scholarly journals Writer Identity in Narrative and Argumentative Genres: A Case of Korean Students in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Seongyong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Narrative Writing ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Writer Identity ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Writing Task

This study investigated how three Korean ESL students constructed their writer identity in narrative and argumentative genres of writing. For this purpose, the qualitative data collected from interviews, observations and written documents for eight weeks were analyzed according to a social constructionist perspective as a philosophical framework and Ivanič’s approach to systemic functional linguistics as an analytic method. The results showed that the participants constructed a confident identity in narrative writing whereas they identified themselves with a less-confident writer in an argumentative genre. Accordingly, they adopted different strategies for the difficulties they were confronted with in two genres. In addition, while narrative essays showed their ownership of Korean culture as a sojourner in the U.S., argumentative essays revealed their ambivalent identity in an academic context. These findings shed light on the importance of a narrative writing task as a stepping stone for academic writing by empowering an L2 writer in terms of constructing an authoritative voice.Keywords: L2 writing, writer identity, genre-based writing

scholarly journals Different Activities in the Same Task: An Activity theory Approach to ESL Students’ Writing Process

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachiko Yasuda
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Task Requirements ◽  
Historical Nature ◽  
Major Data ◽  
The Way

This study offers some insights into the writing process of ESL students in a natural academic context. The theoretical framework used in this investigation is activity theory, which emphasizes the sociocultural and historical nature of the learning environment in determining the way students interpret the task requirements and the way they behave. Two major data sources were utilized: all the drafts students had written until they completed the final version, and retrospective interviews on students’ perception of their revision behaviors. While the analyses of drafts produced at different stages focus on how students go about writing, their previous writing experiences compiled through interviews, help explain why students act the way they do. The results showed that different activities were underway even though all of the participants were engaged in the same task. They also illustrated that students’ beliefs about academic writing, which were shaped through their previous experiences, determined the nature of their activities during the writing process. 本研究は、日本人学習者による英語での文章作成過程を検証する。分析のための理論的枠組として「活動理論(Activity Theory)」を使用し、同じ作文課題(task)に取り組む学習者が作成過程において、どの程度異なる活動(activity)に従事しているかを明らかにする。文章作成過程を知るために学習者が作成した複数の原稿をすべて回収し、一度書いたものを学習者がどのように推敲したかを分析した。その直後にインタビューを行い、推敲の際に何を考えたか、文章のどのような要素を改善しようとしたかについて質問した。分析の結果、分かったことは以下の２つである。（１）学習者はそれぞれ異なる点に推敲の焦点を当てており、それに従って異なる推敲の方法を採用していた。（２）各学習者によって異なる文章作成過程がとられていたが、それには各学習者の過去の経験とそれに基づいた学習者の作文に対するビリーフ(belief)が大きく関与していた。つまり、学習者はそれぞれが過去の経験を通して築き上げてきたビリーフに基づいて、それぞれ異なる目標を設定し、それに向かって作文活動を展開したのである。この結果は、教室内で同じ課題に取り組む学習者は必ずしも同じ活動に従事しているとはいえないことを示唆している。

Toward the understanding of Chinese ESL writing

English Today ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Hu
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Academic Environments ◽  
English Writing ◽  
The Usa

It is worth noting that an increasing number of international students, especially Chinese students, have been flooding into English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States or Australia in pursuit of advanced knowledge and better academic environments. As ESL students are enrolling in writing courses in colleges and universities, teachers are confronted with problems that non-native speakers bring to the class when it comes to their academic writing. The problems are more serious than they appear to be. For one thing, according to Reid (1993: 774), there is a dramatic difference between native students and ESL students in ‘the needs, backgrounds, learning styles, and writing strategies’. For another, the situation becomes worse due to ‘considerable diversity even among ESL students in terms of language and cultural backgrounds, prior education, gender, age, and ESL language proficiency’ (Reid, 1993: 774). Although there is not a single solution which is effective in solving complex ESL issues, teachers would be in a better position to understand their ESL students' writing problems if they were to learn about the distinct nature of L2 writing shaped by linguistic and cultural differences. In this article, the author, who was once a Chinese ESL student in the USA and is now an EFL teacher in China, explores how English writing differs from Chinese writing and how these differences lead to Chinese ESL students' difficulty with English writing. This article is expected to increase ESL practitioners' awareness of the urgency for them to recognize and deal with these differences in order to teach L2 writers effectively, to treat them fairly and thus provide them with equal opportunities to achieve academic and professional success.

scholarly journals Exploring Metacognitive Strategies Employed by ESL Writers: Uses and Awareness

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Basim Alamri
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Metacognitive Strategies ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Midwestern University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Writing Task

The present study explored metacognitive strategies employed by English as second language (ESL) writers. The study also investigated students’ awareness of the effectiveness of these strategies and the relationship between students’ language proficiency levels and the frequent uses of metacognitive strategies. The data was collected via a questionnaire completed by non-native English speaker students (23 males, 38 females) at a midwestern university in the United States. The findings indicated that students frequently employed the three components of metacognitive strategies (i.e., monitoring, planning, evaluating; where evaluating was the most frequent strategy, followed by monitoring and planning). Moreover, the results indicated that students had a relatively high awareness of the effectiveness of the strategies discussed in the study which consequently affected students’ uses of these strategies during a writing task, such as essays. Among the students, there was a positive correlation between students’ proficiency levels and the frequency of the use of strategies. The study suggested several pedagogical implications including the need for increasing students’ as well as teachers’ awareness of metacognitive strategies in teaching and learning academic writing.

scholarly journals Get a Room! How Writing Groups Aid the Development of Junior Academics’ Writing Practice and Writer Identity

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74
Author(s):  
Jenny Mattsson ◽  
Emma-Karin Brandin ◽  
Ann-Kristin Hult
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Writing Groups ◽  
Writer Identity ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Writing Group ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
The University ◽  
Writing Practice

The present study revisits writing retreat participants who have spontaneously formed writing groups before or after attending a retreat hosted by the Unit for Academic Language at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. All in all, 11 doctoral students and 1 post doc were interviewed using a semi-structured interview model. The answers were thematically analysed based on Murray’s (2014) concept of coherence in writing groups as well as parts of Aitchison and Lee’s (2006) key characteristics of writing groups. The two main research questions posed concern (i) whether the informants have changed their writing practice and/or the way they think and feel about writing since joining a writing group, and (ii) whether possible changes have aided the development of their identity as academic writers. Results show that the informants have indeed changed central aspects of their writing practice and that this in turn has positively influenced how they now think and feel about writing. This has to some extent contributed to the informants’ development of their writer identity; however, the present study also sheds light on the fact that more needs to be done at departmental levels across the university to make academic writing visible.

scholarly journals Re:Learn

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Borg ◽  
Marie-Louise Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Web Course ◽  
Writing Tutors ◽  
Collaborative Learning Environment ◽  
Academic Information

Librarians and writing tutors in higher education are working intensely to teach information literacy to students. But the extent to which this work is done collaborative or separately differs greatly between the universities. •How can we facilitate collaborative learning on questions regarding the teaching of academic information literacy? •How do we relate this teaching to various national and international frameworks and guidelines? •How do we find new ways and methods for writing tutors and librarians to work together? •Is it possible to create a platform to facilitate the exchange of ideas and tools? These are some of the questions that led us to start this project: to develop an open web course on student learning of information literacy in higher education. But instead of targeting students in higher education the target group for this course is librarians and writing tutors at Swedish universities. The project is funded by the Swedish library Association.The purpose of the course is to: •Place information literacy in an academic context, where academic writing is included together with information seeking, referencing, plagiarism etc. •Develop national cooperation on issues related to the teaching of information literacy and academic writing •To facilitate online peer learning between collegues on issues related to teaching information literacy and academic writing •Develop a platform for sharing experiences regarding tools and methods The participants will get the opportunity to participate in workshops and PBL-inspired group work on themes regarding the teaching of information literacy in higher education. In this way we hope to facilitate a creative and collaborative learning environment. The first iteration of the course will take place April-May 2021. This presentation will be about the development of the course and what we have learned so far.

scholarly journals Preparing Ell Writers for Becoming Multilingual Writers: Challenges and Strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-140
Author(s):  
Lee Jin Choi
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
Multilingual Writers ◽  
English Speaking

Summary The increasing number of international students enrolled in higher education in English-speaking countries has presented the growing need to support their academic writing development. It, however, has often led to the hasty assumption that English language learner (ELL) writers need to quickly adopt the dominant academic writing conventions in order to succeed in an English-speaking academic community. Even though the growing number of scholars have started to pay attention to ELL writers’ diverse writing styles and multiple identities, little research and discussion have taken place on how language practitioners could engage ELL writers in developing their voices as multilingual and multicultural writers. By analyzing a qualitative interview with ten experienced writing consultants and instructors, this paper explores major challenges that ELL writers experience and different strategies that could effectively help them develop their voices as writers in the academic context where English is dominantly used as the medium of instruction. Findings show that while many colleges and universities in English-speaking countries still adopt a monolithic view and label ELL writers as ‘a troubled non-native writer’, it is crucial for writing consultants and instructors to acknowledge ELL writers’ multilingual background and help them to develop their unique voices and achieve sustainable development and progress.

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.

The Power of Storytelling: The Experiences of Incarcerated Women Sharing Their Stories

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (15) ◽  
pp. 4814-4833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Bove ◽  
Rebecca Tryon
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Incarcerated Women ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
School Students ◽  
Meaningful Interaction ◽  
Societal Stigma

Women are the fastest growing prison population in the United States. Women who are incarcerated are characterized by significant mental health needs and intense societal stigma. Despite such vulnerabilities, little is known about their experiences or the pathways that lead them toward recovery and rehabilitation. This qualitative research explores the lived experiences of incarcerated women sharing their stories with high school students and their teachers as part of a community outreach project entitled “Stories of Change.” Six women were interviewed about what it was like to participate in the project. The data were coded and analyzed using phenomenological techniques, and the results were interpreted through a social constructionist framework. Five themes were revealed through an analysis of the interviews: (a) making a contribution, (b) connecting with others, (c) difficulty of telling their story, (d) identifying personal growth, and (e) moving forward. Storytelling is a powerful experience with lasting effects on the teller. This research explores the phenomenon of storytelling within a context of incarceration and stigma. These findings point toward the importance of providing programming to women within the criminal justice system that allows for meaningful interaction with normative individuals and opportunities for storytelling.

L2 writing development through two types of writing task repetition

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsushi Fukunaga
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Writing Development ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Medium Effect Size ◽  
Argumentative Essays ◽  
Task Types ◽  
Writing Task ◽  
Measurement Period

Abstract This study investigated whether any remarkable effects emerge in terms of overall complexity, complexity by subordination, accuracy, and fluency in two types of writing task repetition during a single academic semester (16 weeks). The Cognition Hypothesis states that tasks involving different cognitive demands will lead to different L2 output. Thus, this study explored whether any significant differences existed between two task types: descriptive and argumentative essays. The results revealed different patterns in the two types of writing tasks. For the descriptive essays, despite the improvements in overall complexity, complexity by subordination, and fluency with a large effect size, no significant findings were confirmed for accuracy. In contrast, in the argumentative essays, the learners improved all the linguistic aspects, but with a medium effect size. This study also unraveled developmental trajectories to demonstrate how different variables interacted in the two different types of writing tasks throughout the measurement period.

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