scholarly journals Cultural Collisions in L2 Academic Writing

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Steinman
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Writing Pedagogy ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Contrastive Rhetoric ◽  
Esl Writing ◽  
Discourse Practices ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Open Discussion ◽  
Writing Instructors

Learning to write in English for academic purposes presents a significant challenge for non-native speakers. Not only must they deal with the obvious linguistic and technical issues such as syntax, vocabulary, and format, but they must also become familiar with Western notions of academic rhetoric. (West or Western in this article refer primarily to North America.) Collisions of cultures are experienced when the discourse practices L2 writers are expected to reproduce clash with what they know, believe, and value in their L1 writing. For this article I reviewed a range of literature that addresses writing and culture. Described by researchers and by L2 writers are collisions regarding voice, organization, reader/ writer responsibility, topic, and identity. Implications for writing pedagogy include awareness of contrastive rhetoric on the part of ESL writing instructors; instructors' acknowledgment of and appreciation for the prior knowledge that students bring from their L1; realization on the part of ESL writing instructors that Western notions of,for example, voice are indeed just notions and are simply one way among many of expressing oneself; and a need for open discussion with students about how they might incorporate standard Western notions of writing without compromising their own identity.

scholarly journals Effects of Process-Genre Approach on Writing Anxiety among English Academic Writing Learners in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 741-752
Author(s):  
Abrar Ajmal ◽  
Humaira Irfan
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Esl Writing ◽  
Writing Anxiety ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Product Approach ◽  
Writing Instructors

Writing ability is a prerequisite to be successful in academic pursuits. Pakistani student writers experience a range of issues, including psychological, cognitive, social, and linguistic when they write. Writing instructors need to use appropriate teaching strategies and methodologies to tackle writing-related issues (Khan & Zaki, 2018). Most of the Pakistani ESL writing students are educated through the stereotypical teacher-centered Product Approach focuses on the memorization of ready-made answers. As a result, the learners face great challenges; ESL writing Anxiety is one of the major challenges (Gopang, Bughio, & Pathan, 2018). The aim of this quasi-experimental study based on predominantly the post-positivist and the marginally pragmatic philosophical framework is to explore the effects of the Process-Genre Approach (PGA) on writing anxiety among ESL intermediate/pre-university students in Pakistan. The research tools were included to collect data: Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI), 22-item multidimensional questionnaire, and interviews to investigate the effects of the experiment on writing apprehensions. Data were collected before and after the designed academic writing module based on the Process-Genre approach and pair sample t-test was applied to yield statistically significant results showing that average writing anxiety score was reduced from 77.17 to 66.72 among control group and from 73.57 to 50.25 among the experimental group. Quantities data collected through interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis also supplement that the treatment was effective to reduce writing anxiety.

scholarly journals WRITING INTRODUCTION SECTIONS OF RESEARCH ARTICLES IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS: CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE WRITERS

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Farnia ◽  
Safoora Barati
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Writing Pedagogy ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Novice Writers

Genre studies allow researchers to observe the repeated communicative functions and their linguistic components in different genres (Brett, 1994). Writing the introduction section is a tough and burdensome task for both native and non-native speakers (Swales & Feak, 1994). Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the generic organization of English research article introductions written by native English and Iranian non-native speakers of English. A total of 160 published articles were selected from established journals in Applied Linguistics. Following Swales’ (2004) Create A Research Space (CARS) model, the researchers analyzed the articles for their specific generic patterns. Findings displayed that native English writers used significantly more strategies than Iranian non-native speakers of English, yielding richer texts. The findings of the present study contribute to the current knowledge of cross-cultural studies in academic writing to non-native English speakers in general and to non-native English novice writers in particular. Built on Swales’ (2004) CARS model, the study describes how introduction sections are developed in English by native and non-native speakers, offering insights into ESP/EAP writing pedagogy.

scholarly journals Reporting Verbs and Related Syntactic Choices in Students' Theses: A Study of Two Disciplines

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-142
Author(s):  
Martina Jarkovská ◽  
Lenka Kučírková
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Past Research ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Lower Ability ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Verb Tense

Adopting Hyland's (2002) framework of reporting words (RVs), the paper investigates the use of RVs in Master's theses written in English by students of two disciplines, Economics and Management and Natural Resources. The data were drawn from two sub-corpora, each consisting of 82 Literature Reviews, where other authors' research is summarised and commented on. Besides determining the most frequent communicative functions, in this paper, the RVs are further analysed in terms of the verb tense, voice, and subject-agent. The findings revealed significant differences between the two disciplines. In the former, most RVs were in the present active with named-author as the subject, conveying a neutral attitude towards the reported message and neutrally summarising previous research outcomes. Most RVs were in the past tense in the latter, reporting on past research procedures or outcomes. The findings reveal infrequent use of evaluative or critical verbs. Each discipline's predominant choice may suggest writers' lower ability to highlight the cited sources' direct relevance to their research. The study hopes to contribute to the efficacy of teaching English for Academic Purposes to non-native speakers. It has pedagogical implications for academic writing in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at non-philological tertiary education institutions.

Hedges in Russian EAP writing: A corpus-based study of research papers in management

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-101
Author(s):  
Elizaveta Smirnova ◽  
Svetlana Strinyuk
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Writing Pedagogy ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Academic Communication ◽  
Professional Writers

AbstractThe fact that English has become a lingua franca of academic communication has led to increased attention to teaching English for academic purposes (EAP) at the academia. Academic discourse markers, such as hedges, have been an important topic in academic writing research whose prime aim is helping non-Anglophone researchers to present their research findings in English for international publication. This study investigates the use of the most frequent hedging devices in a corpus of 58 works written by Russian university students and compares it to a corpus of articles published in peer-reviewed journals in business and management. The analysis of learner corpus data has provided evidence of how Russian ELF speakers use the language, showing significant differences between the use of hedges by the students and professional writers. The research has also highlighted a number of challenges which non-native learners face when writing academic texts. The study may contribute to a higher level of L2 academic writing in ELF contexts and have implications for creating EAP courses, research of second language acquisition and writing pedagogy.

scholarly journals The linguistic disadvantage of scholars who write in English as an additional language: Myth or reality

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (02) ◽  
pp. 249-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Flowerdew
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Academic Publishing ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Writing For Publication ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Academic Writer ◽  
Deliberate Learning

Academics are coming under increasing pressure to publish internationally. Given the global dominance of English, this very likely means publishing in English-medium journals and with publishers which publish in English. This raises the important question of the possible disadvantage of those scholars whose first language is not English and who therefore have the additional burden of having to develop adequate proficiency in an additional language, English. As a student of modern languages to university level and of other languages to rather lower levels of proficiency and as a teacher of English for academic purposes (EAP) and of English for research and publication purposes (ERPP), since I became aware of this issue, I have always believed this extra burden on the English as an additional language (EAL) academic writer to be a self-evident truth. Ken Hyland, however, in a recent book (Hyland, 2015) and an article titled ‘Academic publishing and the myth of linguistic injustice’ (Hyland, 2016a), has taken it upon himself to argue that such an assumption is ill-founded. Hyland argues that native-speakers (NSs) of English encounter the same difficulties as non-native speakers (NNSs) when it comes to academic writing, that ‘academic English is no one's first language’, and that it requires ‘deliberate learning’ by both NSs and NSs (p. 57). Native and non-native writers, Hyland implies, are on a level playing field when it comes to writing for publication, both groups having to jump the same hurdles.

scholarly journals Confronting MA students’ and seminar teachers’ diverse agendas concerning academic literacy development through an EAP writing course

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Magdalena Trepczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Literacy Development ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Writing Pedagogy ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Master's Programs ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Academic Courses ◽  
Writing Instructors ◽  
Constructing Knowledge

<p>Academic courses aim to develop kinds of literacy that are significantly different from what students know from other contexts. Mastering ways of constructing knowledge in scholarly disciplines in a foreign language poses a considerable challenge, not only for the uninitiated. The challenge is none the less small for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing instructors as the currently observed diversity of student populations in master’s programs compels them to revise some of their long-standing assumptions and practices. The article reports on a study aiming to compare MA seminar teachers’ and beginner MA students’ perceptions of writing needs and an EAP course expectations and<br />suggests how the responses can be used constructively in writing pedagogy.</p>

scholarly journals A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of the Logical Connector ‘Thus’ in the Academic Writing of Turkish EFL Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Serpil Ucar ◽  
Ceyhun Yukselir
Keyword(s):  
Likelihood Ratio ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
American English ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Log Likelihood ◽  
Log Likelihood Ratio ◽  
Effect Relation ◽  
Academic Genre

This research was conducted to investigate how frequently Turkish advanced learners of English use the logical connector ‘thus’ in their academic prose and to investigate whether it was overused, underused or misused semantically in comparison to English native speakers. The data were collected from three corpora; Corpus of Contemporary American English and 20 scientific articles of native speakers as control corpora, and 20 scientific articles of Turkish advanced EFL learners. The raw frequencies, frequencies per million words, frequencies per text and log-likelihood ratio were measured so as to compare varieties across the three corpora. The findings revealed that Turkish learners of English showed underuse in the use of the connector ‘thus’ in their academic prose compared to native speakers. Additionally, they did not demonstrate misuse in the use of the connector ‘thus’. Nevertheless, non-native learners of English tended to use this connector in a resultative role (cause-effect relation) more frequently whereas native speakers used it in appositional and summative roles more as well as its resultative role. Furthermore, the most frequent occurrences of ‘thus’ have been in academic genre.

scholarly journals What we talk about when we talk about writing: exploring how English for Academic Purposes teachers and learning developers conceptualise academic writing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon McCulloch ◽  
Tania Horak
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Academic Literacies ◽  
Professional Identities ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Academic Writer ◽  
Sense Of Identity

Two main groups of staff currently provide writing support to students in British universities. These staff typically enter their roles from a range of professional backgrounds and, consequently, may hold different professional identities and understandings of what academic writing is. Although there is a body of research on teacher identity and on lecturers’ conceptualisations of writing, few studies have compared the views and identities of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers and learning developers. The current study set out to investigate whether these two groups perceive academic writing in similar or different ways, and why. We undertook a small-scale study, interviewing eight participants at two universities, half from a post-1992 institution and the others from a research-intensive, high-ranking university. While participants varied in their definitions of writing, common themes emerged, lying on a spectrum from an autonomous, text-based, to an academic literacies perspective on writing. To establish the influences on these perspectives, we investigated the participants’ sense of identity as an academic writer, how they learned writing themselves and any influences on them from theory. Neither the EAP teachers nor the learning developers identified strongly as academic writers, despite all holding postgraduate qualifications and some having published their writing. Most reported little to no training in how to write academically themselves, and few mentioned any theoretical stance in their approach to helping students. Although some clustering around particular conceptualisations of writing was observed, we did not find strong evidence that the participants belong to two different ‘tribes’.

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