Academic Writing
Ideas in Flux
Diane Schmitt
Nottingham Trent University
Student Voices
I can read all of the words, but I don’t
understand the sentence.
I wrote every thought I had in everyday
language, because I haven’t had any
academic vocabulary at that stage.
When I heard about the plagiarism
software, I freaked out. How do I
express the specialized language? I
spent 12 hours a day for two weeks and
I got a 7% match.
The Matthew Effect
Children with reading problems read less than
proficient readers.
Children with reading problems read less
challenging texts than proficient readers
The result is that children with reading
problems read even less and even less
challenging materials.
The gap between proficient and less proficient
readers grows wider and wider.
(Stahl, 2003)
Vocabulary, the Matthew Effect and
International Students
Understanding the gist is not enough to fully
engage in PG classes.
Students may be forced to rely on background
knowledge and familiar topics to complete
their PG assignments instead of broadening
their knowledge.
Lack of automaticity hinders the activation of
known vocabulary in other modalities.
Reading speed bumps up against library loan
periods.
Slow reading speed also leads to truncated
reading.
More on Vocabulary, the Matthew
Effect and International Students
Lack of vocabulary leads to difficulty in
expressing complex ideas
Vocabulary gain and loss – when vocabulary is
not consolidated there is little or no overall
growth.
Danger of inadvertent plagiarism.
Overall missed opportunities and scaled back
goals.
(based on Banerjee, 2003)
Writing promote[s] the truest
method of learning.
(Sternglass, 1997: 293)
Does it really?
Where is the thinking in the field
for second language writers?
View 1
Linda Lonon Blanton
Discourse, Artifacts,
and the Ozarks:
Understanding
Academic Literacy
Journal of Second
Language Writing,
1994
View 2
Ilona Leki
Undergraduates in a
Second Language
Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, 2007
Where is the thinking in the field
for second language writers?
View 1 - Linda Lonon Blanton
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Reading and writing are integrated.
Language is medium in which student, teachers and texts
interact.
Class work is activity- oriented and collaboratgive
Language use is necessitated by the need to complete the
task at hand.
Tasks call for interacting with texts
Texts do not constitute the sole authority on any subject.
Students’ experience is called for and valued in text
interaction.
Tasks provided opportunities for students to claim authority
as they balance individual responses with those of
audience.
Language occurs in the context of meaningful
communication.
The teacher fosters the acquisition of literate behaviours.
Where is the thinking in the field
for second language writers?
View 2 - Ilona Leki
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Writing researchers exaggerate the role of writing in the lives of L2
undergraduates and in their intellectual and academic development.
Students took away from L2 writing classes some understanding of
grammar, organizing essays, responding to essay exams, increased
fluency, some vocabulary and transition words.
Knowledge of discourse community
Subject matter
Genre knowledge
Rhetorical knowledge
Writing Process
Developing socio-academic relationships – peers, partners, professors
and in some cases, writing centres.
Writing is privileged in the
academy
“To the extent that the academic
community is a community, it is a
literate community, manifested not
so much at conferences as in
bibliographies and libraries, a
community whose members know
one another better as writers than
as speakers.”
(Brodkey, 1987)
A Quiz
The university as experienced by
the student is
a. the same as the academy
b. different from the academy
c. depends on the discipline
d. depends on the level of study
e. other
Student Writers - Visible or
Occluded?
…the academic community is a
community, manifested … in
bibliographies and libraries…
a community whose members
know one another better as writers
than as speakers.
(Brodkey, 1987)
Access – Lave and Wenger,
1991
Learning occurs as a result of
“legitimate peripheral participation” in a
community.
Participation requires access to
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the full range of activities needed to learn
how to write for university
tools that can be used jointly for learning
practice/doing rather than instruction about
Blanton asks?
Does the term academic
“community” carry the connotation
held by many that communities
are warm and cohesive places?
University of Essex
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence but
more often than not it results from
misunderstanding rather than a deliberate
intention to cheat. Many students simply do
not understand what plagiarism is exactly.
Although confusion is understandable
especially at the beginning of your study,
ignorance will not be accepted as an excuse or
as a defence against an accusation of
plagiarism. You must therefore make sure
that you understand what plagiarism is and
how you can avoid it.
University of Waikato
What happens if you don't follow this advice? When one
of your teachers thinks that one of your assignments
has problems with acknowledgement and referencing,
he or she has to decide whether to treat it as a mistake
or as misconduct – i.e. plagiarism. If they decide it is a
mistake they are likely to explain the mistake to you, so
you don't make it again, and they will give the
assignment a mark that reflects, among other things,
the inappropriate acknowledgement and referencing.
You are expected to learn quickly how to acknowledge
correctly by using the appropriate style of referencing,
and you will be told all about this in your first classes
and in handouts you will receive, so don't expect your
teachers to tolerate mistakes for very long!
Affinity Space? (Gee, 2003)
People come, take what they need
and go
This is interaction, but is it
socialization in the discourse
community sense of discourse as a
social activity?
Why do we ask students to
write in university?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
to foster community
to enhance learning
because we want to know what
students think about the topics raised
in our classes
to replicate activity in the “real world”
to police student activity
because we haven’t got enough to do
some combination of the above
other
Change in the academy?
The more diverse backgrounds and
experiences of those participating
in the community of writers
connected to the academy, the
faster academic discourse will
change, and it is likely to become
far more interesting than it is now.
(Blanton, 1994:5)
Academic Genres
Genres embody strategies for
responding effectively to particular
situations. Genres develop as
situations change.
How do school or university-based
genres develop? Who develops
them?
International Students
University English speaking
community
community
Typical International
Students
Enter with IELTS score of 6.0 or 6.5
Reading speed of around 200 wpm
Average vocabulary size of around 4000
words
Little previous experience of reading
long texts in English
Little previous experience of writing
long texts in English
Reading and Writing Like a
University Student
Writing to Learn?
Leki’s students clearly differentiated
between actual text production and the
activities that constituted preparation
for writing.
Few writing experiences promoted
student intellectual or disciplinary
growth in any way particular to writing
itself.
Transfer of Skills?
“A student’s literacy skills undoubtedly
transfer to other disciplines, … it is behaviours
and not skills that make the critical difference
for students academic success.” (Blanton,
1994:8)
Students who did poorly on general education
courses did well in discipline courses and vice
versa.
Students noted that it was easier to write
more, more quickly.
Disciplinary writing often came with very clear
instructions of what to write and how to write
it.
What was most valuable?
Successful socio-academic
relationships
Effective peer group work
 Study groups
 Being part of a cohort
 Feedback and discussion about
writing from the writing centre and
professors
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So what am I muddled
about?
English for Academic Purposes courses
emphasize writing over all other language
skills.
EAP courses tend to teach English for General
Academic Purposes
Advocates of situated learning argue that
disciplinary writing needs to taught within the
context of the discipline.
Fragile knowledge – students are asked to
write too early in relation to content
knowledge, and students don’t write enough
to develop as writers.
So what am I muddled
about?
University policies and practices
can get in the way of helping
students develop.
Relationship between reading and
lectures and writing.
 Access to feedback (editors and
proofreaders).
 Use of text matching software.
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