accidental plagiarism in manuscripts without using online systems such as Turnitin and/or…

Actions of the Academic Literacy Laboratory of the University of São Paulo: promoting academic writing in the undergraduate and graduate programs

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Marília Mendes Ferreira

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The increasing internationalization of Brazilian universities requires its academic community not only to read, but also to communicate effectively in academic discourse in at least two languages - the mother tongue and a foreign language (mainly English. However, material conditions for meeting these demands are practically nonexistent in Brazilian higher education institutions (FERREIRA, 2015. The purpose of this article is to describe an action that aims to meet one of these demands imposed by internationalization – the socialization of academic production in English, French and Portuguese not only for reading purposes and assimilation of content, but above all for the publication in these languages. This action is undertaken by the Academic Literacy Laboratory at the University of São Paulo.

Writing for Journal Publication: An Overview of NNES Challenges and Strategies

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Fazel, Ismaeil

2013-01-01

After a brief discussion of the importance of publishing in academic journals, this paper provides an overview of studies on writing for publication of NNES (non-native English speaking) writers. Based on the related literature, different language problems facing NNES contributors, from the perspective of both NNES writers and journal editors, as…

Argumentative Features of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Essays: A Rhetorical Analysis on Successful Exam Essays

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Ananda, Ririn Putra; Arsyad, Safnil; Dharmayana, I Wayan

2018-01-01

An argument in academic writing is an essential element; it is used to convince readers that the writer's opinion or claim can be acceptable. However, this may be problematic for university students or new writers especially when writing in a language other than their first language such as Indonesians who take an international English writing…

Applying Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model to develop an online English writing course for nursing students.

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Tai, Hung-Cheng; Pan, Mei-Yu; Lee, Bih-O

2015-06-01

Learning English as foreign language and computer technology are two crucial skills for nursing students not only for the use in the medical institutions but also for the communication needs following the trend of globalization. Among language skills, writing has long been ignored in the curriculums although it is a core element of language learning. To apply the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge) model to design an online English writing course for nursing students, and to explore the effects of the course to the students' learning progress as well as their satisfactions and perceptions. A single-group experimental study, utilizing the CEEC (College Entrance Examination Center) writing grading criteria and a self-designed course satisfaction questionnaire, is used. Fifty one nursing students who were in their first/four semesters of the two year vocational pre-registration nursing course in a Taiwan university were selected using convenience sampling. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measure MANOVA. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. Students' writing competence had been improved significantly in every dimension after the instruction. Only half of the learners preferred online writing compared to the traditional way of writing by hand. Additionally, participants reported that they would prefer to receive feedback from the teacher than peers, yet they did not like the indirect feedback. The teacher perceived the course as meaningful but demanding for both learning and teaching sides. To implement the peer review activities and give feedback on time were two major challenges during the cycles. The TPACK model suggests a comprehensive and effective teaching approach that can help enhance nursing students' English writing performance. Teachers are advised to consider its implementation when designing their syllabus. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lexical Diversity and the Use of Academic and Lower Frequency Words in the Academic Writing of EFL Students

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Akbari, Neda

2017-01-01

This study focuses on lexical diversity and the use of academic and lower frequency words in essays written by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students enrolled in Years 1 and 2 at the undergraduate university level. The purpose of this study is to find out the extent to which EFL students become more proficient in their use of academic and…

Gender as predictor of academic achievement in English among ...

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The study examined the influence of gender on academic achievement in English Language among senior secondary school students in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State. The researchers adopted survey designfor the study. The study sample comprise 660 Senior Secondary School two (SSS II) students drawn from ...

An empirical study on the application of memetics to the teaching of college English writing

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Huang Zeyun

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Memes, the replicator of culture and information, and basic unit of culture, are copied, spread, transmitted and finally survives through imitation among vectors. The replication and transmission of memes have some resemblance to the process of second language acquisition. This paper examines the influence of language memes on the development of Chinese college students’ English writing proficiency through an empirical study. The study reveals that students instructed by the framework of teaching writing with memetics obtain an obvious improvement in their overall writing proficiency, compared with those who are instructed by the traditional method, that students’ awareness of using memes is greatly enhanced, and that language memes are significantly correlated to the students’ performance in the post-test writing. Singular language memes can be easily transmitted; memetic genotype prevails in EFL learners’ essay writing.

Reconsiderations: We Got the Wrong Gal--Rethinking the "Bad" Academic Writing of Judith Butler

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Birkenstein, Cathy

2010-01-01

It is hard to think of a writer whose work has been more prominently upheld as an example of bad academic writing than the philosopher and literary theorist Judith Butler. In 1998, Butler was awarded first prize in the annual Bad Writing Contest established by the journal "Philosophy and Literature," and early in 1999, was lampooned in an…

The Development and Validation of the "Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS)" for Non-Native English Speaking Graduate Students

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Schroeder, Rui M.

2016-01-01

This study reports on the three-year development and validation of a new assessment tool--the Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS). The questionnaire is the first of its kind to assess the listening and speaking strategy use of non-native English speaking (NNES) graduate students. A combination of sources was used to develop the…

University writing

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Miguel Zabalza Beraza

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Writing in the University is a basic necessity and a long-range educational purpose. One of the basic characteristics of the university context is that it requires writing both as a tool of communication and as a source of intellectual stimulation. After establishing the basic features of academic writing, this article analyzes the role of writing for students (writing to learn and for teachers (write to plan, to reflect, to document what has been done. The article also discusses the contributions of writing for both students and teachers together: writing to investigate. Finally, going beyond what writing is as academic tool, we conclude with a more playful and creative position: writing for pleasure and enjoyment.

THE INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY OF WRITING COURSE AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF UMS: A NATURALISTIC STUDY

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Fibrian Anindyawati

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to get a thorough description of the teaching learning process of Writing Course at English Department of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta, covering the syllabuses, the learning objectives, the instructional materials, the teachers’ roles, the students’ roles, the classroom techniques, the classroom procedures, the teaching media, and the assessment models. The data of this research were collected through observation, interview, and documentation. This research was a naturalistic study. The result shows that the syllabus used in Writing I & II is grammatical syllabus and Writing III & IV task-based syllabus. The learning objectives categorized into two namely, general objectives and specific objectives. The instructional materials were divided into three categories: printed materials, visual materials, and materials from the internet. The teachers’ roles were as organizer, consultant, feedback provider, assessor, and motivator. The students’ roles were as active participant, peer reviewer, and peer editor. The classroom techniques consist of brainstorming, discussion, question and answer, self-correction, assignment. The classroom procedures of Writing I & II were BKOF-MOT-ICOT; Writing III were reviewing, gathering ideas, organizing, build writing activity; and Writing IV were reviewing, explaining the materials, gathering ideas, organizing, build writing activity. The media used were LCD Projector, board, slides, and videos. The assessment model consisted of: multiple choices, weekly assignments, quizzes, mid-test, and final-test.     Keywords: Instruction, writing course, teaching writing

THE EFFECTS OF LEARNING MODELS AND LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE ON THE PERSUASIVE WRITING SKILL

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Yusri, Yusri; Emzir, Emzir

2017-01-01

The objective of this study is to know the effects of learning models (problem solving and project based learning) and linguistic intelligence  on the students of persuasive writing skill of the fourth semester students  of English Department, State Polytechnic of Sriwijaya Palembang, in the academic year of 2016-2017. The writer used linguistic intelligence test and persuasive writing test to collect the data. The data was analyzed  statistically by using two-factor ANOVA a...

A Model Of Critical Peer Feedback To Facilitate Business English Writing Using Qzone Weblogs Among Chinese Undergraduates

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Gao Xianwei

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to explore critical thinking skills in peer feedback for Business English writing in order to facilitate the quality of peer feedback and quality of Business English writing. “Critical peer feedback” was conceptualized with the integration of “critical thinking” and “peer feedback” in order to improve the quality of peer feedback. This study explored the process, content and factors of critical peer feedback through Qzone weblogs, and summarized the model of critical peer feedback. A qualitative case study was conducted with a group of six junior students majoring in Business English for one semester in a Chinese university. Three models of critical thinking including Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, Paul-Elder Model and Reichenbach’s Six Steps Model, were transferred to the participants in the workshops. Three kinds of data including semi-structured interview transcripts, six writing assignments and artifacts of critical peer feedback, were analyzed by QSR NVivo 8. The findings revealed that the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is more acceptable for the beginners of critical peer feedback which provides a six-step model of critical thinking. The process of critical peer feedback in online context was summarized as four steps- “intake”, “critical thinking”, “output”, and “post-output”. Each of the four steps had several mental processes in critical peer feedback. This study may be significant for the knowledge of higher-order peer feedback to facilitate the quality of higher-level writing.

Cyborgs, desiring-machines, bodies without organs, and Westworld: Interrogating academic writing and scholarly identity

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Deborah M. Netolicky

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This paper fashions a lens through which to view scholarly identity and the experience of academic writing. The lens of inquiry I apply is the metaphor of Season 1 of sci-fi HBO television show Westworld and its characters, especially its cyborg protagonist Dolores. Thrumming like electric currents through this lens of inquiry are Haraway’s theorization of the cyborg, the fictional worlds of science fiction and Wonderland, my own lived experience, and Deleuze and Guattari’s desiring-machines and bodies without organs. I engage in the cyborgic technology of writing in order to playfully explore what it means to be a cyborg academic operating in intersecting machinic worlds. I ask: Can we listen to our internal voices and write our own stories? Can we burn the world clean with our scholarship and the ways in which we interrogate ingrained and expected practices?

Using Portfolio to Assess Rural Young Learners' Writing Skills in English Language Classroom

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Aziz, Muhammad Noor Abdul; Yusoff, Nurahimah Mohd.

2015-01-01

This study aimed at discussing the benefits of portfolio assessment in assessing students' writing skills. The study explores the use of authentic assessment in the classroom. Eleven primary school children from Year 4 in a rural school in Sabah participated in this study. Data were collected by observing them during the English Language lessons…

Graduate Students' Needs and Preferences for Written Feedback on Academic Writing

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Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar

2016-01-01

The aim of this research is to examine graduate students' needs and preferences for written feedback on academic writing from their lecturers and thesis supervisors. Quantitative method via survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 21 respondents. The data collection involved Master and Doctorate students at a tertiary level institution…

Writing and Related Problems for EFL Students

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Hassan Edalat

2008-05-01

Full Text Available ESL students who write in English may present written material in a rhetorical and organizational mode that reflects the pattern which is valued in their native culture and rhetoric. Considering the violation of English code of writing in the writings of Iranian students, we will notice one common characteristic: They are reluctant (or ignorant of to write a unified paragraph. Their writing consists of one whole page or two. They do not divide their writing into separate paragraphs. The knowledge of the writer on any subject begins and ends as much as the time or space for writing allows with no paragraph separation. The length of sentences is extraordinary, and the position of modifiers does not seem natural according to the code of English sentence pattern. This means that elements transferred from L1 rhetoric result in a production which does not match the English language style and rhetoric, despite the fact that some students lack grammatical competence. As a result, this type of writing is labeled unacceptable, vague or erroneous by English language standards. The focus of this study is to use English major students' writings to identify the elements which violate English language pattern of writing. The sources of errors responsible for non-English language rhetoric will be classified after a short theoretical review in the literature and finally suggestions for the elimination of errors will be presented.

Actions of the Academic Literacy Laboratory of the University of São Paulo: promoting academic writing in the undergraduate and graduate programs

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Marília Mendes Ferreira

2016-09-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n3p125 The increasing internationalization of Brazilian universities requires its academic community not only to read, but also to communicate effectively in academic discourse in at least two languages - the mother tongue and a foreign language (mainly English. However, material conditions for meeting these demands are practically nonexistent in Brazilian higher education institutions (FERREIRA, 2015. The purpose of this article is to describe an action that aims to meet one of these demands imposed by internationalization – the socialization of academic production in English, French and Portuguese not only for reading purposes and assimilation of content, but above all for the publication in these languages. This action is undertaken by the Academic Literacy Laboratory at the University of São Paulo.

Reflections on the GUN CONTROL Simulation: Pedagogical Implications for EAP Writing Classes

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Salies, Tania Gastao

2007-01-01

This article critically reflects on the GUN CONTROL simulation (Salies, 1994a) by retaking ideas advanced by Salies (2002) and applying them to the context of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing classes in Brazil. It examines how controlled practice relates to learners' performance on the first draft in a simulation-based content unit…

How to measure PhD. students' conceptions of academic writing - and are they related to well-being?

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Kirsti Lonka

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This study investigated PhD students’ conceptions of writing and how they saw themselves as writers. The Writing Process Questionnaire was created to analyse PhD students’ ideas of academic writing. In addition, it was of interest, what the relation between conceptions of writing and the PhD students’ well-being was. The participants were 669 PhD students from a major Finnish university who volunteered to fill in a questionnaire. The present study covered scales for measuring six distinct theoretical constructs that were created by forming sum variables of 26 questions: Blocks, Procrastination, Perfectionism, Innate ability, Knowledge transforming, and Productivity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was used to verify the six-dimension construct. Exhaustion, stress, anxiety and lack of interest all correlated positively with Blocks, Procrastination, and Perfectionism, and negatively with Productivity. Confirmatory factor analysis conducted by LISREL confirmed the six-factor structure of the writing scale. In conclusion, there is good evidence that the questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool, and it captures some essential aspectsof academic writing process and its emotional dimensions.

The English proficiency and academic language skills of Australian bilingual children during the primary school years.

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Dennaoui, Kamelia; Nicholls, Ruth Jane; O'Connor, Meredith; Tarasuik, Joanne; Kvalsvig, Amanda; Goldfeld, Sharon

2016-04-01

Evidence suggests that early proficiency in the language of school instruction is an important predictor of academic success for bilingual children. This study investigated whether English-proficiency at 4-5 years of age predicts academic language and literacy skills among Australian bilingual children at 10-11 years of age, as part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children ( LSAC, 2012 ). The LSAC comprises a nationally representative clustered cross-sequential sample of Australian children. Data were analysed from a sub-sample of 129 bilingual children from the LSAC Kindergarten cohort (n = 4983), for whom teachers completed the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) checklist (a population measure of early childhood development) and the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) language and literacy subscale. Linear regression analyses revealed that bilingual children who commenced school with stronger English proficiency had higher academic language and literacy scores at the end of primary school (β = 0.45). English proficiency remained a significant predictor, even when accounting for gender and socio-economic disadvantage (β = 0.38). The findings indicate that bilingual children who begin school without English proficiency are at risk of difficulties with academic language and literacy, even after 6 years of schooling. Risk factors need to be identified so early support can be targeted towards the most vulnerable children.

Academic English Reading for International College Students: The Role of Metacognitive Reading Strategies

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Iwai, Yuko; Filce, Hollie; Ramp, Ellen

2011-01-01

In this study, the authors examined the impact of metacognitive reading strategies on international college students' academic success by correcting the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) instrument with (a) grade point averages (GPAs) and (b) the English language proficiency levels, categorized by beginning (students at the English Language…

A Case for Improved Reading Instruction for Academic English Reading Proficiency

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Glenn Ole Hellekjær

2008-06-01

Full Text Available This article presents a study of the academic reading proficiency in English of 217 senior level Norwegian upper secondary school students who upon graduation are considered qualified for higher education. Testing with an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Reading Module revealed that two thirds of the 178 respondents with ordinary EFL courses did not achieve the equivalent of the IELTS Band 6 score minimum that is usually required for admission to British and Australian universities. In comparison, two thirds of a sample of 39 respondents with a single, sheltered Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL subject achieved a Band 6 score or better. Closer analysis indicates that the poor test scores can be attributed to weaknesses in current English as a Foreign Language (EFL instruction where reading is neglected, where students do not learn to adjust how they read to reading purpose, and where they do not learn how to handle unfamiliar words to avoid disrupting the reading process. The article ends with suggestions on how to improve EFL instruction, in Norway and elsewhere.

The Effects of Metacognitive Learning Strategy in Writing Enhancement of English Studen

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Nazli Tyfekci

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the effectiveness of metacognitive learning strategy in writing enhancement of English language and literature students in Kosovo. The research examined students’ metacognitive knowledge and regulation about their priorities regarding drafting, planning, organizing, summarizing, composing, reviewing and later on evaluation. Divided into two phases to first measure their awareness towards metacognition, and then to evaluate their capability in composition through learning strategies, the results of the research suggest that, contrary to the traditional view, in Kosovo, that places its importance on the teacher and not the student, the experimental participants proved that by utilizing metacognitive learning strategy enhances their writing efficiency and effectiveness. Findings also suggest that students’ attitude towards new and modern learning strategies is potently positive and welcoming.

A Comparison between the Use of Nominalization in Medical Papers by English and Iranian Writers

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Ali Mahbudi

2014-11-01

Full Text Available A prominent feature of formal writing, particularly in the field of science and technology, is the use of nominalization. Scientific writings, including medical writings, are expected to observe formality, precision, lack of ambiguity and concentration of highly technical terms. In such genres, the use of nominalization, affecting the lexical density of the text, plays a key role. In this connection, the purpose of this study was to compare the use of nominalization and the level of lexical density in medical academic articles written by native English writers and their Iranian counterparts based on the theory of grammatical metaphor proposed by Halliday (1985.  To this end, the abstract section of 20 authentic English medical articles written by native English writers and 20 abstracts written by Iranian authors, drawn from highly influential medical journals, were selected. These abstracts were analyzed and compared based on the frequency of nominalization used and the level of lexical density in them. The findings revealed that Iranian writers used less nominalization in their writings.

Disciplinary Epistemologies, Generic Attributes and Undergraduate Academic Writing in Nursing and Midwifery

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Gimenez, Julio

2012-01-01

Generic attributes such as "holding a critical stance", "using evidence to support claims", and "projecting an impersonal voice" are central to disciplinary academic writing in higher education. These attributes, also referred to as "skills", have for a long time been conceptualised as transferable in that…

Opinions of Students Completing Master Thesis in Turkish Education Field about Academic Writing and Thesis Formation Process

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Mustafa Onur KAN

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The overall aim of this research is to evaluate opinions of students completing master thesis in the field of Turkish education about academic writing and process of forming thesis. The study has been devised using phenomenological design within the qualitative research methods. The study group of research is consisted of 9 participants completed master thesis in the field of Turkish education at Mustafa Kemal University Instıtute of Social Sciences in 2015. In this study, semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was used to collect data. In order to ensure the reliability of the scope and structure, table of specification was constituted and expert views were consulted. For analyzing data descriptive analysis method was used. According to results of the research, it was obtained that participants experience various diffuculties in writing the basic sections of the thesis. In addition, it was seen that participants can not benefit enough from the studies written in foreign language. Participants reported that they find themselves more enough about academic writing and process of forming thesis after postgraduate education, but also they stated that academic writing courses should take part in program.

Analyzing writing in english-medium instruction at university

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María Sagrario Salaberri Ramiro

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The number of bilingual and English-Medium-Instruction (EMI degree programmes has grown significantly in Spanish universities during the last few years, becoming a new trend within the Bologna system. The implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA led to changes in Spanish universities, promoting a shift in the teaching methods and enhancing the improvement in quality and international competitiveness pursuing an increase in mobility opportunities and the employability of the European graduates. The command of the English language in specialized university contexts became thus crucial. Research conducted at university level reveals that university students often have difficulty in performing the cognitive and discursive operations involved in the comprehension and production of written texts. These difficulties aggravate when the written performance has to be conducted in a nonnative language. The present paper analyses the written production of Chemistry students following an EMI approach at the University of Almería (Spain from a qualitative perspective. Results show the differences in the performance of certain areas of written language competence, which evidences the need to adopt methodologies that solve the problems and difficulties faced by students in order to help them integrate the global features of the writing ability within their own course contents in a second language.

Promoting critical thinking and academic writing skills in nurse education.

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Borglin, Gunilla

2012-07-01

Although academic skills, conceptualised as writing and critical thinking, are a vital part of university studies, research indicates that many students leave without having mastered these skills effectively. This research also reflects on nursing students. Nursing could also be said to be hampered by a number of complex educational challenges that are likely to impact on the academic socialisation process in general. These challenges include being a relatively 'young' academic discipline, the 'theory-practice' divide, a knowledge bed lying on a complex intersection of two 'antithetical sciences' and, at least in the Scandinavian countries, an increasing number of nurse educators with a PhD in nursing science but with limited time to develop their own teaching skills. In combination, these challenges have the potential to act as stumbling blocks, both from a teaching and learning perspective. I would suggest that a departure in teaching from theoretical educational models, such as Lea and Street's 'academic literacies model,' including skills, socialisation and academic literacy models simultaneously, could be one of several ways forward to create a learning environment that takes these issues into account. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Creativity in English Writing Instruction : Tracing the Discursive History of the Key Word

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Kita, Kazutake

2014-01-01

Since the 1970s the field of English writing instruction has given a broad welcome to the term creative/creativity, which has been used without any strict definition and has taken on the features of a cant word. Presented in this paper is an attempt to provide a comprehensive description and explanation of various uses of the term found in this specific context. A historical review of ELT Journal, TESOL Quarterly and The English Teachers’ Magazine reveals that the introduction of the term cre...

STUDENT TEAMS-ACHIEVEMENT DIVISION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL

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Sri Wahyuni

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Acquiring writing skill needs a lot of practices, and to produce a piece of writing needs a long process; hence, the appropriate method of the teaching and learning is very important to help students master writing skill. This article aims at reporting a research on the implementation of Student Teams-Achievement Division (STAD as an alternative teaching method to improve students’ writing skill. Through Classroom Action Research design, the researcher did the research at fourth semester students of English Education study program of STAIN Kediri in academic year 2012-1013. The research procedures are planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The findings show that the implementation of STAD can improve the students’ writing skill which were indicated by the high percentage of the students’ active involvement and positive response on the implementation, and the students’ product of writing in which all of writing components can achieve good level in marking scheme as the minimum level.

Adolescents’ Awareness of Environmental Care: Experiences when Writing Short Descriptive Texts in English

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Lorena Jaramillo Urrutia

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Today it is necessary to approach environmental topics with students in an interdisciplinary manner to mitigate the environmental damages that the Earth is suffering. In this paper we report an action-research and innovation study aimed at sensitizing students with respect to the care and preservation of the environment through the writing of short descriptive texts in English. The study had four stages: motivation, knowledge of ecological vocabulary, production of sentences and paragraphs, construction of short descriptive texts with the help of guidance questions and their publication in the school newspaper. The findings show that the procedure used in class promotes interdisciplinary work around environmental topics as well as the development of writing skills.

Nursing students' understanding of critical thinking and appraisal and academic writing: a descriptive, qualitative study.

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Borglin, Gunilla; Fagerström, Cecilia

2012-11-01

In Sweden, regulations from the National Agency for Higher Education advocate an education that equips students with independence as well as critical, problem-based thinking, i.e. academic literacy skills. However, some research findings indicate that students may leave higher education without mastering these skills effectively. As part of quality-assuring a nursing programme at a university college in south-east Sweden we explored the nursing student's view of crucial academic literacy skills, such as critical thinking and appraisal and academic writing, by conducting a descriptive, qualitative study. Informants were recruited through an advertisement posted on the university's e-learning tool. Eight focused interviews were conducted during autumn 2010. The transcribed interviews were analysed - inspired by content analysis - and two categories became apparent: constantly questioning and formality before substance. The latter revealed a gap between the student's perception of academic writing and that of the educators, thus implying that nursing students might not be equipped with the tools they need to develop within academia. We suggest that students could benefit in their academic endeavours from theoretical educational models that integrate several academic skills simultaneously and which could be incorporated into the development of syllabuses and curriculums. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feminism and Cultural Studies in Composition: Locating Women and Men in College Writing Courses

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Perry, Merry G.

2006-01-01

Merry Perry teaches English courses (both writing and literature) where the majority of the students are white, middle class, and conservative. Perry begins the article by saying that in such an academic environment, her most challenging task is not teaching grammar, punctuation, or editing skills, but challenging these students to think about and…

THE STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL AFTER IMPLEMENTING BLENDED LEARNING USING FACEBOOK

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Dwi Sulisworo

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Almost all students use smartphone for their daily activities. Nowadays, the student’s literacy on information technology is very good, but sometimes it has not been considered in school learning. One of the essential competencies of undergraduate school is academic writing skill. There is a gap between the student competencies and the learning strategy in certain learning subjects. The aim of this research is to examine the effectiveness of blended mobile learning activity using Facebook to improve student writing skill. This research used timed essay examination to measure the writing skill after one semester learning activity using this strategy and student satisfaction responses to learning. There were four aspects used as criteria of writing skill: ideas, organization, wording, and flavor. The results showed that this learning approach had shown good results in some aspects, particularly in improving the skill of shaping ideas and organizing the ideas into written form. The uses of various learning strategies that make students more active and centered on students tend to increase the ability of students to search for new ideas creatively. Among others, the positive aspect is the students have the knowledge and understanding of new concepts that can support the idea of writing in the aspect of idea and various choices of words.

Hybrid Identity in Academic Writing: “Are There Two of Me?”

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Troy Crawford

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the construction of identity in an academic learning environment in Central Mexico, and shows how identity may be linked to non-language factors such as emotions or family. These issues are associated with elements of hybrid identity. To analyze this we draw on language choice as a tool used for the construction of identity and for showcasing and defending identity through exploratory interviews with the bilingual students and teachers. The results draw our attention towards the role of non-linguistic variables and their relationship to emotional and contextual issues that influence how academic writing occurs within the school confines, where hybrid identities may be constructed for academic purposes.

A Study of Jordanian University Students' Perceptions of Using Email Exchanges with Native English Keypals for Improving Their Writing Competency

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Mahfouz, Safi Mahmoud

2010-01-01

English foreign language learners generally tend to consider email exchanges with native speakers (NSs) as an effective tool for improving their foreign language proficiency. This study investigated Jordanian university students' perceptions of using email exchanges with native English keypals (NEKs) for improving their writing competency. A…

How do faculty conceptions on reading, writing and their role in the teaching of academic literacies influence their inclusive attitude

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Laura Colombo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study explored faculty conceptions about reading and writing, the student body, reasons for student low-performance as well as their declared teaching practices aimed at helping students to better understand readings and write academic texts. The objective was to understand what type of professors´ conceptions contributed with a more inclusive attitude towards first-year students. Content analysis from data gathered from in-depth interviews indicates that professors who acknowledged the complexity of the reading and writing processes tend to be more inclusive and to use reading and writing to teach and not just to evaluate. Those who taught writing courses tended to consider writing as a general skill, transferable to other contexts and spheres of knowledge. Less-inclusive teachers, explaining why they did not offer guidance or proposed remedial solutions, claimed that students should already have mastered academic reading and writing when entering the university and that teaching these skills implied being overprotective and not allowing them to mature.

Proposing a Wiki-Based Technique for Collaborative Essay Writing (Propuesta de un modelo pedagógico para la escritura colaborativa de ensayos en un entorno virtual wiki)

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Ortiz Navarrete, Mabel; Ferreira Cabrera, Anita

2014-01-01

This paper aims at proposing a technique for students learning English as a foreign language when they collaboratively write an argumentative essay in a wiki environment. A wiki environment and collaborative work play an important role within the academic writing task. Nevertheless, an appropriate and systematic work assignment is required in…

Ethical and Unethical Methods of Plagiarism Prevention in Academic Writing

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Bakhtiyari, Kaveh; Salehi, Hadi; Embi, Mohamed Amin; Shakiba, Masoud; Zavvari, Azam; Shahbazi-Moghadam, Masoomeh; Ale Ebrahim, Nader; Mohammadjafari, Marjan

2014-01-01

This paper discusses plagiarism origins, and the ethical solutions to prevent it. It also reviews some unethical approaches, which may be used to decrease the plagiarism rate in academic writings. We propose eight ethical techniques to avoid unconscious and accidental plagiarism in manuscripts without using online systems such as Turnitin and/or iThenticate for cross checking and plagiarism detection. The efficiency of the proposed techniques is evaluated on five different texts using student...

Cognitive Factors Contributing to Chinese EFL Learners' L2 Writing Performance in Timed Essay Writing

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Lu, Yanbin

2010-01-01

This study investigated cognitive factors that might influence Chinese EFL learners' argumentative essay writing in English. The factors that were explored included English (L2) language proficiency, Chinese (L1) writing ability, genre knowledge, use of writing strategies, and working memory capacity in L1 and L2. Data were collected from 136…

Impact of English Proficiency on Academic Performance of International Students

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Martirosyan, Nara M.; Hwang, Eunjin; Wanjohi, Reubenson

2015-01-01

Using an ex-post facto, non-experimental approach, this research examined the impact of English language proficiency and multilingualism on the academic performance of international students enrolled in a four-year university located in north central Louisiana in the United States. Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire from 59…

Lexical Bundles and the Construction of an Academic Voice in Business Writing

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Mhedhbi, Malek

2014-01-01

Most previous studies on disciplinary academic writing focused on the structures in research articles or linguistic realizations of each move (Lau, 2004; Hyland, 2000). Few have been conducted to address the interpersonal aspect of disciplinary discourse texts. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of lexical bundles' (LBs) awareness…

Linking Adverbials in Academic Writing on Applied Linguistics by Chinese Doctoral Students

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Lei, Lei

2012-01-01

The present paper reports an investigation into the use of linking adverbials in the academic writing of Chinese doctoral students. The learner corpus used in the present study is composed of 20 applied linguistics doctoral dissertations. We also compiled a control corpus of 120 published articles in six international journals of applied…

THEMATIC PROGRESSION PATTERN : A TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL VIEWED FROM WRITING APPREHENSION

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Fitri Nurdianingsih

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The objective of conducting this research was to find out : (1 whether or not the use of thematic progression pattern is more effective than direct instruction in teaching writing to the second semester students at English Education Department; (2 the students who have a low writing apprehension have better writing skill than those who have a high writng apprehension; and (3 there is an interaction between teaching technique and writing apprehension in teaching writing skill. This reasearch was an experimental research design. The population of this research was the second semester students at English Education Department of IKIP PGRI Bojonegoro. Meanwhile the sample of this research was selected by using cluster random sampling. The instruments of data collection were witing test and writing apprehension questionnaire. The findings of this study are: (1 thematic progression pattern is more effective than direct instruction in teaching writing; (2 the students who have low writing apprehension have better writing skill than those who have high writing apprehension; and (3 there is an interaction between teaching technique and writing apprehension in teaching writing skill. It can be summarized that thematic progression pattern is an effective technique in teaching writing skill at the second semester students of English Education Department in IKIP PGRI Bojonegoro. The effectiveness of the technique is affected by writing apprehension.

[The analysis of language competence and students' needs in teaching English for medical purposes to students of medicine, dentistry and health care].

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Marković, Vuk; Marosan, Zoran

2011-01-01

The paper deals with the analysis of the language competence of the students of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Care at the Medical School of Novi Sad University at the level of their basic language skills of general English and English for Medical Purposes. It also presents the analysis of students' needs of these skills within the field of teaching English for Medical Purposes. The aim of the study was to determine the level of students' language skills, knowledge of general and medical vocabulary and of academic writing in English and to determine which of the skills have the greatest priority in teaching English for Medical Purposes. The students were given a questionnaire and were asked to grade their language skills and knowledge of general and medical vocabulary and of academic writing on the scale from one to five. For the same skills, the students had to determine the level of priority in teaching English for Medical Purposes. The results were given for each of the groups of students evaluated, and the average grade was calculated for all the skills. The students' needs in terms of the priority of the evaluated skills were also presented in the same manner. Analysis Students' skills were analyzed according to the average grade acquired through the students' self-evaluation. The distinction was made between the general language skills and the knowledge of medical vocabulary and academic writing. The analysis of needs was conducted with the same distinction in mind. The study groups were analyzed separately and the general common conclusions for all the groups were made. For a successful program of English for Medical Purposes, it is necessary to conduct "the level of general language competence" test and to test the students' needs beforehand. The difference in the level of knowledge between different study groups points to a need of a student oriented teaching program. The analysis of needs shows the importance of all language skills which have to be

A Bourdieuian Analysis: Teachers' Beliefs about English Language Learners' Academic Challenges

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Shim, Jenna Min

2014-01-01

Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of "habitus," this work analyzes five teachers' beliefs about English language learners' academic challenges. In reference to reproductive and inventive qualities of "habitus," this article argues that teachers' beliefs that are linked to their socio-cultural backgrounds can delimit or enhance…

Tutor Feedback on Draft Essays: Developing Students' Academic Writing and Subject Knowledge

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Court, Krista

2014-01-01

Providing feedback on draft essays is an accepted means of enacting a social-constructivist approach to assessment, aligning with current views on the value of formative feedback and assessment for learning (AFL). However, the use of this process as a means of improving not only content but also students' academic writing skills has not been…

EFL Students' Attitudes towards Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in Academic Writing

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Abadikhah, Shirin; Aliyan, Zahra; Talebi, Seyed Hassan

2018-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate EFL university students' attitude towards self-regulated learning strategies in writing academic papers. A further aim of the study was to compare the attitudes of two groups of university students (third and fourth years) in the employment of self-regulated learning strategies to find out whether…

English language proficiency and academic performance: A study of a medical preparatory year program in Saudi Arabia.

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Kaliyadan, Feroze; Thalamkandathil, Nazer; Parupalli, Srinivas Rao; Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Balaha, Magdy Hassan; Al Bu Ali, Waleed Hamad

2015-01-01

All medical schools in Saudi Arabia have English as the primary official medium of instruction. Most of the high school education, however, is delivered in Arabic and hence the transition to an English based learning environment tends to be difficult for some students. Our study aims to correlate English language proficiency with academic performance among medical students in their preparatory year. A cross-sectional study design was used. Test scores of 103 preparatory year students (54 female and 49 male) were analyzed after the students completed an English language course and medical introductory course in their preparatory year. The total score obtained in the English course assessment was compared to each component of the medical content assessment. A significantly positive correlation (Spearman's Rho, at 0.01 levels) was seen between the scores of the English exam and the written exam (P English exam score was not obtained for the other components of the medical assessment, namely; student assignments, presentations and portfolios. English language proficiency is an important factor in determining academic proficiency of medical students in our college at the preparatory year level.

The Relationship between English Language Proficiency, Academic Achievement and Self-Esteem of Non-Native-English-Speaking Students

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Dev, Smitha; Qiqieh, Sura

2016-01-01

The present study aims to find out the relationship between English Language proficiency, self-esteem, and academic achievement of the students in Abu Dhabi University (ADU). The variables were analyzed using "t" test, chi-squire and Pearson's product moment correlation. In addition, Self-rating scale, Self-esteem inventory and Language…

It is presented initially: linear dislocation & inter-language strategies in Brazilian Academic abstracts in english and portuguese It is presented initially: linear dislocation & inter-language strategies in Brazilian Academic abstracts in english and portuguese

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Tim Johns

2008-04-01

Full Text Available In Brazil, as in the rest of the world, the academic community is under pressure to publish in English so that research findings can enter the mainstream of international debate as rapidly and effectively as possible. For the same reason, it is the editorial policy of most Brazilian academic journals that all papers, whether published in Portuguese or English, should be accompanied by abstracts in both languages. If the inclusion of English abstracts is not to become a meaningless ritual, it is a matter of some importance to evaluate how well the writers of such abstracts succeed in communicating the substance of their work to their peers outside Brazil, and also to examine the linguistic features that may facilitate or interfere with that communication. Although preliminary work has been undertaken by the author on both these questions, the present paper addresses the second only, with special reference to a problem at the intersection of syntax and discourse. In Brazil, as in the rest of the world, the academic community is under pressure to publish in English so that research findings can enter the mainstream of international debate as rapidly and effectively as possible. For the same reason, it is the editorial policy of most Brazilian academic journals that all papers, whether published in Portuguese or English, should be accompanied by abstracts in both languages. If the inclusion of English abstracts is not to become a meaningless ritual, it is a matter of some importance to evaluate how well the writers of such abstracts succeed in communicating the substance of their work to their peers outside Brazil, and also to examine the linguistic features that may facilitate or interfere with that communication. Although preliminary work has been undertaken by the author on both these questions, the present paper addresses the second only, with special reference to a problem at the intersection of syntax and discourse.

Development of a Rubric to Assess Academic Writing Incorporating Plagiarism Detectors

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Salim Razı

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Similarity reports of plagiarism detectors should be approached with caution as they may not be sufficient to support allegations of plagiarism. This study developed a 50-item rubric to simplify and standardize evaluation of academic papers. In the spring semester of 2011-2012 academic year, 161 freshmen’s papers at the English Language Teaching Department of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey, were assessed using the rubric. Validity and reliability were established. The results indicated citation as a particularly problematic aspect, and indicated that fairer assessment could be achieved by using the rubric along with plagiarism detectors’ similarity results.

Writing Anxiety: A Case Study on Students’ Reasons for Anxiety in Writing

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Kara, Selma

2013-01-01

The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, the present study set out to investigate the learners‟ attitudes towards academic writing courses that they have to take as part of their curriculum, whether they experience second language writing anxiety and what reasons they report for their anxiety and failure in academic writing courses. Second, the study aimed to develop a selfreport measure of second language writing anxiety reasons

EXPLORING THE BEST WAYS TO SUPPORT FIRST YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS

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Rossana Perez del Aguila

2014-12-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: This article presents the findings of an action research project carried out in 2012 with 12 first-year university students taking ‘Education Studies’ in a university in England. The aim of the project was to explore the best ways to support students’ academic writing skills. The literature review highlights the challenges students encounter when trying to learn the discourse of adiscipline; and in the light of this examination, a reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of my own practice provides the context for carrying out an action research project. The teaching intervention was assessed using the following methods of data collection: questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with students, and content analysis of my own feedback on student’s final assignments. The outcomes of the research demonstrate that students’ difficulties with their academic writing are related to their struggle to understand specialized concepts, theories and methods of the discipline.

How do faculty conceptions on reading, writing and their role in the teaching of academic literacies influence their inclusive attitude

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Laura Colombo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n3p115 This study explored faculty conceptions about reading and writing, the student body, reasons for student low-performance as well as their declared teaching practices aimed at helping students to better understand readings and write academic texts. The objective was to understand what type of professors´ conceptions contributed with a more inclusive attitude towards first-year students. Content analysis from data gathered from in-depth interviews indicates that professors who acknowledged the complexity of the reading and writing processes tend to be more inclusive and to use reading and writing to teach and not just to evaluate. Those who taught writing courses tended to consider writing as a general skill, transferable to other contexts and spheres of knowledge. Less-inclusive teachers, explaining why they did not offer guidance or proposed remedial solutions, claimed that students should already have mastered academic reading and writing when entering the university and that teaching these skills implied being overprotective and not allowing them to mature.

Merging a Metalinguistic Grammar Approach with L2 Academic Process Writing: ELLs in Community College

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Camhi, Paul J.; Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein

2008-01-01

This action research study evaluates a classroom approach incorporating a reflective, metacognitive component within a second language process-oriented writing environment. Inspired by the literature and developed by the first author, this approach seeks to provide English language learners (ELLs) with a command of metalinguistic principles…

The Career Perceptions of Academic Staff and Human Resource Discourses in English Higher Education

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Strike, Tony; Taylor, John

2009-01-01

This paper sets out findings from research that considered the interplay between English national policy developments in human resources management in higher education and the personal stories of academic staff as career participants. Academic careers are pursued in an institutional and national policy context but it was not clear that the formal…

The Effect of Journal Writing on Students' Cognitive Critical Thinking Skills: "A Quasi-Experimental Research on an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Undergraduate Classroom in Egypt"

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Shaarawy, Hanaa Youssef

2014-01-01

Based on writing weekly academic journals and on Bloom's (1984) taxonomy of cognitive critical thinking skills, this article reports on a quasi-experiment where journal writing was an additional task to an academic writing course. The experiment was carried out with first year university students (semester two) in one of the Egyptian private…

Teaching Writing in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom in Canada

OpenAIRE

Koch, Glenn G.

1999-01-01

Much of the EFL teaching of the past in both Canada and the US has been that of adapting everything but the native language to the conventions of the West, without regard for the vast cultural differences either in methods of learning or in idiomatic usage of the language. Students of the past have started at a far greater disadvantage than of just language, but the focus of Canada's EFL studies as they apply to learning English writing give the international student a much greater chance of ...

ESL intermediate/advanced writing

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Munoz Page, Mary Ellen; Jaskiewicz, Mary

2011-01-01

Master ESL (English as a Second Language) Writing with the study guide designed for non-native speakers of English. Skill-building lessons relevant to today's topics help ESL students write complete sentences, paragraphs, and even multi-paragraph essays. It's perfect for classroom use or self-guided writing preparation.DETAILS- Intermediate drills for improving skills with parallel structure, mood, correct shifting errors & dangling participles- Advanced essay drills focusing on narrative, descriptive, process, reaction, comparison and contrast- Superb preparation for students taking the TOEFL

Enhancing the research and publication efforts of health sciences librarians via an academic writing retreat.

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Bullion, John W; Brower, Stewart M

2017-10-01

This case study describes the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) initiative to develop an academic writing retreat for members who sought the necessary time and support to advance their research projects toward publication. SCC/MLA staged a dedicated writing retreat to coincide with the organization's 2012, 2013, and 2014 annual meetings. Each cohort met over two days to write and to workshop their peers' manuscripts. Organizers distributed an online survey one month after each retreat to evaluate attendees' perceptions. Three years' worth of writing retreats yielded fourteen peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter. Participants indicated that the retreat helped them meet or exceed their writing goals by offering protected time and a setting conducive to productivity. The format of the retreat is cost effective and easily adaptable for fellow professionals who wish to organize a formal event as a conference offering or simply support a writing group at their home institutions. In SCC/MLA, the retreat revitalized interest in writing and demystified the scholarly publication process.

Structural Equation Modeling of Writing Proficiency Using Can-Do Questionnaires

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Kobayashi, Wakako

2017-01-01

The purposes of this study were to validate the writing section of the Eiken Can-Do Questionnaires used in this study and the second purpose was to determine the effects of ten affective orientations (i.e., Desire to Write English, Attitude Toward Learning to Write English, Motivational Intensity, Instrumental Orientation for Writing in English,…

Scaffolding EFL Students' Writing through the Writing Process Approach

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Faraj, Avan Kamal Aziz

2015-01-01

This research reports a study conducted at Koya University/English Language Department, and it aims at presenting the effect of scaffolding on EFL students' writing ability through the writing process. In this study, the students have taken the role of writers, so they need to follow the same steps that writers apply during their writing process.…

The application of pragmatic principles in competitive business writing

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Wu Haihong

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Business English writing, as an important means of communication, plays a vital role in international business communication. And pragmatic principle, as the universal principle, exists in all communication situations. This paper gives a brief introduction to the pragmatic principles and business English writing principles and illustrates the high consistency between these principles. By analyzing samples, it also points out the instructive significance of pragmatic principles in competitive business English writing. To a certain extent, this provides a theoretical support for the research of business English writing.

A Corpus of Writing, Pronunciation, Reading, and Listening by Learners of English as a Foreign Language

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Kotani, Katsunori; Yoshimi, Takehiko; Nanjo, Hiroaki; Isahara, Hitoshi

2016-01-01

In order to develop effective teaching methods and computer-assisted language teaching systems for learners of English as a foreign language who need to study the basic linguistic competences for writing, pronunciation, reading, and listening, it is necessary to first investigate which vocabulary and grammar they have or have not yet learned.…

The Relation between English Learning Students' Levels of Self-Regulation and Metacognitive Skills and Their English Academic Achievements

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Adigüzel, Abdullah; Orhan, Ali

2017-01-01

It is remarkable that there are only a few studies that measures to what extent metacognitive and self-regulation skills affect students' academic achievements in the English lesson. This study is important for identifying the personal variables that have an impact on metacognitive and self-regulation skill and determining the relationship between…

Trait Emotional Intelligence and Learning Styles: The Case of Iranian English for Academic Purposes Learners

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Aliakbari, Mohammad; Abol-Nejadian, Rezvan

2015-01-01

Although a large body of research has been dedicated to examining emotional intelligence (EI) and learning styles in relation to different factors in academic setting, the relationship between these two variables still necessitates more exploration and deeper study, especially in the Iranian context. To this end, 60 English for Academic Purposes…

Investigating the Reading-to-Write Processes and Source Use of L2 Postgraduate Students in Real-Life Academic Tasks: An Exploratory Study

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McCulloch, Sharon

2013-01-01

Existing studies of source use in academic student writing tend to i), focus more on the writing than the reading end of the reading-to-write continuum and ii), involve the use of insufficiently "naturalistic" writing tasks. Thus, in order to explore the potential of an alternative approach, this paper describes an exploratory case study…

The Teaching of EFL Writing in Indonesia

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Ariyanti Ariyanti

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Writing is one of the most important aspects in English language acquisition. Teaching writing has its own challenges since there are some steps and requirements that teachers should prepare to undertake in the classroom. This article is aimed to discuss teaching and learning writing in the classroom based on theoretical conceptualisation. In addition, curriculum of teaching writing will be another important factor to consider as well as research and practice in teaching writing. Based on comparison to many theoretical concepts from various researchers, it shows that most of Indonesian students still struggle to figure out their problems of grammatical area. The biggest challenge is derived from the difference in cultural backgrounds between the students’ mother tongue and English, so it is possible to know the production of their writing does not ‘sound’ well in appropriate culture of English. Several problems also occur when the teachers have big classes to teach and the result of teaching writing to the students may be defeated. In this case, time also being a big challenge for the teachers to have the students’ writing improve because to accomplish a good composition in English, it needs complex steps such as brainstorming, prewriting, drafting, and editing. However, new techniques in teaching writing are needed to develop the students’ writing outcomes.

Learning autonomy in writing class: Implementation of project-based learning in english for spesific purposes

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Ayu Sukerti, G. N.; Yuliantini, Ny

2018-01-01

This research was aimed to analyze students’ attitude on learning autonomy through the implementation of project-based learning (PBL). Writing has been considered one of the most difficult competencies to master as it incorporates several integrated language skills. Thus, teaching writing in English for Specific Class posts a huge challenge as students often feel discouraged by the complex series of processes involved in producing a well-structured piece of writing. This research implemented PBL as the learning model to boost students’ learning outcomes and construct self-directed learning. Participants were 25 second semester students enrolled in a three-year undergraduate program in Informatics Management. The implementation of PBL in writing class contributed real advantages since it allowed students to collaboratively arrange outline in order to produce individual drafts and final essays. The study revealed that students were able to be involved in a more deep and autonomous learning as they helped each other during group discussion. The students autonomously engaged in the completion of the project in a more positive attitude. They also acquired more knowledge in the aspect of grammar and learned how to use language in proper context based on the feedbacks they got during revising their writing.

THE STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL AFTER IMPLEMENTING BLENDED LEARNING USING FACEBOOK

OpenAIRE

Dwi Sulisworo; Triwati Rahayu; Rifai Nur Akhsan

2016-01-01

Almost all students use smartphone for their daily activities. Nowadays, the student’s literacy on information technology is very good, but sometimes it has not been considered in school learning. One of the essential competencies of undergraduate school is academic writing skill. There is a gap between the student competencies and the learning strategy in certain learning subjects. The aim of this research is to examine the effectiveness of blended mobile learning activity using Facebook to ...

Big Questions, Small Works, Lots of Layers: Documentary Video Production and the Teaching of Academic Research and Writing

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Halbritter, Bump; Blon, Noah; Creighton, Caron

2011-01-01

Documentary movie making is not academic writing. Nor is it traditional academic research. However, I have found it to be a remarkable vehicle for teaching both of these things...each semester I am amazed and humbled by the creativity and sincerity that my students bring to their work.

English and Arabic Inscriptions in the Linguistic Landscape of Yemen: A Multilingual Writing Approach

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Anwar A. H. Al-Athwary

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The present paper investigates the multilingual written texts of the signboards in the public space of Yemen. It attempts to apply Reh's (2004 typology of multilingual writing. Reh introduces four strategies of multilingualism: duplicating, fragmentary, overlapping, and complementary. They refer to the arrangement of information in the inscriptions of multilingual signs in a given linguistic landscape (LL. To achieve this purpose, a data corpus of 755 multilingual signs in the LL of Yemen has been used, the majority of which are bilingual in Arabic and English. The analysis showed that all four strategies of duplicating, fragmentary, overlapping, and complementary multilingual writings were generally employed in Sana'a's LL. While overlapping and complementary multilingualism were totally absent in the top-down signs, duplicating and fragmentary multilingualism had much higher frequency over overlapping and complementary ones in bottom-up signs. Keeping in mind that speech community in Yemen is monolingual in Arabic, the absence or low frequency of overlapping, and complementary signs in both top-down and bottom-up levels can be explained by the fact that these two types of texts presuppose multilingual readers since knowledge of all the languages involved is necessary to understand the whole message. The model of writing mimicry system proposed by Sutherland (2015 is also examined. Writing mimicry system was found to be a salient feature of the public space of Yemen performing some specific functions; it is only used for advertising and promotional purposes rather than expressing the identity of ethnolinguistic minorities. The study also revealed that Sana'a multilingual LL is characterized by the use of Arabicised English, glocalisation and multifunctional signs, all of which are employed to serve a general purpose of promoting, and advertising commodities and showing modernity and success. Standard Arabic appears on almost all of both top

Using Systemic Functional Linguistics in Academic Writing Development: An Example from Film Studies

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Donohue, James P.

2012-01-01

On film studies courses, students are asked to treat as objects of study the same films which they may more commonly experience as entertainment. To explore the role of academic writing in this, an action research project was carried out on a university film studies course using a systemic functional linguistics approach. This paper presents a key…

The Relationship between Receptive and Expressive Subskills of Academic L2 Proficiency in Nonnative Speakers of English: A Multigroup Approach

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Pae, Hye K.; Greenberg, Daphne

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between receptive and expressive language skills characterized by the performance of nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English in the academic context. Test scores of 585 adult NNSs were selected from Form 2 of the Pearson Test of English Academic's field-test database. A correlated…

Language Literacy in Writing

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Saeideh Ahangari

2008-05-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the ways in which the transfer of assumptions from first language (L1 writing can help the process of writing in second language (L2. In learning second language writing skills, learners have two primary sources from which they construct a second language system: knowledge and skills from first language and input from second language. To investigate the relative impact of first language literacy skills on second language writing ability, 60 EFL students from Tabriz Islamic Azad University were chosen as participants of this study, based on their language proficiency scores. The subjects were given two topics to write about: the experimental group subjects were asked to write in Persian and then translate their writing into English. The control group wrote in English. The results obtained in this study indicate that the content and vocabulary components of the compositions were mostly affected by the use of first language.

Replication Research in Comparative Genre Analysis in English for Academic Purposes

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Basturkmen, Helen

2014-01-01

In recent years a number of comparative studies based on an established approach to genre analysis have been published in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) literature. Studies in this emerging strand of research typically aim to identify how the rhetorical structure of a particular genre (a text type) or part of a genre may vary across…

Enjoy writing your science thesis or dissertation! a step-by-step guide to planning and writing a thesis or dissertation for undergraduate and graduate science students

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Fisher, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

This book is a step by step illustrated guide to planning and writing dissertations and theses for undergraduate and graduate science students. Topics covered include advice on writing each section of a thesis as well as general discussions on collecting and organizing references, keeping records, presenting data, interacting with a supervisor and avoiding academic misconduct. Recommendations about how to use word processors and other software packages effectively are included, as well as advice on the use of other resources. A concise summary of important points of English grammar is given, along with appendices listing frequently confused words and wordy phrases to avoid. Further appendices are provided, including one on Si units. The aim is to provide an easy-to-read guide that gives students practical advice about all aspects of writing a science thesis or dissertation, starting from writing a thesis plan and finishing with the viva and corrections to the thesis.

USING BLOGS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SUMMARY WRITING ABILITIES

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Orachorn KITCHAKARN,

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The research compared students’ summary writing ability before and after they were taught through blog, a new medium or tool for written communication and interaction in many different languages around the world. The research design is a kind of one group pretest posttest. Participants were 33 first-year students who studied EN 011 course (English in Action in the first semester of the academic year 2012 at Bangkok University. They were divided into six groups. Five or six students in each group created a blog; www.blogger.com, and they worked together for fourteen weeks to produce six pieces of summary written work. Each member in the group worked through providing comments, editing and revising on the blog until the group got a final summary paper and submitted that to the teacher for grading. The instruments used in this study were (1 two summary writing tests (2 a questionnaire surveying students’ attitude toward learning through blogs, and (3 postings on blogs to reflect their learning experience. The results revealed that after the students worked together on weblogs, their English summary writing mean score of the posttest was higher than that of the pretest, and they had positive attitudes towards using weblogs in learning. Regarding cooperative learning experiences through using weblogs, most students thought that it was interesting, a new experience to work with their friends on the weblogs.

"To Whom It May Concern": A Study on the Use of Lexical Bundles in Email Writing Tasks in an English Proficiency Test

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Li, Zhi; Volkov, Alex

2017-01-01

Lexical bundles are worthy of attention in both teaching and testing writing as they function as basic building blocks of discourse. This corpus-based study focuses on the rated writing responses to the email tasks in the Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program® General test (CELPIP-General) and explores the extent to which lexical…

Call for papers: SAJHE special issue 'Re-imagining writing retreats for academic staff in higher education'

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Guest Editors

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Call for papers for an upcoming special issue of the South African Journal of Higher Education (SAJHE in 2016: ‘Re-imagining writing retreats for academic staff in higher education’.

Hidden Treasures in Theological Education: The Writing Tutor, the Spiritual Director, and Practices of Academic and Spiritual Mentoring

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Yaghjian, Lucretia B.

2013-01-01

Mentoring is an important but often overlooked resource in theological education and students' academic and spiritual formation. This essay profiles the mentoring practices and postures of the writing tutor and the spiritual director as exemplars of academic and spiritual mentoring. An extended probe of this analogy affirms the integration of…

Fluency or Accuracy - Two Different ‘Colours’ in Writing Assessment

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Listyani Listyani

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Fluency and accuracy. These two things have victoriously won many teachers’ attention at tertiary level. In the case of writing, these two remain debatable, and have always attracted many people, both lecturers’ and students’ attention. These language production measures have distracted many lecturers’ concentration: should they be faithful to fluency of ideas, or grammatical and language accuracy in correcting students’ essays? This paper tries to present the classical yet never-ending dilemmatic conflicts within the area of writing assessment. This debate still remains interesting to follow. Data were gained from close observation on documents, that is, 21 students’ essays and interviews with 2 students of Academic Writing in Semester II, 2015-2016. Four writing lecturers were also interviewed for their intellectual and critical opinions on these dilemmatic problems in assessing writing. Discussion results of FGD (Forum Group Discussion involving all writing lecturers at the English Education Study Program at the Faculty of Language and Literature of Satya Wacana Christian University which were held in June, 2016, were also included as source of data. Hopefully, this paper gives a little more “colour” in the area of writing assessment, and gives a little enlightenment for other writing lecturers.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2016.190201

Linguistic Markers of Stance in Early and Advanced Academic Writing: A Corpus-Based Comparison

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Aull, Laura L.; Lancaster, Zak

2014-01-01

This article uses corpus methods to examine linguistic expressions of stance in over 4,000 argumentative essays written by incoming first-year university students in comparison with the writing of upper-level undergraduate students and published academics. The findings reveal linguistic stance markers shared across the first-year essays despite…

Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement: A Case Study, English Department Students

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Wiwik Andreani.

2013-01-01

This study examines the comparison between English Department students’ emotional intelligence (EQ), their self-esteem and their academic achievement. Twenty-two students participated in the research by answering EQ test and two Self-Esteem questionnaires. The result shows that there is no relation between students’ GPA and their self-esteem and EQ. This means that academic ability does not correspond to social skills. Though most students have average EQ and self-esteem, one student has High...

GENRE ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH FINAL PROJECT ABSTRACTS WRITTEN BY THE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF IKIP PGRI SEMARANG

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Wiyaka Wiyaka

2010-12-01

are modal auxiliary verbs, adjectival, adverbial, nominal and Approximators of degree. The suggestions toward this study are (1 The English lecturers should introduce how to create a meaningful text, particularly the abstract as the representation of the research report in good structure for the students based on the theory of genre. (2 The lecturers should improve the teaching and learning process relating to the improvement of academic writing, in this case lecturers who in charge of teaching academic writing. (3 The final project supervisors should put a high concern of genre to be applied in writing the abstract of the final project during the supervision. (4 The English Education department should provide a precise guideline for final project writing. Key words: genre, final project, abstract.

The linguistics of social networking: A study of writing conventions on Facebook

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Carmen Pérez-Sabater

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Scholarly research on computer-mediated communication discourse has mainly centred upon the linguistic characteristics of emails, focusing on the formal and informal features and the orality involved in this form of communication. This paper presents a new insight into the study of computer-mediated communication (CMC by analysing a fairly recent genre of computer-mediated communication, comments posted on the new social networking websites. The research undertaken examines the comments published on the official Facebook sites of some universities to observe the level of formality/informality of online communication in English. The distinction between online writings by native and non-native speakers of English has been considered as well. The study focuses on the formulae of etiquette and protocol used for salutation, opening, pre-closing and closing as an indicator of the degree of orality and informality in online writing. Data reveal that, in the specific context of the university, the use of Facebook is not conventionalised, as the comments posted on Facebook present important stylistic variations. Moreover, in most instances non-native speakers of English display more formal traits than native speakers when communicating electronically on social networking sites in the academic world.

Adult English Language Learners Constructing and Sharing Their Stories and Experiences: The Cultural and Linguistic Autobiography Writing Project

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Park, Gloria

2011-01-01

This article is the culmination of the Cultural and Linguistic Autobiography (CLA) writing project, which details narrative descriptions of adult English language learners' (ELLs') cultural and linguistic experiences and how those experiences may have influenced the ways in which these learners constructed and reconstructed their identities.…

Association of Kinesthetic and Read-Write Learner with Deep Approach Learning and Academic Achievement

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Latha Rajendra Kumar

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Background: The main purpose of the present study was to further investigate study processes, learning styles, and academic achievement in medical students. Methods: A total of 214 (mean age 22.5 years first and second year students - preclinical years - at the Asian Institute of Medical Science and Technology (AIMST University School of Medicine, in Malaysia participated.  There were 119 women (55.6% and 95 men (44.4%.   Biggs questionnaire for determining learning approaches and the VARK questionnaire for determining learning styles were used.  These were compared to the student’s performance in the assessment examinations. Results: The major findings were 1 the majority of students prefer to study alone, 2 most students employ a superficial study approach, and 3 students with high kinesthetic and read-write scores performed better on examinations and approached the subject by deep approach method compared to students with low scores.  Furthermore, there was a correlation between superficial approach scores and visual learner’s scores. Discussion: Read-write and kinesthetic learners who adopt a deep approach learning strategy perform better academically than do the auditory, visual learners that employ superficial study strategies.   Perhaps visual and auditory learners can be encouraged to adopt kinesthetic and read-write styles to enhance their performance in the exams.

English in Africa

African Journals Online (AJOL)

English in Africa was founded in 1974 to provide a forum for the study of African literature and English as a language of Africa. The Editor invites contributions, including unsolicited reviews, on all aspects of English writing and the English language in Africa, including oral traditions. English in Africa is listed in the Journal of ...

ERROR ANALYSIS IN THE TRAVEL WRITING MADE BY THE STUDENTS OF ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

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Vika Agustina

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to identify the kinds of errors in surface strategy taxonomy and to know the dominant type of errors made by the fifth semester students of English Department of one State University in Malang-Indonesia in producing their travel writing. The type of research of this study is document analysis since it analyses written materials, in this case travel writing texts. The analysis finds that the grammatical errors made by the students based on surface strategy taxonomy theory consist of four types. They are (1 omission, (2 addition, (3 misformation and (4 misordering. The most frequent errors occuring in misformation are in the use of tense form. Secondly, the errors are in omission of noun/verb inflection. The next error, there are many clauses that contain unnecessary phrase added there.

Exploring the Relationship between Writing Apprehension and Writing Performance: A Qualitative Study

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Badrasawi, Kamal J. I.; Zubairi, Ainol; Idrus, Faizah

2016-01-01

Writing skill is seen as a cornerstone of university students' success in both academic and career life. This qualitative study was conducted to further explore the teachers' and students' perceptions on the relationship between writing apprehension and writing performance, contributing factors of writing apprehension, and strategies to reduce…

Impact of Writing Proficiency and Writing Center Participation on Academic Performance

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Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka

2015-01-01

Purpose: Given that there exists in the literature relatively little research into the effectiveness of writing centers at universities, the purpose of this paper is to show the impact of university writing centers on first-year business seminar student writing. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study involved 315 first-year…

Lagging behind Writing Pedagogical Developments: The Impact of Implementing Process-Based Approach on Learners' Writing in a Vietnamese Secondary Education Context

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Ngo, Chau M.; Trinh, Lap Q.

2011-01-01

The field of English language education has seen developments in writing pedagogy, moving from product-based to process-based and then to genre-based approaches. In Vietnam, teaching secondary school students how to write in English is still lagging behind these growing developments. Product-based approach is commonly seen in English writing…

Effects of an Intelligent Web-Based English Instruction System on Students' Academic Performance

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Jia, J.; Chen, Y.; Ding, Z.; Bai, Y.; Yang, B.; Li, M.; Qi, J.

2013-01-01

This research conducted quasi-experiments in four middle schools to evaluate the long-term effects of an intelligent web-based English instruction system, Computer Simulation in Educational Communication (CSIEC), on students' academic attainment. The analysis of regular examination scores and vocabulary test validates the positive impact of CSIEC,…

Effects of goal-setting skills on students’academic performance in english language in Enugu Nigeria

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Abe Iyabo Idowu

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The study investigated the effectiveness of goal-setting skills among Senior Secondary II students’ academic performance in English language in Enugu Metropolis, Enugu state, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental pre-test, post- test control group design was adopted for the study. The initial sample was 147 participants (male and female Senior Secondary School II students drawn from two public schools in Enugu zone of Enugu Metropolis. The final sample for the intervention consisted of 80 participants. This sample satisfied the condition for selection from the baseline data. Two research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data generated were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation and t-test statistical method. The findings showed that performance in English language was enhanced among participants exposed to goal-setting intervention compared to those in the control group. The study also showed that there is a significant gender difference in students’ performance with female participants recording a higher mean score than males. Parental level of education was also found to be related to performance in English Language. Based on the findings, goal-setting intervention was recommended as a strategy to enhancing students’ academic performance particularly in English Language. 

Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement: A Case Study, English Department Students

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Wiwik Andreani

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This study examines the comparison between English Department students’ emotional intelligence (EQ, their self-esteem and their academic achievement. Twenty-two students participated in the research by answering EQ test and two Self-Esteem questionnaires. The result shows that there is no relation between students’ GPA and their self-esteem and EQ. This means that academic ability does not correspond to social skills. Though most students have average EQ and self-esteem, one student has High EQ, High Self-esteem and a 2.95 GPA (out of 4. 

Bullshit in Academic Writing: A Protocol Analysis of a High School Senior's Process of Interpreting "Much Ado about Nothing"

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Smagorinsky, Peter; Daigle, Elizabeth Anne; O'Donnell-Allen, Cindy; Bynum, Susan

2010-01-01

This article reports a study of one high school senior's process of academic bullshitting as she wrote an analytic essay interpreting Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing." The construct of bullshit has received little scholarly attention; although it is known as a common phenomenon in academic speech and writing, it has rarely been the subject…

Writing the Ties that Bind: Service-Learning in the Writing Classroom.

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Cooper, David D.; Julier, Laura

1995-01-01

The Service Learning Writing Project at Michigan State University links service-learning and writing instruction. Students read and discuss American literary and historical texts, write academic analyses of ideas, and practice peer editing and revision in small workshops, while working in service placements in community and nonprofit…

A Case Study of Peer Review Practices of Four Adolescent English Language Learners in Face-to-Face and Online Contexts

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Vorobel, Oksana

2013-01-01

Peer review is a complex collaborative activity, which may engage English language learners in reading, writing, listening, and speaking and carry many potential benefits for their language learning (Hu, 2005). While many research studies focused on peer review practices of adult language learners in academic settings in the USA or abroad in…

The Relationship between the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Scores and Academic Success of International Master's Students

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Arcuino, Cathy Lee T.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine if the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are related to academic success defined by final cumulative grade point average (GPA). The data sample, from three Midwestern universities, was comprised of international graduate students who…

Meeting the Needs of Chinese English Language Learners at Writing Centers in America: A Proposed Culturally Responsive Model

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Wang, Peizhen; Machado, Crystal

2015-01-01

This paper describes the ways in which Writing Centers (WC) currently serve English Language Learners (ELL) at American universities. The authors argue that the pedagogy offered at these centers does not always meet the needs of the Chinese ELLs who make up the largest population of ELLs at American universities. The proposed supplemental model…

Guidelines for writing an argumentative essay

OpenAIRE

Aleksandra Egurnova

2014-01-01

The guidelines below are intended for teachers, professors, students, and the public at large who are interested in the issues of English writing culture. They provide a detailed plan for completing the writing task–writing an argumentative essay.

Pinpointing the classifiers of English language writing ability: A discriminant function analysis approach

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Mohammad Ali Shams

2013-02-01

Full Text Available     The major aim of this paper was to investigate the validity of language and intelligence factors for classifying Iranian English learners` writing performance. Iranian participants of the study took three tests for grammar, breadth, and depth of vocabulary, and two tests for verbal and narrative intelligence. They also produced a corpus of argumentative writings in answer to IELTS specimen. Several runs of discriminant function analyses were used to examine the classifying power of the five variables for discriminating between low and high ability L2 writers. The results revealed that among language factors, depth of vocabulary (collocational knowledge produces the best discriminant function. In general, narrative intelligence was found to be the most reliable predictor for membership in low or high groups. It was also found that, among the five sub-abilities of narrative intelligence, emplotment carries the highest classifying value. Finally, the applications and implications of the results for second language researchers, cognitive scientists, and applied linguists were discussed.Â

Facing the Challenge of Improving the Legal Writing Skills of Educationally Disadvantaged Law Students in a South African Law School

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Angela Diane Crocker

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Many first-year students in the School of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, who have been disadvantaged by a poor primary and secondary education, exhibit poor legal writing skills. Over a period of four years, in order to address this urgent need for legal writing instruction, the School of Law introduced two successive legal writing interventions. The first intervention was the Concise Writing Programme, followed by the Integrated Skills in Context Programme. The Concise Writing Programme focused on English writing skills and grammar in the hope that first-year law students would be able to transfer these generic writing skills to the more specific legal discourse within which they were learning to operate. The Law School reviewed the success of this initial programme and found that students who took part in the programme not only lacked the motivation to learn generic English writing skills, but that they also did not find it easy to transfer these skills to the more specific legal writing environment. The Law School then implemented a second legal writing intervention – The Integrated Skills in Context Programme. This programme acknowledged the fact that legal writing has a multi-faceted nature, encompassing legal analysis and application, as well as logical sequencing and argument, all of which could not be taught in a vacuum, particularly when most of the student base was largely unfamiliar with any form of legal discourse and many had English as a second language. This paper recognises that there is no silver bullet to improving the legal writing skills of these students. The reality is that it will take hard work as well as financial incentives to make a difference to these students' legal writing skills. Our students need intensive one-on-one attention by qualified academics, and this means that those doing the instruction must be recognised and adequately compensated.

Non-Native English Varieties: Thainess in English Narratives

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Singhasak, Piyahathai; Methitham, Phongsakorn

2016-01-01

This study aims at examining Thainess as a writing strategy used in non-literary texts written by non-professional bilingual writers. These writers are advanced language learners who are pursuing their Master's degree in English. Seven English narratives of their language learning experiences were analyzed based on Kachruvian's framework of…

Reducing Unintentional Plagiarism amongst International Students in the Biological Sciences: An Embedded Academic Writing Development Programme

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Divan, Aysha; Bowman, Marion; Seabourne, Anna

2015-01-01

There is general agreement in the literature that international students are more likely to plagiarise compared to their native speaker peers and, in many instances, plagiarism is unintentional. In this article we describe the effectiveness of an academic writing development programme embedded into a Biological Sciences Taught Masters course…

Discourse Approaches to Writing Assessment.

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Connnor, Ulla; Mbaye, Aymerou

2002-01-01

Discusses assessment of English-as-a-Foreign/Second-Language (EFL/ESL) writing. Suggests there is a considerable gap between current practices in writing assessment and criteria suggested by advances in knowledge of discourse structure. Illustrates this by contrasting current practices in the scoring of two major EFL/ESL writing tests with…

Science as a second language: Analysis of Emergent Bilinguals performance and the impact of English language proficiency and first language characteristics on the Colorado measures of academic success for science

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Bruno, Joanna K.

In an age when communication is highly important and states across the nation, including Colorado, have adopted Common Core State Standards, the need for academic language is even more important than ever. The language of science has been compared to a second language in that it uses specific discourse patterns, semantic rules, and a very specific vocabulary. There is a need for educators to better understand how language impacts academic achievement, specifically concerning Emergent Bilinguals (EBs). Research has identified the need to study the role language plays in content assessments and the impact they have on EBs performance (Abedi, 2008b; Abedi, Hofestter & Lord, 2004; Abedi & Lord, 2001). Since language is the means through which content knowledge is assessed, it is important to analyze this aspect of learning. A review of literature identified the need to create more reliable and valid content assessments for EBs (Abedi, 2008b) and to further study the impact of English proficiency on EBs performance on standardized assessments (Solorzano, 2008; Wolf, & Leon, 2009). This study contributes to the literature by analyzing EBs performance on a state-level science content assessment, taking into consideration English language proficiency, receptive versus productive elements of language, and students' home language. This study further contributes by discussing the relationship between language proficiency, and the different strands of science (physical, life, and earth) on the state science assessment. Finally, this study demonstrates that home language, English language proficiency, and receptive and productive elements of language are predictive of EBs' achievement on the CMAS for science, overall and by strand. It is the blending of the social (listening and speaking) with the academic (reading and writing) that is also important and possibly more important.

Student-Teachers across the Curriculum Learn to Write Feedback: Does It Reflect on Their Writing?

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Cohen-sayag, Esther

2016-01-01

The study examined the connection between writing competency and writing feedback experiences through academic writing course for student-teachers across the curriculum. The aims of the course were to prepare student-teachers to their role as writing facilitators and to improve their writing. Experimental and control group differed in course plan…

THE EFFECT OF CLUSTERING TECHNIQUE ON WRITING EXPOSITORY ESSAYS OF EFL STUDENTS

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Sabarun Sabarun

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using clustering technique in writing expository essays. The aim of the study is to prove whether there is a significant difference between writing using clustering technique and writing without using it on the students’ writing achievement or not. The study belonged to experimental study by applying counterbalance procedure to collect the data. The study was conducted at the fourth semester English department students of Palangka Raya State Islamic College of 2012/ 2013 academic year. The number of the sample was 13 students. This study was restricted to two focuses: using clustering technique and without using clustering technique to write composition. Using clustering technique to write essay was one of the pre writing strategies in writing process. To answer the research problem, the t test for correlated samples was applied. The research findings showed that,it was found that the t value was 10.554.It was also found that the df (Degree of freedom of the distribution observed was 13-1= 12.  Based on the Table of t value, if df was 12, the 5% of significant level of t value was at 1.782 and the 1% of significant level of t value was at 2.179. It meant that using clustering gave facilitative effect on the students’ essay writing performance. Keywords: reading comprehension, text, scaffolding

Whose Job Is It? Exploring Subject Tutor Roles in Addressing Students' Academic Writing via Essay Feedback

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Court, Krista; Johnson, Helen

2016-01-01

Strong arguments have been forwarded for embedding academic writing development into the UK higher education curriculum and for subject tutors to facilitate this development (Hyland, 2000; Lea & Street, 2006; Monroe, 2003; Wingate, 2006). This small-scale case study explores subject tutors' practices and beliefs with regard to the provision of…

On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

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Sabet, Masood Khalili; Babaei, Hamid Reza

2017-01-01

The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS…

Impact of mother tongue on construction of notes and first-year academic performance

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Shalini Dukhan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to identify whether there are any differences in the quality of the notes constructed in English between students for whom English is a first language and those for whom it is a second language. Subsequently we assessed whether this difference, if any, affected their grades. Unsurprisingly, the first-language students produced better structured and more detailed notes; they also performed better academically than their second-language peers. However, when students were provided with training that focused on using writing as a means to promote critical thinking, there was an improvement in the personalisation of their notes. The improvement in grades was significant for second-language students. Thus the university has a pivotal role to play in preparing students for academic success by providing them with supportive measures to aid their transition into first year.

Computer Literacy in Learning Academic English: Iranian EAP Students' and Instructors' Attitudes and Perspectives