Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin, 2018, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 201–215
© Smirnova N. V., Bagramova N. V., 2018
UDC: 
372.811 + 811.111

An empirical investigation on undergraduate students’ writing skills in a foreign language as a social practice within a non-linguistic university

Smirnova N. V. 1 (St.Petersburg, Russian Federation), Bagramova N. V. 2 (St.Petersburg, Russian Federation)
1 National research university "Higher school of economics - St. Petersburg"
2 Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Full text (Open Access) — Downloaded 7381
Abstract: 

Introduction. This study represents the first stage in a larger study where we address the problem of teaching writing in a foreign language as a social practice within changing higher education context in Russia. The aim of the study is to identify core values and levels of motivation, self-regulation and self-reflection skills, as well as core writing skills, which together characterize writing as a type of social practice, with first-year undergraduate students at a non-linguistic university.
Materials and Methods. The study is based on activity theory and the communicative approach to foreign language acquisition as well as on the ideas from the field of Sociolinguistics. Three empirical instruments have been developed: a self-evaluation questionnaire (students’ values and incentives for writing), a self-evaluation questionnaire (self-regulation and self-reflection on writing), and a written test.
Results. The authors have studied the notion of writing as a social practice and defined its values and meaning, motivation, cognition and behavior aspects in order to develop the empirical tools for the study. Drawing on the questionnaire and written test data sets, we have revealed the absence of core values and motivation, which influence how an author represents his/her identity in a written text during the process of meaning making. A low level of self-regulation and self-reflection within a text production cycle among the students have also been revealed. The written test data indicate that even if students meet grammar and vocabulary accuracy criteria, they still have poor skills of reasoning and applying counter arguments, structuring the text as a single unity at micro and macro levels, using cohesion devices and expressing the their stance according to the field of knowledge.
Conclusions. The authors conclude that first-year students at a non-linguistic university fail to demonstrate the core values, motivation, self-regulation and self-reflection as well as academic writing skills, which characterize writing as a type of social practice, based on certain values and meaning making process, motivation, cognition and behavior.

Keywords: 

Foreign language writing; Social practice; Academic writing; Writer’s identity; Values; Critical thinking; Written speech motivation; Self-regulation; Self-reflection; Novice writer

96.931Metadiscourse | Academic Writing | Genre Analysis

https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?src=s&origin=cto&ctoId=CTODS_1...

An empirical investigation on undergraduate students’ writing skills in a foreign language as a social practice within a non-linguistic university

For citation:
Smirnova N. V., Bagramova N. V. An empirical investigation on undergraduate students’ writing skills in a foreign language as a social practice within a non-linguistic university. Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin, 2018, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 201–215. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15293/2226-3365.1806.13
References: 
  1. Chernyavskaya V. E. Towards methodological application of discourse analysis in corpus-driven linguistics. Tomsk State University Journal of Philology, 2017, no. 50, pp. 135–148. (In Russian). URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=32684551
  2. Cánovas Guirao J., Roca de Larios J., Coyle Y. The use of models as a written feedback technique with young EFL learners. System, 2015, vol. 52, pp. 63–77. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.04.002
  3. García Mayo M. d. P., Labandibar U. L. The use of models as written corrective feedback in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)Writing. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 2017, vol. 37, pp. 110–127. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0267190517000071
  4. Altbach P. G., de Wit H. Internationalization and global tension: Lessons from history. Journal of Studies in International Education, 2015, vol. 19, issue 1, pp. 4–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315314564734
  5. Smirnova N. V. Academic literacy in ESP teaching. Proceedings of Voronezh State University. Series: Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, 2017, no. 1, pp. 140–147. (In Russian) URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=29027794
  6. Kaplan R. B. Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education. Language Learning, 1966, vol. 16, issue 1‑2, pp. 1–20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1966.tb00804.x
  7. Liu X., Furneaux C. A multidimensional comparison of discourse organization in English and Chinese university students’ argumentative writing. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2014, vol. 24, issue 1, pp. 74–96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12013
  8. Ivanic R. Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. Amsterdam, Benjamins Publ., 1998. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/swll.5
  9. Neiderhiser J. A., Kelley P., Kennedy K. M., Swales J. M., Vergaro C. ‘Notice the similarities between the two sets …’: Imperative usage in a corpus of upper-level student papers.Applied Linguistics, 2016, vol. 37, Issue 2, pp. 198–218. DOI: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1093/applin/amu017
  10. Hyland K. Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 2002, vol. 34, issue 8, pp. 1091–1112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00035-8
  11. Hyland K. Methods and methodologies in second language writing research. System, 2016, vol. 59, pp. 116–125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2016.05.002
  12. Korzhuev А., Popkov V., Ryazanova Е. How to develop critical thinking?. Higher Education in Russia, 2001, vol. 5, pp. 55–58. (In Russian) URL: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=9568864
  13. Mitchell T. D., Pessoa S. Scaffolding the writing development of the argument genre in history: the case of two novice writers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2017, vol. 30, pp. 26–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2017.10.002
  14. Shintani N., Aubrey S., Donnellan M. The effects of pre‐task and post‐task metalinguistic explanations on accuracy in second language writing. TESOL Quarterly, 2016, vol. 50, issue 4, pp. 945–955. DOI: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1002/tesq.323
  15. Hayes J. R., Hatch J. A., Silk Ch. M.Does holistic assessment predict writing performance?: Estimating the consistency of student performance on holistically scored writing assignments. Written Communication, 2000, vol. 17, issue 1, pp. 3–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088300017001001
  16. Yang W., Lu X., Weigle C. S. Different topics, different discourse: Relationships among writing topic, measures of syntactic complexity, and judgments of writing quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 2015, vol. 28, pp. 53–67. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2015.02.002
  17. Schall‐Leckrone L. Genre Pedagogy: A framework to prepare history teachers to teach language. TESOL Quarterly, 2017, vol. 51, issue 2, pp. 358–382. DOI: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1002/tesq.322
  18. Lavelle E. The Quality of university writing: A preliminary analysis of undergraduate portfolios. Quality in Higher Education, 2003, vol. 9, issue 1, pp. 87–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13538320308159
  19. Humphrey S., Macnaught L. Functional language instruction and the writing growth of English language learners in the middle years. TESOL Quarterly, 2016, vol. 50, issue 4, pp. 792–816. DOI: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1002/tesq.247
  20. Jiang F. K., Hyland K. Nouns and academic interactions: a neglected feature of metadiscourse. Applied Linguistics, 2018, vol. 39, issue 4, pp. 508–531. DOI: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1093/applin/amw023
  21. Miller R. T., Mitchell T. D., Pessoa S. Impact of source texts and prompts on students’ genre uptake. Journal of Second Language Writing, 2016, vol. 31, pp. 11–24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2016.01.001
  22. Lee H.-K., Anderson C. Validity and topic generality of a writing performance test. Language Testing, 2007, vol. 24, issue 3, pp. 307–330. DOI: https://doi-org.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/10.1177/0265532207077200
  23. Huang H. J. Essay topic writablity examined through a statistical approach form the college writer's perspective. English Language Teaching, 2008, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 79–85. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v1n2p79
  24. Hinkel E. The effects of essay topics on modal verb uses in L1 and L2 academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 2009, vol. 41, issue 4, pp. 667–683. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.09.029
  25. Llinares A., Pascual Peña I. A genre approach to the effects of academic questions on CLIL students’ language production. Language and Education, 2015, vol. 29, issue 1, pp. 15–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2014.924964

 

Date of the publication 31.12.2018