professional academic writing

professional academic writing
professional academic writing

Full Report of Research Activities and Results

ESRC project RES-000-22-0098: Professional Academic Writing in a Global Context

Background

English has become the dominant language of scholarly publishing in almost every academic field (Crystal, 1997; Graddol, 1997). In many academic institutions worldwide, publication in English-medium academic journals seems to have become a major criterion for promotion and for supporting scholars' research grant applications (Flowerdew 1999, 2000, 2002; Yakhontova, 1997). To date, however, little research has examined the academic writing practices of multilingual scholars who have studied and are working outside of English-speaking countries (but see Canagarajah, 2002a).

The research sought to explore these broad questions:

?What obstacles and opportunities do scholars in different settings encounter in their efforts to publish in English?

?In what ways do local, national, and international networks support scholars’ writing in English?

?Which texts are successful or unsuccessful in being accepted for publication, and why?

To study these questions, we have been working with 43 scholars from eastern Europe (Slovakia, Hungary) and southern Europe (Spain and Portugal). These sites form part of the ‘Expanding Circle’ (Kachru 2001), in which English is used as a foreign language and increasingly as an instrumental language in education, commerce, and other areas. The ‘Expanding Circle’ contrasts to the ‘Inner Circle,’ which includes nations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. We hypothesized that particular difficulties would be faced by scholars working in

‘Expanding Circle’ contexts, where English has historically been less important (southern and eastern Europe), where scholars are working in historically marginalised contexts within Europe (eastern Europe), and where economic conditions are less favourable (eastern Europe). We considered that these material circumstances, related to both economic and linguistic resources, would have an impact on scholars’ academic writing practices and opportunities for English medium publication. Our findings thus have implications for issues of equity in the global academic ‘marketplace’ (Gibbs, 1995), notably, the participation of scholars from the ‘Expanding Circle’ in global academic knowledge production.

Objectives

Our aims were to:

(1) Further our understanding of the English language and academic literacy practices of international scholars in Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and Portugal by documenting the backgrounds, experiences, and goals of participants and by examining academics’ writing in

English, their use of published texts written by native and non-native speakers of English, and the resources they draw on and professional networks that they are involved in.

We have met this aim by increasing the number of participants in the three established sites and successfully establishing a new site in Portugal with 10 scholars. We have met our larger aim of documenting scholars’ writing practices, the resources they draw on and the networks in which they are involved (see Results).

(2) Construct a multidimensional model of data gathering and analysis that combines a larger focus on local social and political histories and material conditions with close linguistic analysis of the English texts with which scholars work.

We have combined ethnographic methods of data collection with the compilation of a large amount of scholars’ texts and scholars’ commentary on the production of these texts. We refer to this as a‘text-oriented ethnography’. This data collection model has incorporated a variety ethnographic data(e.g.,semi-structured literacy history interviews,group discussions,email discussions, observations, meetings with librarians, institutional and historical documentary data) and academic text data, that is the texts written by scholars and detailed discussions about these texts. In order to collect and analyse this data we developed a series of tools. These included interview protocols, case study templates and text analysis frameworks. Key themes have been analysed drawing on the different data sources.

Although labour intensive, this model of data collection and analysis is the most comprehensive way of exploring text production in context. Specifically this model has enabled us to trace the publication histories of scholars’ texts within their specific contexts of production. This is done by, for example, tracking an English medium journal article from first draft through multiple drafts with the input of literacy brokers, to feedback from journal editors and reviewers, to drafts that respond to this feedback, through to the published version. This model has also enabled us to generate key themes for future analysis which can be carried out using computer software with specific data sets; for example, N 6 for analysis of interview data about scholars' perspectives on specific issues arising when writing on EU related projects; concordancers to analyse and compare occurrences of specific linguistic features across texts published in different- national, EU and international- contexts (see Future Research Priorities).

(3) Contribute to the advancement of theories related to the social practice theory of literacy, sociocultural notions of learning, and the fields of World Englishes/ contrastive rhetoric.

Our research contributes by:

?Extending current conceptualisations of the nature and function of ‘literacy mediators’(Baynham, 1993) to view ‘mediators’ as ‘brokers’(Kalman 1999) by linking the notion of

‘mediated activity’ with the notion of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1998);

?Exploring the roles ‘brokers’ play in the production of texts across national and international contexts;

?Enhancing the theory of ‘community', a key concept in sociocultural theories of literacy and learning, by drawing together not only notions of ‘discourse community’ and

‘community of practice’ but also ‘sociolinguistic speech community’ in the context of

local/global academic writing. We are also exploring the meanings of 'networks' in

multilingual and multicultural contexts;

?Advancing a more dynamic understanding of ‘expert’ and ‘novice’ relations, by demonstrating how scholars fall along different continua in terms of disciplinary

expertise and English language knowledge;

?Foregrounding the existence of ‘academic Englishes’ that vary across local and international contexts. Many published English texts written by multilingual scholars

include ‘errors’ when measured against a notion of ‘standard’ English, yet these texts have been deemed suitable for publication. A future aim will be to re-examine such errors

drawing on notions of Englishes/English as a lingua franca.

(4) Contribute to the development of pedagogical methods and materials that will serve others who need to write in academic English. Invite participants to participate in an academic writing workshop based on the research findings and other knowledge related to English academic writing.

We have offered workshops in each site based on the project’s findings and are piloting an Advanced Academic Literacy at the Open University between March and May 2004, drawing on findings from the research. On a broader scale, our findings indicate that practical suggestions for scholars to increase their access to publishing in English-medium outlets may be quite distinct from pedagogical implications for students in classrooms. The complexity of scholars’ academic writing practices mean that English writing and publishing are only part of their publishing efforts. In addition, the goal of ‘perfect’ English academic writing appears to be less of a serious issue for scholars than that of participating in networks of activity (see Results).The implications of this finding for pedagogy mean that it may be difficult to explicitly ‘teach’ professional scholars in classroom settings in ‘peripheral’ locations how to be successful in English-medium publishing. Further exploration is needed into alternative ways in which scholars can gain the knowledge they need for English-medium publishing, such as combining classroom or textbook instruction with opportunities for scholars to interact with ‘centre’-based scholars in their particular sub-disciplines, or facilitating collaboration in projects with scholars with greater experience in English-medium publishing.

Methods

Participant recruitment

Key aims in this phase of the project were to increase the number of participants in our existing sites and to establish a new research site in Portugal. We have been successful in meeting both these aims: in Slovakia, Hungary and Spain we recruited seven new participants and we have recruited 10 new participants in Portugal where we have now established strong institutional links. Table 1 provides a breakdown of the participants’ locations and academic disciplines. It has proved more difficult to recruit participants from education than from psychology within the timescale of this phase of the research. There are also less participants from Spain than originally anticipated due to the unexpected circumstances of several scholars. A future aim will be to secure more participants from education as well as increasing the number of Spanish scholars to 10 (see Future Research Priorities).

Table 1: Research participants’ locations and academic disciplines

Data collection

We have developed what we refer to as a ‘text-oriented ethnographic approach’ to data collection which involves collecting: a) ethnographic data, such as literacy history interviews, group discussions, email discussions, observations, meetings with librarians, institutional and historical documentary data; b) a large amount of scholars’ texts and scholars’ commentary on the production of these texts, in text-focused interviews.

During the 11 months of this phase of the research we visited each of the four research sites twice collecting a range of ethnographic data about the importance of academic publishing in English in different national and institutional contexts. With participating scholars, we conducted 65 interviews lasting from 30 to 120 minutes, bringing our total interviews to 124. All face to face interviews were transcribed and all email communication stored electronically. Interviews with participants were of two types: literacy history interviews and text focused interviews. Initially semi-structured literacy history interviews using a protocol were carried out in order to learn about participants’ research areas, literacy and language histories, access to resources, and views on writing in English. At this point in the research process, participants were requested to provide us with current and subsequent copies of any drafts of texts that they were preparing for publication in English.

Follow up text focused interviews and discussions- both face to face and via email- were prepared on the basis of key themes emerging from the initial interview and on preliminary analysis of texts. Specific interview questions varied according to the interests, experiences and immediate writing goals of the participants. For example, where a scholar had provided us with several drafts of a paper, we were able to identify key changes across these drafts using a text heuristic developed from close readings of the texts collected in the research (see Appendix 2). We then asked the writer questions about these changes in subsequent discussions in relation to the process and the target publication.

Broader themes emerging across the interviews were also further explored such as the reward structures in scholars’ institutions, their interactions with literacy brokers, their contributions to specific academic communities, and their personal networks. Given the importance of key literacy brokers in the production of texts, we additionally conducted interviews with three key literacy brokers currently located in the United Kingdom and the United States, and met with five librarians across all four research sites.

In this phase of the research we added 150 texts, to reach our current total of some 350 texts (see Table 2), and collected 100 pieces of written correspondence related to texts, such as reviewers’and editors’ comments.

Table 2: Data collected

Data Analysis

Data analysis has been carried out in two ways.Firstly each data source has been analysed independently:for example,analysing institutional documents to establish whether and how publishing in English is embedded in institutional structures; analysing interview data in order to construct profiles of all scholars (age, qualifications, research areas etc); analysing changes across drafts of texts in order to identify specific types of changes made. Secondly, analyses have been carried out across data sources in order to explore links across different data: for example, the pressure to publish in English has been explored from an institutional perspective (as represented in institutional documents and senior academics’ accounts) and individual scholars’ perspectives, drawing on interview data; scholars’ academic texts have been analysed alongside commentary on the production of those texts to explore the influence of different literacy brokers.

A key tool in drawing together different data sources are the individual case study notes which have been constructed about each scholar and his/her writing practices, research interests, national and intuitional contexts. Given the need for familiarity with each scholar’s research area and writing goals and the large amount of time consumed in on going discussions about the production of texts, each scholar is attached to one of the two main researchers Dr Lillis and Dr Curry. We have used a template in constructing detailed case studies in which ‘text histories’ constitute a large part. Text histories are detailed descriptions, drawn from analysis of interview transcripts and draft texts, of the issues arising, and decisions made, when drafting texts towards for publication. Results

Increasing pressure to publish in English

Most scholars report that pressure to publish in the medium of English is indeed increasing. This pressure is manifest in different ways, varying across contexts, from a more strictly codified system in use in some Slovak institutions, in which points awarded for each publication are tallied at year end, to a more diffuse system in Spain and Hungary, where appointment panels evaluate the status of scholars’ output according to publications rankings and citations indices. Such institutional reward systems entail a range of consequences for individual scholars and their departments. In some contexts the consequences are severe; for example in Slovakia, a scholar’s annual salary can be immediately reduced if his or her publications are deemed too few or of insufficient status. Consequences in other locations may be less immediately tangible but still have an impact on scholars’ opportunities for conducting future research or for professional advancement. In Spain, for example, following recent legislation, scholars will be required to pass an evaluation of their productivity that occurs every six years in order to supervise post-graduate students. In Portugal, international panels periodically evaluate the output of scholars and their departments; this process itself encourages scholars to publish in internationally known English-medium journals.

Scholars’ practices when writing for publication in English

Most participants in our study tend to draft their English medium texts predominantly in English, rather than writing in local languages and having texts translated.Scholars habitually read English-medium research scholarship and communicate internationally; thus in some domains they conduct a large part of their research work in English. Participants in multiple sites in both education and psychology engage in literacy practices such as compiling lists of phrases that they cull from English-language sources in their field; they then refer to these lists when drafting texts. Across all sites, some scholars use local translators or proof-readers to help with their writing; others serve this function themselves for co-authors, colleagues and post-graduates.

Scholars are investing much time and effort in writing in English, often with limited resources. Available resources vary on a continuum from Slovakia, with the least, to Spain with the most, but in all cases are usually restricted. The nature of these resources may be bibliographic (e.g. Internet and database access, journal subscription, book purchases, interlibrary loans), financial (e.g. funds for research fieldwork and support, or for travel for conferences or research meetings), or involve other people (e.g. ‘literacy brokers’). Institutions in Slovakia and Hungary have witnessed a decline in the financial support that was given to eastern Europe after the ‘Velvet Revolution’, which seriously affects the availability of key material resources: for example, some libraries find it difficult to pay for subscriptions to international journals. In Portugal and Spain, resources are often more available in comparison with eastern Europe, but are often much less than what many ‘centre’ scholars enjoy. A key resource is the extra time that most scholars require to write in English; they report that it takes up to twice as long to draft an English text.

Writing for a number of distinct communities

Whilst rewards for publishing in English may be considerable, scholars are also committed to publishing for a wide range of ‘communities’ in local languages and in some cases in other languages, and for both applied audiences (e.g., psychologists, teachers, and other practitioners) and academic audiences. Focusing specifically on the psychology scholars in our study, for

example, we have identified seven distinct types of communities (see Table 3). Scholars are committed to writing in their local languages in order to: a) disseminate their research findings to local academic and practitioner audiences; b) improve local practice in psychology and education, in some cases by introducing ideas and practices that scholars gain from their research reading and in others by disseminating the results of their locally based research; and c) support their local professional reputations, which enables them to develop local research networks, serve on institutional and governmental committees, and obtain research funding. There are indications of significant differences, however, between what is published in local and international contexts, in terms of content, style, methodology, and epistemology. This is a current focus in our data analysis.

Table 3. Communities for which multilingual psychology scholars are writing (See Output 1-submitted article)

Publishing within networks of colleagues and ‘literacy brokers’

Scholars’ academic writing for publication takes place as part of a complex network of activity rather than as isolated https://www.360docs.net/doc/15179845.html,works involve local colleagues and research collaborators who may or may not be involved in text production, and other scholars who act as conduits for information about research-related activities such as conferences, fellowships, grants, etc. Scholars’ networks function at local, regional, and international levels, sometimes spanning all three. In the process of moving from local research and writing to English-medium international publication, scholars’ publishing takes place as part of a complex network of activity.Many people within this network influence the construction of scholars’ texts writing for publication. These

‘literacy brokers’, who include translators, proofreaders, friends, and English-speaking academic colleagues, English-language specialists, editors and journal reviewers, assume different roles and influence the production of scholars’ texts in different ways. In some cases these ‘brokers’ are oriented primarily toward the problems and issues of the disciplinary content, while others focus chiefly on English-language issues as distinct from content, methodology, or epistemology. We are in the process of identifying the ways in which locally generated research data is presented and knowledge claims are made in writings aimed at high-status Anglo-American publications (see Appendix 1).

Activities

Invited Plenary Address

Professional academic writing by ‘periphery’ scholars: Interactions with ‘literacy brokers’ in the production of text. Plenary speakers at the Canadian Association of Teachers of Technical Writing conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 2003.

Refereed Conference Presentations

Writing for different ‘communities’: Multilingual scholars and the imperative to publish in English. British Association for Applied Linguistics, Leeds, UK, and AILA (International Association of Applied Linguistics), Ghent, Belgium, September 2003.

Learning from the writing practices of academics in multilingual contexts. European Association of Teachers of Academic Writing, Budapest, Hungary, June 2003.

Professional academic writing by ‘periphery’ scholars: Interactions with ‘literacy brokers’ in the production of text. Part of the symposium, ‘Language socialization, participation and membership

in communities of practice’. American Association of Applied Linguistics conference, Arlington, VA, United States, March 2003.

We are also planning to present a methodology paper at the First Ethnography and Education Scientific Meeting, University of Castilla-LaMancha, Spain, July 2004.

Seminar Presentations

Professional Academic Writing in a Global Context: Developing a Text Analysis Framework, Academic Literacies Group at the Institute of Education, University of London, March 2003. Workshops/seminars with users

We have formally disseminated findings in all of our sites. The format of the disseminations was designed in response to participants’ interests. In Hungary we conducted a seminar with academics and post-graduate students in the Department of Psychology of the Etvos Lorand University. In Slovakia, we gave a lecture to the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In Spain, we offered a seminar to the faculties of psychology and pedagogy at the University of Valencia. In Portugal, a seminar was conducted with academics and post-graduates both at the University of Lisbon. In each case we discussed both the findings of the research to date and the implications for scholars’ publishing practices (see Output 2). Sessions were advertised beyond participants’ institutions and were attended not only by participants but also by other members of their institutions and interested colleagues from other organizations.

Outputs

We have submitted a first article to TESOL Quarterly, a refereed journal. ‘Multilingual Scholars and the Imperative to Publish in English: Negotiating Interests, Demands, and Rewards’ (attached as Output 1).

Several other articles are in preparation in the following order of priority:

‘Professional academic writing by “periphery” scholars: Interactions with “literacy brokers” in the production of text,’ focuses on the influences on scholars’ text production of various ‘literacy brokers’. We are analysing cases where we have multiple drafts of scholars’ publications and input from literacy brokers to examine the nature of the interventions these ‘brokers’ make, and the effects of their interventions on the types of writing and construction of knowledge in the published texts. In some cases these ‘brokers’ are oriented primarily toward the problems and issues of the disciplinary content, while others are focusing chiefly on English-language issues. We are beginning to trace which kinds of orientation are most likely to lead to publication in high status Anglo-American journals. This paper will be submitted to Written Communication.

‘The role of networks in the academic writing practices of international scholars’ is planned to explore the networks in which scholars participate. This paper will draw on interview data with scholars to explore these questions: What are the mechanisms by which scholars gain and maintain access to particular professional networks? How do disciplinary or sub-disciplinary practices and linguistic knowledge interact and possibly affect scholars’ possibilities for participation? Do geographic, generational, gender or other demographic factors play differential roles in

participating in networks? This paper will be submitted to Journal of English for Academic Purposes.

Another planned article will undertake a contrastive analysis (Connor, 1996) of three sets of texts gathered from psychology scholars in Hungary. In these cases, scholars have written papers based on the same research for different audiences (applied and academic) and in different languages (both Hungarian and English). This analysis will enable us to consider whether features of scholars’ first language writing hinder their expression in English, as some contrastive rhetoric scholars have suggested, or whether, following Canagarajah (2002b), scholars seem to be making strategic choices about how they construct and present their work. This paper will be submitted to Journal of Second Language Writing.

When these articles are nearing completion we plan to draft a book proposal, as one publisher has already expressed interest. The book will frame the detailed analysis of text trajectories within the context of the global politics of academic knowledge production-that is, who gets to publish in what media, under what conditions and with what consequences?

In addition to academic outputs we have produced activities generated from the research in which to engage users (for an example, see Output 2).We aim to develop further practical activities in the future.

Impacts

Strong interest in this project has been expressed by a number of people and institutions. Both of our universities (the Open University and the University of Rochester) are committed to finding ways of drawing on the research to develop post-graduate and post-doctoral training programmes on professional academic writing. Specifically, the Open University is drawing on this research to pilot an Advanced Academic Literacy programme in March-May 2004 for post doctoral researchers who use English as a second or third language. In all of our research sites, interest has been expressed in having additional practical workshops. In Spain we are in contact with the university’s professional development office; we have established links with the British Council in Bratislava and Lisbon with a view to exploring how our research might inform their programmes; in Hungary we have met with Peter Medgyes, an English language specialist who is now Minister of Education to discuss practical implications of our work.

Future Research Priorities

Having established a large database and strong relationships with our participants, and being aware of the long lead times involved in scholarly publishing, we see it as imperative to continue this research for the foreseeable future. Future areas of research would focus on the following:?Securing more participants from Spain. This is already in progress and will ensure greater representation across the research overall;

?Increase participation from education scholars. We consider it important to recruit more education scholars as this will provide a comparative disciplinary dimension to our focus on academic publishing in English. We hypothesize that a key reason for lower recruitment to the project from education scholars is that there is less overt pressure to publish in

international contexts. However, we also hypothesize that this pressure will increase over the next few years given a) new national requirements faced by academics, and b) greater involvement of scholars in EU funded research projects;

?Contrastive rhetorical analysis of texts across contexts and languages. As mentioned in Outputs, above, the research is making a contribution to the field of contrastive rhetoric by enabling comparisons of similar texts written in both scholars’ first languages and in

English. To date, we have focused on contrastive analysis of texts written in Hungarian and English. Future research would focus on examples in Slovak, Spanish and Portuguese;?English as an academic lingua franca. Our participants are increasingly participating in EU-funded research projects, a growing phenomenon as many eastern and central

European countries are poised to become EU members. In many of these projects, whilst not the only official EU language, English is often used as the lingua franca in

publications. To explore the nature of English as an academic lingua franca within an expanding Europe, we see the need to collect and categorise the features of academic

written English being used in different types of publications in various contexts (e.g.

research proposals, formal and informal correspondence, reports and scholarly

publications). Constructing an electronic database of such written texts would enable

computer aided analysis of the linguistic features of written academic English(es);?Explorations of World Englishes. As our data includes a range of texts in different stages of preparation for publication in contexts beyond Europe, we plan to explore further the

linguistic variation represented in these published texts as indications of what is deemed acceptable for publication in ‘English’. We will be looking for patterns of usage, for

example, of English pronouns, which are often seen as indicators of ‘non-native’ or ‘non-standard’ writing;

?Learning English academic writing practices. As institutions of higher education across the EU are responding to the recommendations of the 1999 Bologna Declaration to move

toward instituting common practices and policies, there is a pressing need to learn more about how post-graduates across the EU are inducted into academic writing practices. It would thus be useful to collect additional data related to this question: In what ways do scholars working in non-English speaking contexts support their post-graduate students in learning the English academic writing practices that are key to becoming academics who can participate on a global level? As scholars in the study embody a range of expertise in relation to their disciplinary subject area and to their English proficiency and academic writing practices, this knowledge would have practical implications for post-graduate

training and make a contribution to sociocultural theories of learning by re-examining the notions of ‘expert’ and ‘novice’;

?Implications for teaching. As discussed above, scholars’ academic English writing involves not just gaining linguistic expertise, but becoming involved in the practices specific to particular communities. It would be useful to explore further the implications of this

finding for pedagogy and practice, as it may be difficult to ‘teach’ professional scholars in classroom settings in ‘peripheral’ locations about the keys to successful English-medium publishing. Our pilot study included an on-line writing workshop that proved difficult for scholars to participate in. Further exploration is thus needed into alternative ways in which scholars can gain the knowledge they need for successful English-medium publishing.

References

Baynham, M. (1993). Code switching and mode switching: Community interpreters and mediators of literacy. In B. V. Street (Ed.). Cross-cultural approaches to literacy (pp. 294-314).

Cambridge: University Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1998). Practical reason: On the theory of action. Stanford: University Press. Canagarajah, A.S. (2002a). A geopolitics of academic writing. Pittsburgh: University Press.

______ (2002b). Critical academic writing and multilingual students. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of second-language writing.

Cambridge: University Press.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: University Press.

Flowerdew, J. (2002). Ethnographically inspired approaches to the study of academic discourse. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic discourse (pp. 235- 252). London: Longman/Pearson

Education.

______(2000). Discourse community, legitimate peripheral participation, and the nonnative-English-speaking scholar. TESOL Quarterly, 34(1), 127-150.

______(1999).Writing for scholarly publication in English: The case of Hong Kong.

Kong. Journal of Second Language Writing,8(2), 123-145.

Gibbs, W.W. (1995, May). Information have-nots: A vicious circle isolates many Third World scientists. Scientific American, 8-9.

Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English. London: British Council.

Kachru, B. (2001). World Englishes. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics. (pp.519-524). New York: Elsevier.

Kalman, J. (1999). Writing on the plaza: Mediated literacy practice among scribes and clients in Mexico City. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Yakhontova, T. (1997). The signs of a new time: academic writing in ESP curricula of Ukranian universities. In A. Duszak (Ed.), Culture and styles of academic 12, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

APPENDIX 1

TRACING THE IMPACT OF LITERACY BROKERS ON THE PRODUCTION OF

TEXTS

1.The multiple roles of literacy brokers

Literacy brokers may play one or more of these roles, at different times:

Research-related

?Collaborate with participants in conducting research, applying for conferences, making presentations together;

?Support participants in above efforts, e.g. by advising on research design, inviting to apply for conferences, projects, etc.

Network-related

?Passing on information about grants, conferences, research opportunities;

?Making introductions to others in field;

?Helping secure funding for travel to conferences, scholarships, etc.

?Inviting participants to work on journals as reviewers or editorial board members.

Text-related

?Co-authoring grant applications, journal articles, reports, etc.

?Proof-reading/editing writing by participants;

?Interpreting feedback from journal reviewers/editors for participants in the process of revising their writing.

2.Text related brokering: characteristics of key types of literacy brokers

Literacy brokers are of three main types:

Academic professional: Literacy brokers who are academic collaborators in the same specialist subfield (Becher 1994) subfield specialists, or academics in the same discipline discipline experts. They may be speakers of English as a first language EL1, or as a second or third language EL2, or speakers of English as a lingua franca ELF.

Linguistic professional: Literacy brokers whose profession involves them focusing on the linguistic medium. These are translators who are speakers of English as a first language EL1, as second language EL2 or speakers of English as a lingua franca ELF.

‘Native speaker’ : Literacy brokers who are ‘native speakers’ of English such as friends or colleagues who are native speakers of English and who offer support with the production of texts.

3.Literacy brokers and their orientation to text production: provisional framework

Note: EL1= Speaker of English as a first language; EL2= Speaker of English as a second language; ELF= Speaker of English as lingua franca

APPENDIX 2

A HEURISTIC TOOL FOR USE AND DISCUSSION BY ANALYSTS (RESEARCHERS AND TRANSLATORS) WHEN TRACKING CHANGES ACROSS DRAFTS OF TEXTS

人教版必修4 Unit1 Women of achievement----Writing写作教学课例教案

写作教学课例教案 课题:人教版必修4 Unit1 Women of achievement----Writing 课型:写作课 设计者:河北省邯郸市第二中学宋XX 教学背景分析 教学内容: 1.单元主题:本单元是人教版高中英语必修4 Unit1--- Women of achievement,主要是围绕成功女性这一主题展开,其中重点介绍了Jane Goodall和Lin Qiaozhi 两位伟大成功女性。学习本单元有助于提高对妇女社会角色的认识,了解成功女性的奋斗经历和勇于斗争的精神,培养学生(尤其是女生)的事业心和社会责任感,建立正确的性别观和自信心。可以帮助学生深切感受到无论男女,只要对他人有无私的爱心,对事业有坚定的信心,并不懈地为之倾注心血,都能成就一番事业。 2.课堂内容:本节课是Writing写作课。是本单元的第5课时。在学习了Jane Goodall和Lin Qiaozhi两位伟大女性后,在对人物介绍有了一定的基础后,由老师引导,学生完成任务,逐步完成人物描写写作课。 3.内容分派:Lead-in运用Using language--- reading (Why not carry on her good work?)林巧稚这个人物作为导入对象,引导学生从简单的词汇到简短英语短句最后总结从哪几方面进行人物描写。 人物介绍描写从背景、外貌、性格、成就、兴趣爱好、教育背景等几方面评价人物。每环节分设任务让学生结组或者自由讨论完成。实战演练部分呈现完整范文,师生共同分析文章总结介绍人物的文章怎么完成。作业以学生熟悉的教师为题材进行课后练习。 教学方法: 采用任务驱动方法,在整个学习过程中,充分确立学生的主体地位,充分调动学生的学习积极性和主观能动性,强化学生的个性培养,注意在教学的各环节中创设“情景”加强“协作”“会话”,让学生主动积极获取知识,使其学会,会学,真正意义上成为学习的主人。 1.演示法:把相关林巧稚的图片、视频等展示给学生看,便于学生对人物背 景知识的把握,并从旧知识中获得启迪,从而达到解决问题的目的。 2.任务驱动教学法:将所要学习的新知识隐含在一个或几个问题和小组活动之中,学生通过对所提的任务进行分析、讨论,并在老师的指导和帮助下

英语写作Writing Strategy

Writing Pattern 作文大致可以概括为两大类: A. 分析说明型; B.解决争议型(常需陈述个人观点). 有时也会出现把两者糅合在一起的作文题目. A型: 可以从三方面入手,如分析原因, 分析其重要性, 分析结果. 可以理解为某事物或现象的过去、现在、将来。 如题目:环境保护: 1.环境保护的话题越来越引起大家的关注; 2.环境保护与人类生活的关系。 提示如下: 开头和结尾是定式,中间可以有二至三段讲自己的观点。 Example: On Environmental Protection ①Recently/Nowadays, the issue/topic of environmental protection has aroused/drawn considerable concern/attention in public. As a matter of fact, an increasing number of people are taking part in the cause of protecting our environment, such as popularizing the importance of environmental protection, urging government to enact/make new laws and regulations on it, volunteering in cleaning and maintaining public environment. Obviously, people are doing this because they come to realize the importance of environmental protection, which are as follows. ②To begin with/ First(ly), people are becoming aware of the effect on health by environmental polution. For example, ………….. ③Secondly, people also become concious of their responsibility for their offspring who may be affected if environment is not properl y protected by us now. …………………..

高中英语写作之Pre-writing教学案例的撰写

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讲座上介绍了多种收集信息的方法,我选择了Action-Sensory Chart, 努力激发学生的回忆和联想。关于此表里面的Action Details和Sensory Details会在第四环节Activating Language详细描述。 Topic:An Disagreement on Selecting a Compulsory Subject Action Details Sensory Details Beginning(At school) Middle (At home) Ending (At home) 3. Organizing Ideas---Outline 按照所给的提纲样本和学生们一起制定了此次写作的提纲。 Ⅰ. Introduction I argued with my mum over selecting a course. Ⅱ. Development A. Beginning (at school) 1. Senior 2; the first term; 2. I decided to choose history. B. Middle (at home) 1. I told mum my decision and she was against it. 2. We argued.

【写作】CET6-Writing(六级写作高分万能模板)

Chapter One 文章开头句型 1-1 对立法: 先引出其他人的不同看法,然后提出自己的看法或者偏向于某一看法, 适用于有争议性的主题 [1]. When asked about....., the vast/overwhelming majority of people say that ....... But I think/view a bit differently. [2]. When it comes to .... , some people bielive that ....... Others argue/claim that the opposite/reverse is true . There is probably some truth in both arguements/statements , but (I tend to the profer/latter ...) [3]. Now, it is commonly/generally/widely believed/held/acknowledged that .... They claim/ believe/argue that ... But I wonder/doubt whether..... 1-2 现象法引出要剖析的现象或者问题, 然后评论 [1]. Recently the rise in problem of/(phenomenon of) ... has cause/aroused public/popular/wide/ worldwide concern. [2]. Recently the issue of the problem of/the phenomenon of ...has been brought into focus. ( has been brouth to public attention) [3].Inflation/Corruption/Social inequality ... is yet another of the new and bitter truth we have to learn to face now/constantly. ----- To be continued !! 1-3 观点法----开门见山,直接了当地提出自己对要讨论的问题的看法 [1]. Never history has the change of .. been as evident as ... Nowhere in the world/China has the issue/idea of .. benn more visible/popular than... [2]. Now people in growing/significant numbers are beginnig/coming to realize/accept/(be aware) that... [3]. Now there is a growing awareness/recognation ot the necessity to......Now people become increasingly aware/conscious of the importance of ...... [4]. Perhaps it is time to have a fresh look at the attitude/idea that....... 1-4 引用法----- 先引出名人名言或者有代表性的看法, 来引出文章要展开论述的观点! [1]. "Knowledge is power." such is the remark made by Bacon.This remark has been shared by more and more people .

Writing 写作 教案

选修7 Unit 4 Writing教学设计 授课教师:薛姗姗 I.Teaching aims ⑴ Target Language(目标语言) ①Finish the writing task and master the writing skills of introducing a person. ②Grasp some useful words and expressions. ③Try to polish the writing and make it less mistakes. ⑵ Learning Ability goals(能力目标) ①Develop students’ ability of using language and writing. ②Develop the ability of analyzing the questions. ⑶ Emotional goals(情感目标) ① Try to be active in writing activity. ② Overcome the anxiety about writing. Ⅱ.Teaching key and difficult points (教学重难点) ⑴ Analyze the topic of writing. ⑵ How to polish the style and avoid mistakes. Ⅲ.Teaching methods (教学方法) Discussion (group work); answer questions (individual work) Ⅳ.Teaching aids (教具准备) Multimedia equipment; blackboard; preview paper, discussion paper Ⅴ.Teaching procedures (教学过程) Step I Greeting and lead in (情景导入) T: This unit is about a voluntary teacher, who worked in an African country. In our class , there is also one person who contributes a lot. Let’s see who he is(show a picture of the monitor). Now,would you like to have a description of him? ................ Today, we will learn how to write a passage about introducing a person. At first, let’s enjoy a passage which is also about a monitor. StepⅡpresentation (预习展示) Analyzing 【典例示范】 Li Lin, monitor of Class 1 Grade 2 , is healthy and lively. She does well in all her subjects, and she is fond of sports, singing and dancing. When she came to school, she had much difficulty with English, but through hard work she made great progress. In 2006 she took part in the National Physics Olympic Competition , in which she won the first prize. Li Lin is very strict with herself in her work and daily life. In the meantime, she is always ready to help others. Having set a good example to us, so she deserves the honor and we should learn from her.

writing 英语作文2篇

12市场营销2班郭俊扬201231141508 Parents differ from children in their career choice Currently,it is undeniable that parents and their chlidren can’t reach an absolute consensus on career choice.Admittedly,a lot of parents would design their children’s futur e as they are confident about knowing their children and choosing a suitful job for them.In addition,they are afraid that their children are too young to deicde their future.However,many children argue that they should make up their mind freely,saying that parents should allow their inner light to guide them. From another perspective,parents and children hold different attitudes towards ideal profession.Parents would prefer children to opt some professions that are stable and could bring prestige and economic benefits.On the contrary,their children always decide on career by listening to the greater voice of themself. From my point of the view,first of all,it is your sunlight that should lead the way.You should spare no effort to work hard at what you like to do and try to overcome all obstacles.Meanwhile,you should take parent’s advice into consideration.Otherwise,you maybe regret in the https://www.360docs.net/doc/15179845.html,st but by no means the least,there comes a time when you stand alone.You must be confident enough within yourself to follow your dreams.

Writing Skills写作技巧

Running head: THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITING IN BUSINESS 1 Outline I. Two major causes of this problem have been identified by researchers, including poor writing education and lack of employers’ support for a good writing. Some solutions that have been proposed are to improve writing confidence for education and to offer more workplace support for effective writing. II. Two significant causes of business students’ inability to writing well are lack of education in writing and lack of employers’ support. A. Lack of education in writing 1. Traditional grammar teaching a. High school teachers consider grammar to be the least important skill (Griffin & Quible, p.33) b. Students treat grammar as an isolated set of rules (Griffin & Quible, p.33) 2. Writing Anxiety a. More students are hard to apply what they learn to new and different contexts (Griffin & Quible, p.33) b. Writing apprehension influence the development of highly apprehensive writers’ writing skills (Matoti & Shumba, p.217) B. Lack of emp loyers’ support 1. Lack of knowledge

新高考英语作文新题型(summary writing)

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writing有效地运用语言写作技巧清晰地、简洁

Intended Learning Outcomes in terms of Generic Competence 同學完成課程後,可望能發展的素質 On completion of a Complementary Development Course, students are expected to be able to master the concrete skills, abilities and knowledge that were taught in the course as well as the major generic competence that the course intended to help them develop, with reference to the SPECIAL all-round development framework:- Ability to apply oral / writing skills Ability to: fit in with different social situations develop open and harmonious Ability to: direct a team to work towards a common goal motivate and influence other team

Ability to cooperate effectively with team’s agreed decision Willingness to share team Ability to cultivate a proper attitude

雅思考试写作writing 2 写作模板

Writing 2 The graph shows the fluctuation in the number of people at an underground station over a one-day period. According to this data, there is a sharp increase in use between 6am and 8am, with 400 people using the station at 8 o’clock. After this, the numbers fall dramatically to less than 200 at 10 o’clock. However, between 11am and 3pm, the number of people rises and falls evenly, and this pattern includes a plateau around lunchtime of just under 300 people using the station. Numbers then decline and the smallest number of users, just 100, is recorded at four in the afternoon. Between 4pm and 6pm, during the evening rush hour, numbers rise rapidly again, reaching a peak of 380 people at 6pm but from 7pm numbers fall significantly. There is only a slight increase again just after 8pm, which tails off after 9pm. The graph shows that the station is most crowded in the early morning and evening rush-hour periods and least crowded mid-afternoon. Writing practicing 2 Between 1960 and 2000, the increase in the percentage of women going to university in Japan was fairly steady, although from 1990 to 2000 figures rose more sharply. By 2000, it was estimated that 25 per cent of Japanese girls leaving school were entering university education, but this was still a smaller percentage than the figure for boys. Generally, the male pattern showed more variation. Figures rose to a high of 40 per cent between 1960 and 1980, which represented the longest period of increase. It was followed, however, by a slight fall in numbers between 1980 and 1990, but then in 2000 the figures returned to just above the 1980 level. Overall, the table shows an increase in the percentage of students of both sexes going university. However, the rate of increase for girls is far greater than for boys, with over eight times the percentage of girls going to university in 2000 than in 1960.

Net writing or traditional writing传统写作与网络写作

Net writing------the Gospel for All In the ancient times ,people usually wrote with knives,brushes on bamboos,animals’bones and skins as well as papers. But nowadays, a brand-new type of writing has come into being--------net wring.With the surging development of Internet, net writing gradually prevail , which stirs up a drastic debate over net writing and traditional writing. Different people hold various views. For me, i prefer net writing because of its dramatic effects on writers and other people. In the past, it usually took traditional writers a hell of a lot of work to get published, which naturally wed out a lot of the garbage . But now thanks to the magic of the internet , any writer can have the easiest access to publishing their writings onto many websites such as Qidian Zhongwen, Jinjiang Wenxue, Xiaoxiang Shuyuan and so on. What needs is just a few keystrokes. Besides, net writing boosts a shortcut to success for many writers such as Rao Xueman, Gu Man, Xin Yiwu who became famous because of the high popularity of their writings online. And one of Xin Yiwu’s novel So Young has so remarkable popularity on the internet that it was filmed by Zhao Wei , a well-known actress and became a box office hit later. Not only writers but also other common people can share the benefits of net writing. On one hand, there is something inherently democratizing---perhaps even revolutionary ---about the technology. It

说明文Summary writing写作---教师版演示教学

说明文summary 1. 写说明文概述的步骤: 1)确定主题句。确定阅读文章的主题句,一般在段首。没有主题句的需要自己组合。 2)寻找关键词。分析主题句意义,确定关键词,关键词一般体现为名词、形容词,关键词的数目决定了概括的信息浓度。 3)重构主题句。概括的主题句逻辑上要统摄后面所有的支撑句。可以从作者的写作目的逆推,反映写作目的主题句是高度抽象的,它基本决定了概括的质量。 4)重组支撑句。支撑句的意义在逻辑上受制于主题句,可以是补充过程或者提供证据。 口诀:简括为:缩长见短,省却细腻。(括:概括性。见:间接引语。短:短的连词。细腻:细节和例子) 2. 写说明文概述要注意的事项: 1) 不能摘抄原文句子, 要用自己的语言“重组”主要内容; 2) 只保留主要观点,不要细节; 3) 不要发表自己的观点; 4) 不要把列举、描绘性语言当成概述性语言; 5) 一般用第三人称转述; 6) 概述不要太宽泛,缺乏针对性,也不要只针对原文某个细节,概述得太狭窄; 7) 注意段中句子的衔接, 切忌只简单地写出一些互不相干的句子; 8) 保证无语法错误;

说明文Summary 的教学步骤 第一步通读全文, 领略大意。通常summary 的开头都有一些常用的句子,学生可以积累用。 第二步小结每一段的大意。用最简练的文字把文章每段的主要内容概括出即可。 第三步根据每一段的大意以及作者的侧重点, 不要加入自己的个人观点,综合归纳全文的大意。对于说明性或描述性的短文,可以用概括性文字说明某一现象。比如可概括如下:This article points out the common phenomenon… Summary 范文 Directions: Summarize in no more than 60 words the main idea of the passage and how it is illustrated. Use your own words as far as possible. Although problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn’t mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or the othe r, you’ll have to stand up and say –problem, I don’t want you in my life. Of course, we’ve been fighting troubles ever since we were born. Problems with friends, parents, girlfriends, husbands, and children –the list goes on. Apart from these, the inner conflicts within ourselves work, too. These keep adding to our problems. Problems come in different shapes and colors and feelings.// But good news is that all problems can be dealt with. Now read on to know how to solve your problems.// Talk, it really helps. What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no talking is going to help. But the truth is that when you talk about it, you’re setting free the negative energies that have been gathering within you. Talking helps you move on and let go.

大学英语作文-写作的重要性 The Importance of Writing

大学英语作文 写作的重要性 The Importance of Writing As is known to all, writing is an important and necessary skill for all students. However, many students don’t really understand the true importance of writing, as they just consider writing as a task of exam. As far as I am concerned, writing has deeper importance in many ways. 众所周知,写作对所有的学生来说是一项重要和必要的技能。但是,很多学生没有真正明白写作的重要性,因为他们只把写作当做是考试的一项任务。在我看来,写作在很多方面更重要。 Firstly, improving our ability of using words is a basic function of writing. For example, in order to write a good English composition, we must use every word carefully as much as possible to ensure its correctness. In the process, we have improved our ability of using words and writing skills imperceptibly. In this aspect, writing is a good way to strengthen our ability. 首先,提高我们用词能力是写作的一个基本功能。例如,为了写好一篇英语作文,我们必须极可能谨慎使用每一个词以确保文章的

英语写作综合训练 (Writing Exercises in English)

英语写作综合训练(Writing Exercises in English) Model Test 1: Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition based on the title---- Computer in Our Life. You must write your composition in no less than 120 words and you should base your composition on the following outline (given in Chinese): 1)计算机给人类生活带来了很多变化。 2)计算机给我们的工作和学习带来了很多方便。 3)计算机也带来了一些问题。 Model Test 2: College English Teaching in China 1)有人认为中国的大学英语教学很不成功(如大学毕业生英语说不好,听不懂,写不出) 2)我认为失败的原因是。。。。。。 3)我的建议 Model Test 3: How to Solve the Housing Problem in Big Cities? 1)在大城市,住房是个严峻的问题 2)有不同的方法可解决住房问题(如建造卫星城或高楼),举出我认为最好的解决 办法 3)结论 Model Test 4: No Pains, No Gains 1)为什么“不劳收获” 2)举例说明 Model Test 5: Man and Environment 1)人类生存环境正遭到严重破坏 2)人类环境的关系 3)如何保护环境 Model Test 6: Rush for Postgraduate Study Year Number of Candidates in Province X 20028,000 20039,600 200413,000 200518,000 200645,000 200760,000 1)请根据上表描述近几年X省报考研究生情况的变化 2)说明这种变化的原因 3)你对考研热有何看法

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