Model for Academic Writing Instruction for International Undergraduate Students – A Focus on Paragraph Writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-134
Author(s):  
Kyoungsook Oh
Keyword(s):  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing

scholarly journals Fostering Stance-Taking as a Sustainable Goal in Developing EFL Students’ Academic Writing Skills: Exploring the Effects of Explicit Instruction on Academic Writing Skills and Stance Deployment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4270
Author(s):  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Lawrence Jun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Effective stance-taking is considered as a crucial skill for successful academic writing and sustainable development of writing scholarship. However, student writers often encounter difficulties in this aspect. Scholars have thus called for explicit instruction to develop students’ academic writing ability as a sustainable goal. Learning stance-taking is a particularly relevant area of intensive interest among writing scholars. Yet, few empirical studies have been conducted to examine its effectiveness on students’ academic writing quality and stance deployment. To fill this gap, a quasi-experimental research was conducted with 46 undergraduate students in a Chinese university, who were randomly assigned to two conditions: a treatment group and a comparison group. The treatment group received an eight-week explicit stance instruction, while the comparison group received curriculum-based writing instruction at the same time. Academic texts were collected both prior to and after the period of intervention. Results revealed that the treatment group outperformed the comparison group in the post-test in terms of academic writing quality and stance performance. Their writing also exhibited changes in the frequencies of an array of stance types deployed (e.g., proclaim: pronounce, proclaim: endorse, entertain, attribute), indicating their enhanced understanding of stance and improved competence of mitigation and integrating external voices for better academic writing. Implications for writing instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals A Study of University Students in Japan: Learning and Application of Academic English Writing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Graham McKinley
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Social Constructivist ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Writing Classes ◽  
Writer Identity ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
The Rich

<p>This study investigated Japanese first and second year undergraduate students learning English academic writing in their compulsory English composition courses in a Japanese university. The thesis takes a social constructivist approach to investigate the aspects of critical argument and writer identity in these students’ classes and their writing.  The data for the study include classroom observations and teacher and student interviews, all conducted monthly throughout the academic year-long course. In total there were six courses, four teachers, and sixteen student participants. The observations were analyzed using an adapted version of Ivanič’s (2004) Discourses of Writing framework, which focused on aspects of identity construction in the writing classroom. The linguistic data included a selection of one major piece of writing from each student, analyzed using an adapted Appraisal framework within Systemic Functional Linguistics (Martin, 1997; 2000). In order to maintain a focus on writer identity in the analysis, Clark and Ivanič’s (1997) selves were identified through this analysis. In addition, the texts were analyzed for use of Casanave’s (2002) writing game strategies, in order to further establish the students’ approaches in writing their texts. The objective was not to generalize about how Japanese students learn to write academic English, but rather to provide, from a social constructivist, Western researcher’s perspective, an analysis of what happened in these students’ writing classes and how it affected their writing for those classes.  Teachers’ general practices in the observed courses mainly focused on two aspects of writing: 1) as a communicative act (writing for a reader), and 2) as an exercise in critical thinking (developing a thesis). These two aspects emerged from the observation and interview data collection. The four teachers used very different approaches in designing their courses, and the students in the same classes responded in different ways, mostly depending on their ability to understand their teachers’ intentions and to form appropriate academic identities in an attempt to meet their teachers’ expectations. The analysis of the students’ written texts revealed that students often did not meet the teachers’ expectations of writing objectively and using a genre-appropriate voice as students often resorted to the same authorial voice to push their thesis.  This investigation was designed to inform pedagogic practices for university teachers of academic English and curriculum designers in Japan to establish effective English writing courses. The rich description of classroom practices and resulting written texts and the focus on differences in cultural expectations between teachers and students provide significant contributions to this area of inquiry. The main pedagogical suggestions are standardizing course objectives and goals, assigning more reading as a part of writing, and teaching students how to write authoritatively.</p>

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.

scholarly journals A Discourse Analysis: Cohesion of the Introduction Section of Research Article

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Anis Firdatul Rochma ◽  
Sulis Triyono
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Research Article ◽  
English Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Competence

<em>As an effort to give contribution to the existing knowledge, it is expected for the undergraduate students to compose an engaging research article in order to convince the readers about the importance of the research article. However, there is only a little attention given to the articles written by the undergraduate students although it is considered very critical to examine whether the exposure of English academic writing has significantly enhances the writing competence of the students. Furthermore, as it is also very crucial to build a meaningful semantic meaning among the sentences in order to disclose the worthiness of the research article, it is essential to analyze the cohesion of the research article written by the undergraduate students. Henceforth, the present research is projected to investigate the cohesion of the research articles written by the undergraduate students of English Language Teaching. As the introduction section of research article is likely to be an area to portray the logical explanation of the research, the present research solely focuses on examining the cohesion of the introduction section of research article. By adopting a qualitative design and involving several steps to analyze the introduction section, it is revealed that the grammatical cohesion is considered to be the most utilized type of cohesion in writing the introduction section. Still, the lexical cohesion is also necessary to build an eloquent semantic meaning about the topic as well the importance of the research article.</em>

Need Analysis for Developing Writing Skill Materials Using Facebook for English Undergraduate Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 542
Author(s):  
Geminastiti Sakkir ◽  
Syarifuddin Dollah ◽  
Safnil Arsyad ◽  
Jamaluddin Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Lesson Plan ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Visual Aids ◽  
Need Analysis ◽  
Online Social Media

This research is aiming at giving a contribution to the lecturers’ knowledge on the design materials in using social media Facebook in teaching writing process to English Department students. Before conducted the developing module for Facebook-based writing instructional course, we surveyed and explored the student’s need. The stages of this research consisted of need analysis and document analysis. We conducted needs analysis to 141 English students and 2 lecturers of writing. Data were collected using need analysis questionnaire and interview. The analyzed documents in this research were lesson plan, syllabus and the existing textbooks. The data from questionnaire and interview were analyzed in quantitative and qualitative methods. The results concluded that: first, needs analysis is the basic of developing module for Facebook-based writing instructional course, in order that the material can be related to the students’ needs, levels and lecturers’ perception. The result of students need found urgent to develop module for facebook-based writing instructional course through the following criteria of interactive, self-contained, user friendly, online supporting, online social media, authentic, environmentally friendly, formal and informal environments, online evaluation, presented in visual  aids, support  and facilitate the students’  academic and non-academic writing activities, topics of the materials should be interesting which provides a cultural background of students, the materials should be implemented by applying vocabulary, reading texts, grammar and basic skills in writing process, implemented in beginner level (Writing 1), used in class and out- class and the materials globally/ international context. Second, the lecturers’ desires in teaching writing are to improve the students’ skill to comprehend the materials. Third, the existing materials are unsuitable for the students, they prefer learning facilitated by electronic social media, Facebook, so they will more motivate in write.

Creating a Support Structure for Academic Writing and Publication Support

2015 ◽  
pp. 21-37
Author(s):  
Tonette S. Rocco ◽  
Lori Ann Gionti ◽  
Cynthia M. Januszka ◽  
Sunny L. Munn ◽  
Joshua C. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Center ◽  
Writing Centers ◽  
Scholarly Writing ◽  
Support Structure ◽  
Writing For Publication ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Way

Although research and writing for publication are seen as important responsibilities for most graduate students and faculty, many struggle to understand the process and how to succeed. Unfortunately, writing centers at most universities do not cater to these kinds of needs but rather to course-specific needs of undergraduate students. This chapter presents and explains the principles underlying Florida International University's establishment of The Office of Academic Writing and Publication Support, an office specifically designed to aid the scholarly writing efforts of graduate students and faculty. In doing so, this chapter aims to describe strategies and programs for the improvement of scholarly writing, provide insight into the kind of learning that can take place in a university writing center, and reflect on successes and missteps along the way. This chapter may be especially helpful to educators who seek to create similar offices or services at their own institutions.

Introduction to Partially Guest-Edited Issue

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-2
Author(s):  
Anita Puckett
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Transformative Experiences ◽  
Professional Goals

How undergraduates become committed to or influenced by applied anthropological approaches, stances, or ethics is often omitted within the corpus of anthropological publications. Yet the transformative experiences they can have when "in the field" are often life changing, and have the potential to impact nonanthropologists more significantly than can more professional or academic writing through the affect and experiential immediacy expressed in their oral or written presentations. Exposing undergraduates to major cultural differences as disciplinary neophytes often yields raw, impassioned insights that the seasoned applied anthropologist often expects and therefore subsumes under professional goals or purposes. Six of the eleven articles in this issue of Practicing Anthropology focus on these transformative experiences undergraduate students undergo when engaged in fieldwork.

scholarly journals Show de Física: contribuições para formação pessoal, acadêmica e profissional dos mediadores

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-225
Author(s):  
Giuseppi Gava Camiletti ◽  
Geide Rosa Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Espírito Santo ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Extension Activity ◽  
Espirito Santo

Neste artigo relata-se um estudo que buscou compreender em que medida a participação de estudantes da graduação como mediadores nas diversas atividades de um projeto extensionista da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), o Show de Física, impactou em seus respectivos processos formativos. Trata-se de um projeto de extensão universitária que tem o objetivo de despertar o interesse e a curiosidade dos estudantes e promover a divulgação da ciência Física. Entende-se essa pesquisa como sendo de cunho qualitativo e de caráter exploratório. Para a produção dos dados, os mediadores que participaram da atividade extensionista foram convidados a narrar suas experiências no Show de Física. A partir do retorno de 21 participantes, utilizou-se os pressupostos da Análise Textual Discursiva para interpretar as contribuições dessa atividade para o desenvolvimento pessoal, profissional e acadêmico desses graduandos. Os resultados apontam aprendizagens do ponto de vista atitudinal (como a importância do trabalho em equipe e das relações interpessoais), profissional (domínio do conteúdo subjacente aos experimentos e a criação e valorização de uma identidade profissional), de enculturação acadêmica (como o desenvolvimento da escrita acadêmica, a coleta e análise de dados e a participação em congressos) e ainda uma satisfação pessoal em participar do projeto Show de Física. Palavras-chave: Divulgação Científica; Experimentos; Atividade Extensionista; Aprendizagens Atitudinal e Profissional   Physics Show: contributions to personal, academic and professional formation of mediators Abstract: This article reports a study aimed at understanding to what extent the participation of undergraduate students as mediators in the various activities of the extension project “The Physics Show” at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), impacted their respective formative processes. It is a university extension project that aims to arouse the interest and curiosity of students and promote the dissemination of physical science. This research was qualitative and exploratory. For the obtaining data, the mediators who participated in the extension activity were invited to narrate their experiences at the Physics Show. The assumptions of Textual Discursive Analysis were used to interpret the contributions to professional and academic development, from the response of 21 participants to the survey. The results suggested learning from an attitudinal point of view (such as the importance of teamwork, interpersonal relationships), professional (mastery of the content underlying the experiments, and the creation and valorization of professional identity), academic enculturation (such as the development of academic writing, data collection and analysis, participation in congresses), and personal satisfaction in participating in the Physics Show Project. Keywords: Scientific Divulgation; Experiments; Extension Activity; Attitudinal and Professional Learning

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