TESOL Philadelphia 2012
Talking about Academic Writing:
Border Crossings
Diane Schmitt
Border Crossings in Writing
Secondary School
EFL Exams
University Writing
EAP Writing
EAP Writing
Disciplinary Writing
Freshman Composition
Graduation Writing Exams
Disciplinary Writing
Disciplinary Exams
Challenges at the Border
EAP Writing
EFL Exams
Disciplinary Writing
EAP Writing
Disciplinary Writing
Exam Essay Tasks
Disjuncture between IELTS argumentative
essays and assessed academic writing

IELTS writing:
gives too much attention to the subjectivity of the
argument; this is at odds with the objective, nonpersonal writing of assessed academic writing
 exhibits an excess of authorial authority in the
absence of persuasive supporting evidence – this is
likely to weaken rather than strengthen an argument
 draws too much attention to the writer rather than
the argument
 overuses hearsay
 overly direct – not much hedging

(Coffin and Hewings, 2004)
EAP Writing Tasks
EAP writing more often requires students to use
information from external sources in their writing.
Sample Pre-sessional Criteria

Assessment Criteria (Final Draft of Essay) - 8
August.docm
IELTS 1 writing task


The graph below shows
the different modes of
transport used to travel
to and from work in one
European city in 1960,
1980 and 2000.
Summarise the
information by selecting
and reporting the main
features, and make
comparisons where
relevant.
IELTS writing task 1: requirements

For Writing Task 1 it is very important that
candidates are able to understand information
that is presented in diagram/graph/chart/table
form. They must also be able to choose the
most significant information to include in their
description and be sure to focus on the overall
trends within the data (if data is presented) in
order to give an overview of it. They may also
need to compare and contrast information.
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/academic_writing/abou
tthepaper/task1/index.htm
Olwyn Alexander, 2009
Preparing students for both exams
and disciplinary writing


The data description writing task in the IELTS
examination differs significantly from data
commentary in disciplinary writing, e.g. science
and engineering degrees.
By identifying key features of data commentary
at university and tasks for teaching it effectively
can be developed.
Olwyn Alexander, 2009
How does this relate to disciplinary
writing?

According to Swales and Feak (n.d.)
writing about non-verbal material in the real
world, even in textbooks, typically involves
something more or something other than
straight information transfer… [it] typically
takes the form of a selective and interpretive
commentary.
http://eca.state.gov/education/engteaching/pubs/BR/functionalse
c2_5.htm
Olwyn Alexander, 2009
Analyses of data commentaries by Applied
Linguistics researchers (Alexander, 2009)
Author
Date
Journal or Book
Disciplines
Thompson
1993
Written Communication
Biochemistry
Brett
1994
English for Specific Purposes
Sociology
Posteguillo
1998
English for Specific Purposes
Computer Science
Williams
1999
English for Specific Purposes
Medical Research
Shaw
2000
Analysing Professional Genres Animal Nutrition
Yang and Allison
2003
English for Specific Purposes
Applied Linguistics
Kanoksilapatham
2005
English for Specific Purposes
Biochemistry
Bruce
2009 in English for Specific Purposes
press
Sociology Chemistry
Main findings of the analysis
(Alexander, 2009)



Results sections in journal articles are commentaries
and not descriptions.
They proceed through a series of Moves and Steps
 Move = communicative purpose, e.g. locate results,
state results, comment on results
 Step = rhetorical techniques which realize these
purposes, e.g. steps for comment on results might be
interpret results, compare results with literature,
account for results, evaluate results
These moves and steps are repeated for each new
finding.
What’s different between the two
types of writing task?





There is an overall structure to reporting data from
tables and graphs at university.
Locate the results: The graph shows the different modes
of transport used to travel to and from work.
Report the main findings: Whereas walking to work was
the most common form of transport in 1960, by 2000
most people travelled to work by car.
Account for the findings: It is likely that by 2000 many
companies had relocated to out of town business parks
which were too far to reach on foot.
Repeat for each finding: The use of bicycles to travel to
work fell dramatically between 1960 and 2000, probably
because of the increased number of cars on the road.
Olwyn Alexander, 2009
Purpose of Language Proficiency Exams
e.g. IELTS General Descriptors
Purposes of Assessed Student Writing
in University (Nesi and Gardner, 2012)

Provide opportunities to develop knowledge,
understanding and expertise
 Writing
to learn
Purposes of Assessed Student Writing
in University (Nesi and Gardner, 2012)


Provide opportunities to develop knowledge,
understanding and expertise
Display knowledge, understanding and
expertise
 Assess
achievement of learning outcomes
Purposes of Assessed Student Writing
in University (Nesi and Gardner, 2012)




Provide opportunities to develop knowledge,
understanding and expertise
Display knowledge, understanding and
expertise
To explain or argue a point
To demonstrate the ability to explain or argue a
point in writing
 Assess
ability to meet academic and disciplinary
conventions for explanation or argument
Purposes of Assessed Student Writing
in University (Nesi and Gardner, 2012)





Provide opportunities to develop knowledge,
understanding and expertise
Display knowledge, understanding and
expertise
To explain or argue a point
To demonstrate the ability to explain or argue a
point in writing
To earn a grade or gain credits towards a
degree
Purposes of Assessed Student Writing
in University (Nesi and Gardner, 2012)






Provide opportunities to develop knowledge,
understanding and expertise
Display knowledge, understanding and
expertise
To explain or argue a point
To demonstrate the ability to explain or argue a
point in writing
To earn a grade or gain credits towards a
degree
To develop skills to communicate with multiple
audiences – academic and professional
A comparison of writing tasks
Language
Tests
EAP
Classes
Personal Argumentative Essay
Description
Diagram Description
Comparison Contrast
Integrative Task – Reading/Listening/Writing
Argument/Persuasion
Problem-Solution
Source-based Research Papers
Assessed academic writing tasks:
Student writing in the disciplines
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Case Study
Critique
Design Specification
Empathy Writing
Essay
Exercise
Explanation
Literature Survey
Methodology Recount
Narrative Recount
Problem Question
Proposal
Research Report
Genre Families
found in the BAWE
(Nesi and Gardner, 2012)
Realizations of a genre in different
disciplines
(Gardner, 2010)
Realizations of a genre in different
disciplines
Writing tasks set at UK universities by
disciplinary group and level
(Gardner, 2010)
Recognizing the different purposes
for academic writing

Essays, critical reviews, portfolios and
dissertations, are the end products of a long
process which incorporates thinking, listening,
reading, collating ideas, drafting and redrafting,
discussing and editing. (CAPLITS, 2008)
Recognizing the different purposes
for academic writing

Essays, critical reviews, portfolios and
dissertations, are the end products of a long
process which incorporates thinking, listening,
reading, collating ideas, drafting and redrafting,
discussing and editing. (CAPLITS, 2008)
Aims of Undergraduate Study

Bachelor's degrees with honours are awarded to
students who have demonstrated:



a systematic understanding of key aspects of their field of
study, including acquisition of coherent and detailed
knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the
forefront of defined aspects of a discipline
an ability to deploy accurately established techniques of
analysis and enquiry within a discipline
conceptual understanding that enables the student to…
(QAA, 2008)
Aims of Undergraduate Study

Conceptual understanding that enables the student to:




to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or
equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline
an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly
reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles
and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).
Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to:


apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review,
consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and
to initiate and carry out projects
critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data
(that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate
questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a
problem
(QAA, 2008)
Aims of Undergraduate Study

Conceptual understanding that enables the student to:




to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or
equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline
an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly
reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles
and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).
Writing tasks are driven by
apply
the methods and techniques
thatknowledge.
they have learned to review,
disciplinary
content
consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and
Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to:


to initiate and carry out projects
critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data
(that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate
questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a
problem
(QAA, 2008)
Disciplinary Argumentation across
Genres (Nesi and Gardner, 2012:127)

Law focuses on what is legally right


Philosophy focuses on what morally or logically
accepted




impose, enforce, deter, prohibit
Concession- accept, admit, concede
Critique – criticise, imagine, question
Entertainment – claim, imagine, postulate
Sociology focuses on what is arguably, fundamentally,
socially challenged.

Theories and ideas – embrace, shape, reinforce,
legitimise, portray and challenge
Specific uses of linguistic features
across genre families


Explain and Exercise Genres
 The verbs ‘explain’ and ‘understand’ are rarely used
 “I shall first explain…”
 The verbs do fulfill specific functions, e.g. citation,
showing how concepts and theories explain
Keywords and their Collocates
 Students are far less likely to claim than published
authors; they are more likely to endorse these authors
than challenge them
 Point to the focus of argumentation in different
disciplines
Register dimensions of student
writing

11 genre families are:
Highly informational
 Non-narrative
 Elaborated
 Lacking overt features
of persuasion
 Highly impersonal

Nesi and Gardner, 2012

Narrative recounts
and empathy writing
are relatively:
Involved
 Narrative
 Situation Dependent

Writing is a process

Assessed Writing in the Disciplines requires
students to:
derive content knowledge from their disciplinary
reading and listening and apply it to a written
prompt,
 recognize and use the appropriate disciplinary
moves and steps required for applying ideas and
information
 use language that is appropriate to the discipline
and the task

A salutory story…
A cohort of 19 students studying for a Master’s
Degree in Human Resource Management
 External accrediting body requires that core
are assessed
examsa pre-MA
Allmodules
of students
attendedbyeither
 Two of these are based on case studies
English
course or a two or three-term pre 13 students
fail the first exam
masters
course
 11 students fail all three exams
 The students only read the case studies and did
not read other texts from the reading list.

Purpose of Pre-university English
language or Preparatory Programs
Characteristics of learner
production in academic writing






A limited lexical repertoire
Lack of register awareness
Lack of awareness of lexico-grammatical and
phraseological specificities
Semantic misuse of connectors and labels
The extensive use of chains of connective
devices
A marked preference for placing connectors in
sentence-initial position
(Paquot, 2010)
Limited lexical repertoire
(ICLE corpus)

Overused nouns
advantage, aim, benefit, change, choice, conclusion,
consequence, degree, disadvantage, example, fact,
idea, influence, possibility, problem, reality, reason,
risk, solution, stress

Underused nouns
addition, argument, assumption, basis, bias,
comparison, concept, contrast, criterion, difference,
effect, emphasis, evidence, extent, form, hypothesis,
issue, outcome, perspective, position, scope, sense,
summary, theme, theory, validity
How can we better support
students?


Provide opportunities to develop knowledge,
understanding and expertise, and to
Display knowledge, understanding and
expertise
 Writing needs to be part of a wider cycle of
purposeful reading to learn content
 Instead of simply focusing on different
rhetorical types, focus more on purpose and
function
Taking a genre approach
(Tribble & Wingate, 2011)


Compile a corpus of student writing
Create materials based on both high scoring and low
scoring work.
Applied Linguistics
 All of the examples in this guide have been taken from
assignments in the KCL Apprentice Writing Corpus.
Assignments on the MA typically require students to
demonstrate knowledge of relevant research literature, to
reflect on the relevance of this research on specific teaching
and learning contexts, and to come to conclusions in relation
to the particular issues which are raised in the assignment.
Tribble and Wingate\Tribble and Wingate Samples.doc

Taking a genre approach
(Tribble & Wingate, 2011)


Pharmacology
Optimisation Reports in the third year of the MPharm degree typically
require students to report the experimental work they have performed in
optimising one of four types of pharmaceutical formulations (creams,
tablets, capsules or suspensions) over a period of 6 full-day sessions. In
this report, they need to 1) demonstrate background knowledge of the
formulations by referring to the relevant textbooks and research papers;
2) justify the experimental design, such as the choice of independent
variables (the parameters that are varied) and dependent variables (the
properties of the formulations that result from varying the independent
parameters); 3) report the results of their experiments in a clear,
relevant manner; 4) critically discuss their results in the light of available
theory, by reference to appropriate literature sources; 5) present
conclusions on the most appropriate formulation and reflect on the
suitability of the methods used and possible improvements and limitations
of the approach taken.
Taking a genre approach
(Tribble & Wingate, 2011)
Corpora, Genre, and Talk


Students benefit from seeing not only expert
academic writing, but also student writing
Where you have students from a variety of
disciplines or undergraduates who do not yet
know their major:
Use insights from published studies
 Teach students to be genre and language detectives


Help students to see that choices about
text/genre type, organization and language are
motivated by the discipline.
Thank you for your attention.
diane.schmitt@ntu.ac.uk