Search results for "academic writing"
showing 10 items of 22 documents
If you can defend your own point of view, you're good : Norms of voice construction in student writing on an international Master's programme
2019
Abstract This ethnographically oriented study followed the writing experiences of four students on an international masters programme in Finland. Gathering a range of data, the study set out to examine what counts as good writing on a programme with a very diverse student body in which English is used as a lingua franca. Both teachers and students emphasised the importance of arguing one's ‘own point of view’ in academic writing, and teachers often formed impressions of students on the basis of their texts, drawing attention particularly to their use of metadiscourse markers (e.g., self-mentions, attitude markers and hedges). The present article therefore combines a quantitative analysis of…
How to Foster Critical Literacy in Academic Contexts: Some Insights from Action Research on Writing Research Papers
2013
This chapter attempts to identify problem areas and suggest possible remedial means to rectify critical literacy deficits of students who write research papers in Cultural and Media Studies (CMS) at the Institute of English Studies of Opole University, Poland. Despite sufficient levels of English proficiency and ever easier access to CMS sources, students report daunting problems in selecting and framing their research objectives, stating their positions, and arguing for them. They also find it hard to evaluate materials in terms of relevance and credibility. In brief, they often lack what can be described as critical literacy—a set of skills to interrogate the social, institutional and ide…
Assessment of Academic Literacy
2015
La alfabetización académica se ha convertido en uno de los objetivos de la Educación Superior, donde la escritura se transforma en una herramienta de aprendizaje. El Marco Español de Cualificaciones para la Educación Superior (MECES) gradúa los resultados de aprendizaje esperados en los estudiantes universitarios en relación a la alfabetización académica en los títulos oficiales de Grado, Máster y Doctorado. La evaluación de la alfabetización académica se plantea como una comunidad de discurso donde el objeto y objetivo, las tareas, las modalidades, los criterios y los estándares de evaluación se centran en el proceso de la escritura epistémica en un contexto académico. Una evaluación para …
What Counts as ‘Good’ Academic Writing? The Interplay of Writing Norms in International Higher Education
2021
English medium instruction (EMI) programmes have become common contexts of English use for academic purposes worldwide. They tend to combine students and teachers with very varied linguistic, national and academic backgrounds who use English as a lingua franca rather than the official language of the institution. In this chapter, I discuss literature on the interplay of different kinds of norms for academic writing relevant to EMI contexts (e.g. linguistic, cultural, disciplinary), whilst providing examples from an ethnographically oriented study of academic literacy on an international master’s programme in Finland (reported on previously e.g. in McCambridge, Norms and ideologies of academ…
Two ways to reformulate: a contrastive analysis of reformulation markers
2003
The aim of this paper is to present a contrastive analysis of reformulation markers in English, Spanish and Catalan. The study is based on a corpus of expository prose (mainly academic writing). The analysis shows coincidences in the sources of the markers and differences in the variety of forms expressing reformulation as well as in their frequency of use. Assuming that grammaticalization processes such as those leading to the creation of connectives have their roots in discourse, parallel differences are expected to be found in text construction. The present paper argues that the differences identified in the grammar of English vs. those of Spanish and Catalan can be associated with two d…
A third space: discursive realizations of immigrant identity
2015
The relationship between additional language use and identity has long been of interest to scholars studying immigration and multilingualism. While oral language is frequently examined as a site for the negotiation of identity, written texts can also be studied for information about how language learners position themselves within their receiving culture. This study looks at the relationship between pronoun choice and identity in additional language academic writing by first generation immigrants in Norway, arguing that language learners signal solidarity with certain subject positions through their use of pronouns. Examining English-language texts discussing themes related to language pres…
Democratic Dialogue and Development: An Intellectual Obituary of Björn Gustavsen
2018
Abstract Bjorn Gustavsen, with an original professional background as a lawyer and judge in his native Norway, had a formative role in organisational development processes in Norway, Sweden, Scandinavia and the European Union over four decades. Following in the tradition of Norwegian working life research by Trist and Thorsrud, he provided the conceptual framework and practical case studies which have driven major national and international programmes. He learned from different experience of organisational change in, for example, the USA and Japan, but he identified a distinctive way forward for the European Union, where he acted as a senior adviser. In contrast to conventional Taylorist to…
Pour une écriture universitaire polymorphe : la transcription de héros ordinaires en héros de bande dessinée
2018
During a workshop dedicated to adapting academic articles in comic form, the authors teamed up to produce four pages based on an article written by Sebastien Laffage-Cosnier, which was published in Society and Leisure (Volume 38, 2015 – Issue 3) ntitled “The French Snow Class: How the Focus of a School Innovation Changed from Physical Education to Academic Learning (1953–1981)”. The drawings on the following pages are the result of this common work, the process of which is described by the creators. This experience was also an opportunity to further their reflections on the process of academic writing in comics, which, although marginal, is gathering more and more attention from academics a…
The language-(in)dependence of writing skills: translation as a tool in writing process research and writing instruction
2014
A pilot study was conducted in which 6 students with L1 German had to produce a German version of a text they had composed in their L2 English. The goals were to explore (a) in what respects the ability of advanced university English students to express themselves in their L2 English differs from their ability to do so in their L1 German, and (b) for which aspects of writing the implementation of translation exercises is useful as a tool to improve writing skills. The methods of data collection used were think-aloud and keystroke logging. In the analysis, special emphasis was placed on text-level errors as opposed to formal, lexical and grammatical errors. In their L1 versions, students wer…
Feminist Perspectives on Teaching Masculinities
2019
The chapter discusses the positive public role of gay and queer masculinities in their intersection with other identity configurations (class, race, and able-bodiedness). It presents an overview of the main perspectives on social construction and representation of homosexual masculinities within educational and academic settings using critical masculinities theory. While challenging homonormativity in research and education representations of the ‘rational man’ and ‘macho ethics’ of male researchers who ‘discover’, ‘conquer’ investigate ‘systematically’ or ‘rigorously’ are analyzed. Criticizing the play of inexpressiveness and emotionlessness objectivity as criterion of academic writing, re…