Student Writing in Higher Education

Author(s):  
Sue Starfield
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Aull

Stance is a growing focus of academic writing research and an important aspect of writing development in higher education. Research on student writing to date has explored stance across different levels, language backgrounds, and disciplines, but has rarely focused on stance features across genres. This article explores stance marker use between two important genre families in higher education—persuasive argumentative writing and analytic explanatory writing—based on corpus linguistic analysis of late undergraduate and early graduate-level writing in the Michigan Corpus of Upper-Level Student Papers (MICUSP). The specific stance markers in the study, both epistemic and textual cues, have been shown to distinguish student writing across levels; this study, then, extends the analysis to consider the comparative use of these markers across genres. The findings show two stance expectations persistent across genres as well as significant distinctions between argumentative and explanatory writing vis-à-vis stance markers that intensify and contrast. The findings thus point to important considerations for instruction, assignment design, and future research.


2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Lillis ◽  
Joan Turner

System ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-487
Author(s):  
J. Elliott Casal ◽  
Joseph J. Lee

Author(s):  
Stephanie Bell ◽  
Brian Hotson

Writing centres play a vital role in supporting all forms of student academic writing in higher education (HE) institutions, including digital writing projects (DWPs)—multiliterate and multimodal, often video-and-audio-based projects, produced using digital technologies. The importance of writing support for multimodal composing is evident in emerging research on both the multi-skilled practices of writer-designers and the conceptual shifts involved in their adoption. Currently, no research exists regarding the Canadian context of writing centre support for DWPs. To address this, we conducted two surveys: one of 22 Canadian writing centres asking about DWPs prevalence, technology and skills readiness, and DWP awareness; and one of faculty at a large Canadian university, asking about DWPs prevalence and frequency and types of DWP assignments. We find a significant disconnect between the number of DWPs being assigned by faculty and the number being supported in writing centres. We also find a significant lack of writing centre preparedness for supporting DWPs. This paper calls, with some urgency, for writing centres to invest in the reality of student writing in Canadian HE, to begin developing instructional materials, equipment, and skilled staff to support DWPs.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Bell

Despite being comprised of 'academic communities' Higher Education often provides academics from different disciplines with few opportunities to discuss common practices or concerns.. Some issues, such as student writing, are so widespread, that there is however a need for staff to have the opportunity to work collaboratively. A focused community or network provides staff with the opportunity to share good practice and develop new ideas. Such a group has been established at Nottingham Trent University to explore the issue of student writing. This article examines the 'Academic Writing Readers Group' and discusses the challenges and benefits of using a community of practice approach to the issue of student writing.


1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary R. Lea ◽  
Brian V. Street

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