Register variation in L1 and L2 student writing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Goulart

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.

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-364
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Bagheri ◽  
Liming Deng

Abstract For years, personal and social voices have been the issue of discussion on voice construction in written discourse (e.g., Elbow, 1999; Flowerdew, 2011; Hyland, 2002, 2010a, 2012b; Mauranen, 2013; Ramanathan & Atkinson, 1999; Tardy, 2005). However, there is a lack of an integrated examination of the dimensions which determine voice construction in writing from personal and social perspectives. This article re-examines the issue of voice construction through a critical review of previous literature on identity in written discourse. It is argued that there are five major dimensions for the construction of voice in written discourse. How writers appropriate their voice according to such five dimensions as genre, transition, culture, discipline and audience will be discussed. This paper lends further support to the view that voice in written discourse is both personal and social. As it is known, good writing expresses both personal and social voices. However, based on the dominant dimension(s), voice construction should be adjusted. Sometimes personal voice is boldly expressed; sometimes social voice is; and some other times the boundary between the two is unnoticeable. The study provides an integrated framework as well as pedagogical implications for the teaching of academic writing within L1 and L2 contexts.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Tucker ◽  
Paul Chafe ◽  
Trina Grover ◽  
Kelly Dermody ◽  
Val Lem ◽  
...  

A first-year university and college student writing textbook that is intended to facilitate the flipped/blended classroom.<br>


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-198
Author(s):  
Susan Conrad

Abstract Susan Conrad, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Portland State University (USA), contributes this article on the applications of register research to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Her research focuses on topics including academic register variation, discipline-specific language, student and workplace writing, and grammar and writing pedagogy. Since the 1990s, her work has advocated for and exemplified the ways in which register-based descriptions can facilitate language teaching, including building awareness of register variation in learners and novice writers themselves. This focus is illustrated in her book Real Grammar: A Corpus-Based Approach to English (Conrad & Biber 2009, Pearson Longman), which takes many of the major register-based patterns of variation in English grammar (described in the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Biber et al. 1999) and translates them into practical grammar lessons for language learners, making explicit how grammar use is mediated by register. Her applied focus is also evident in her work as Principal Investigator for the Civil Engineering Writing Project <http://www.cewriting.org/>. The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, addresses the writing needs of Civil Engineering students through corpus-based register comparisons (of university student writing, practitioner workplace writing, and published academic writing), applying the results to the development and evaluation of pedagogical materials that improve students’ preparation for writing in the workplace.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Tucker ◽  
Paul Chafe ◽  
Trina Grover ◽  
Kelly Dermody ◽  
Val Lem ◽  
...  

A first-year university and college student writing textbook that is intended to facilitate the flipped/blended classroom.<br>


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Egbert

This study uses Multi-Dimensional analysis to describe linguistic variation in a corpus of published academic writing across three publication types in two disciplines. The resulting five dimensions were labeled: “Affective synthesis versus specialized information density”, “Definition and evaluation of new concepts”, “Author-centered stance”, “Reader-friendly narrative”, and “Abstract observation and description”. Factorial ANOVAs were used to test for significant interactions between publication type and discipline on each of the five linguistic dimensions. Statistical interactions were discovered for four of the five dimensions. The appropriate tests for statistical differences, either for main effects or simple effects, were performed, and publication type and discipline patterns were interpreted for all five dimensions. This paper highlights the importance of accounting for all of the independent factors in a corpus, using factorial ANOVAs where appropriate, in order to appropriately analyze and interpret patterns of linguistic variability.


2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Gilbert

The study consisted of an investigation into the argument structures employed in the English academic writing of Japanese native speakers and Australian English native speakers in the Arts (humanities) faculty of an Australian university. In order to investigate naturally occurring written argument structures, an in-depth case-study analysis of a small number of coursework essays was conducted. The complexity of argument structures in terms of the elaboration of individual arguments and the relational links between multiple related arguments of extended persuasive discourse were examined. Consequently, the similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 argumentative structures in the English essays and the nature of argument in English native speaker and Japanese ESL writing were identified. The findings indicate that although there were some differences between the micro- and macro-structures of written arguments in the coursework essays of L1 and L2 students, there were also similarities across both groups of writers. This may suggest that the context of learning plays a role in shaping the argumentative discourse patterns of written texts, which has significant implications not only for L2 writers learning the conventions of English discourse in an academic environment but also for future research investigating forms of written argument.


Corpora ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sian Alsop ◽  
Hilary Nesi

The British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus is a collection of texts produced by undergraduate and Master's students in a wide range of disciplines, for assessment as part of taught degree programmes undertaken in the UK. The majority of the contributors to the corpus are mother tongue speakers of English, but, in order to be included in the corpus, each assignment had to be judged proficient by assessors in the contributor's discipline, regardless of the writer's mother tongue. The corpus contains, therefore, only texts that have met departmental requirements for the given level of study. University writing programmes are typically aimed at undergraduate and Master's students, and it would be useful for writing tutors to know more about student assignment genres and the linguistic features of successful writing at undergraduate and Master's level. However, most large-scale descriptive studies of academic writing focus on published or publicly accessible texts, or learner essays on general academic topics, probably because there are practical difficulties associated with collecting large amounts of well-documented student output. This paper charts the experience of collecting data for the BAWE corpus, highlighting the problems we encountered and the solutions we chose, with a view to facilitating the task of future developers of academic student writing corpora.


2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (9) ◽  
pp. 310-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Drake-Lee ◽  
D Skinner ◽  
A Reid

The structure of postgraduate hospital training in the UK has changed in the last 20 years: the Calman report brought training in line with European law and the SpR post was created out of the registrar and senior registrar posts. Implementation of the new training was staggered across specialties. ENT was included in the second wave of implementation in October 1995. At the same time, consultant expansion was envisaged.


Author(s):  
Neil O. M. Ravenscroft

AbstractThe marsh fritillary Euphydryas aurinia is declining across Europe and is of high conservation interest. Its ecology has been defined and its conservation status assessed primarily from the affinities and populations of young caterpillars in the autumn, before hibernation and high winter mortality. The possibility that caterpillars of E. aurinia can overwinter more than once was investigated on the Isle of Islay, Scotland after caterpillars were found to occur at some locations in the spring despite a pre-hibernation absence. Closely-related species in North America and Northern Europe can prolong larval development by diapausing for a year as does E. aurinia in Scandinavia. Measurements of development and manipulations of distribution confirmed that some caterpillars do extend the life-cycle in Scotland and may occur in areas devoid of larvae in their first year. Caterpillars attempting this life-cycle develop slowly in spring, attain the normal penultimate spring instar and then enter diapause while other caterpillars are pupating. They moult just before diapause, construct highly cryptic webs and on emergence the following spring are 5–6 times heavier than larvae emerging in their first spring, or the equivalent of a month or so ahead. They attain a final, extra instar as larvae in their first spring reach the penultimate instar. Knowledge of this life-cycle is confined in the UK to Islay but its occurrence in this mild climate implies that it is more widespread.Implications for insect conservation Conditions that permit long diapause are probably precise and may not be reflected in recognised qualities of habitat. The species may also be present despite a perceived absence in autumn, the standard period for monitoring. Assessments of the prevalence of the life-cycle and its contribution to the persistence of E. aurinia are required. Populations of E. aurinia are known to fluctuate greatly and do occur below the observation threshold for long periods.


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