What our students tell us: Perceptions of three multilingual students on their academic writing in first year

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Morton ◽  
Neomy Storch ◽  
Celia Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Multilingual Students

scholarly journals Error Analysis of Students Essays: A Case of First Year Students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Amoakohene
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The University

Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students’ academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of  UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of  sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis. 

scholarly journals The Prevalence and Frequency of Authorial Identity among Undergraduate Students in Fiji

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Jasbir Karneil Singh ◽  
Ben K. Daniel
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
Authorial Identity ◽  
National University ◽  
Authorial Voice

Expressing an authoritative voice is an essential part of academic writing at university. However, the performance of the authorial self in writing is complex yet fundamental to academic success as a large part of academic assessment involves writing to the academy. More specifically, the performance of the authorial self can be complex for English as a Second Language (ESL) student-writers. This research investigated the extent to which ESL first-year students at the Fiji National University perform their authorial voice using interactional metadiscourse in their academic writing. The study employed a quantitative analysis of corpus produced by 16 Fijian ESL undergraduate students enrolled in an EAP course. The research found that the ESL authorial voice was predominantly expressed through boosters and attitude markers, with relatively little usage of other interactional metadiscoursal elements such as hedges, engagement markers and self-mentions. Further, the research showed that this particular cohort expressed their authorial voice and identity through boosted arguments and avoiding language that directly mentions the authorial self. The study concludes that the ESL authorial self for this cohort manifests itself in a selected range of selected interactional metadiscoursal elements, requiring the need to raise the awareness of self-reflective expressions for ESL students. The study also encourages further exploration of ESL authorial identity construction in academic writing at undergraduate level and beyond.

Register variation in L1 and L2 student writing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Goulart
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Brazilian Students ◽  
The Uk ◽  
L1 And L2

Abstract While there have been many studies describing L2 academic writing, most of these studies have used corpora of first year or assessment writing (Crosthwaite 2016; Weigle & Friginal 2014). The present study seeks to describe linguistic variation in L2 writing for content classes and to compare these linguistic patterns to those found in L1 writing. A multi-dimensional (MD) analysis was conducted in two corpora, BAWE and BrAWE, extracting five dimensions. The L2 corpus contained 379 texts written by Brazilian students doing part of their undergrad in the UK and the L1 corpus contained 395 texts from BAWE. The results of this study indicate that L1 and L2 writers use similar linguistic resources to convey the purpose of university registers, with the exception of case studies, designs, exercises and research reports. This linguistic variation between L1 and L2 writers might be explained by students’ interpretation of these registers’ communicative purposes.

Translanguaging to enhance reading comprehension among first-year medical students

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vimbai Mbirimi-Hungwe
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Test Analysis ◽  
Multilingual Students ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Multilingual Learning ◽  
First Year Medical Students ◽  
Experimental Group

Abstract Since the turn of the century there has been an increase in the use of translanguaging in multilingual learning contexts. Many researchers have shown how translanguaging enhances multilingual students’ ability to understand academic content. This experimental study provides empirical evidence that translanguaging can enhance reading comprehension. An experimental group and a control group were used to establish whether there was a significant difference between the performances of the two groups after reading an academic text. Using the t-test analysis, the results show a significant difference in the performance of the control group and the experimental group. These findings prompt us to conclude that translanguaging is an effective strategy that enhances reading comprehension.

scholarly journals Nurturing academic writing for students in an enrolled to registered nurse conversion course at university

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Elizabeth N.M. Emmanuel ◽  
Marilyn Chaseling ◽  
Bill Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Registered Nurse ◽  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Nursing Programs ◽  
Nursing Program ◽  
First Year ◽  
Vocational Programs ◽  
University Enrolment ◽  
Second Year ◽  
First Year University

A growing number of diploma-qualified nurses from vocational programs are enrolling in university Bachelor of Nursing programs to upgrade their qualifications. Universities typically provide these students with credit so they enter the Bachelor of Nursing program in second year. Known as pathway students, these students tend to miss the orientating opportunities that other students experience in their first-year university enrolment. This lack of first-year opportunity can be challenging for many pathway students, notably in academic writing. This paper reports on a tailored and scaffolded academic-writing teaching strategy designed for pathway students in their initial semester of learning. Both the students themselves, and teachers report evidence of improvements in academic writing amongst the pathway students.

Students’ Accounts of Their First-Year Undergraduate Academic Writing Experience: Implications for the Use of the CEFR

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim McNamara ◽  
Janne Morton ◽  
Neomy Storch ◽  
Celia Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year

The tangled web

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Sutherland-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The Internet ◽  
First Year ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Free Zone ◽  
Significant Difference

This study explores the notion of plagiarism and the Internet from 11 English as Second Language (ESL) teachers and 186 first-year ESL students at South-Coast University in Melbourne, Australia. Data collection was by a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, and coded using SPSS and N*Vivo software to ascertain trends in response. The most significant difference in response related to the concept of the Internet as copyrightable space. ESL teachers in this study regarded cyberspace as a limitless environment for ‘cut and paste’ plagiarism in students’ academic writing, whereas ESL students considered the Internet a ‘free zone’ and not governed by legal proprietary rights. These conflicting views, it is suggested, relate to differing notions of authorship and attribution: the Romantic notion protected by legal theory and sanctions versus literary theory and techno-literacy notions of authorship. This research highlights the need to reformulate plagiarism policies in light of global and technological perspectives of authorship and attribution of text.

scholarly journals Investigating Cohesion and Coherence Discourse Strategies of Chinese Students with Varied Lengths of Residence in Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Leo
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Generation 1.5 ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Discourse Strategies

This study examines how three age-on-arrival (AOA) groups of Chinese-background ESL students use two types of cohesive devices on a standardized essay exam. A discourse analysis of 90 first-year students’ expository writing samples was conducted to ascertain how factors such as first language (L1) and length of residence (LOR) in Canada influence a student’s ability to create cohesive and coherent writing. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how Canadian-born Chinese (CBC) students use lexical and referential discourse markers. Twelve essay features of this group of Generation 1.5 students are compared with those of two other cohorts of Chinese students with a shorter LOR. Key writing variables that measure academic writing proficiency were quantitatively analyzed to compare the expository writings of the CBC cohort with those of the later AOAs. Results indicate that synonymy and content words distinguish the writings of the CBC students from those of their later-arriving peers. A qualitative analysis of one CBC essay reveals that a more flexible and contextualized approach to evaluating writing by longterm Generation 1.5 students is required to acknowledge fully the productive lexical and discoursal strengths of these students.

scholarly journals The Use of Personal Pronouns in the Writing of Argumentative Essays by EFL Writers

RELC Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Robert MacIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Japanese University ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Style Guides

In many academic writing textbooks and style guides the use of personal pronouns is not encouraged. This is particularly problematic for non-native speakers of English trying to express themselves in a second language as, although personal pronouns are a clear signal of the writers’ identity and presence in a text, they are usually advised not to use them. Therefore, in order to understand more about the use of personal pronouns by non-native speakers, this study examined a corpus of argumentative essays written by first-year Japanese university students. Whilst the use of personal pronouns has been well documented, there has been less written about how we, as educators, can help our learners understand how to use them to shape their identities as academic writers. Therefore, this article attempts to address this by suggesting a possible pedagogical approach to teaching the use of personal pronouns in academic writing.

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