Reflection on Academic Writing

This paper shared challenges encountered in academic writing from the perspective of a novice researcher and experi⁃ences in attaining skills in developing a research article of proper quality.

Identity Construction in Academic Writing of Student Writers Who Use English as an Additional Language:A Literature Review

Academic writing is social interaction between writer and reader,during which writers can employ discursive and non-discursive features to construct their identities.However,many student writers who are users of English as an additional language(EAL)may find it challenging to construct their identities in academic writing.Properly constructed identity in academic writing can help EAL student writers develop a stronger sense of self,exercise their agency,and negotiate the academic discourse.Therefore,this paper reviews empirical studies on EAL student writers'identity construction when they write in English to investigate the features of identities that EAL student writers construct in texts and the factors that influence their identity construction.The findings show that,compared with expert writers and native-English-speaking(NES)counterparts,EAL student writers tend to present a weak authorial identity.Furthermore,EAL student writers tend to be more engaged with texts than with readers and lack commitment to their claims.The identities that EAL student writers construct in academic writing are also interwoven with EAL students'English proficiency levels,educational experience,disciplinary conventions,genre affordances,and audience awareness.The findings of this literature review can help teachers and educators raise EAL students’identity awareness and facilitate students in strategically constructing writer identities in academic writing.

When Prior Knowledge Helps： Self-Report of First-Year University Undergraduates on Academic Writing

This qualitative-dominant mixed study used content analysis, interviews, and survey to examine if first-year university undergraduates taking English language academic writing courses consider prior knowledge from high school English language five-paragraph essay writing style helpful. Sample included 67 first year university undergraduates. All the 67 students considered prior knowledge of the high school five-paragraph essay writing style helpful. They believed that it facilitated a transfer of learning in the first-year university undergraduate academic writing course. However, only 15 out of the respondents, who reported that prior knowledge of the high school English language five-paragraph essay writing style was helpful, also reported that they are level-appropriate competent in the first-year university undergraduate English language academic writing courses after one academic year. As such, essay-writing in high school offers students some foundation-knowledge to succeed in academic writing in universities. Further findings showed that students often delve into essay or academic writing without proper planning. Thus, it is recommended that universities introduce a bridge course specifically to address academic deficiency in reading and writing for all first year undergraduates upon admission into the university.

The Status Quo of Topics Choosing in English Majors＇ Academic Writings—— A Case Study of CUPL Junior English Majors

Academic writings, whether they are BA dissertations or semester papers, are important carriers of one＇s ideas and findings of their own study and research spheres. In academic papers, the most important part is the choice of topics which determines the macro direction of the paper. Important as it is, it is difficult for the English majors to choose the most appropriate topics with idea-invested thesis statements instead of some factual statements. Therefore, in order to make clear of the status quo and underlying obstacles of topic choosing, this paper is to study on 98 samples from China University of Political Science and Law＇s junior English majors. By observing and analyzing their writings, the paper intends to fred out some possible and accessible methods to improve English majors＇ academic writing and offer some insights for teachers to make some adjustments in accordance with the status quo.

For a Systematic Teaching of Research at the University: Some Avenues for Reflection Informed by the Academic Writing Course

Scientific research aims to understand the reality that surrounds us.It is defined by Benoit Gauthier as:“an activity of objective quest for knowledge on factual questions”.By virtue of its goal of objectively advancing knowledge in a particular field,it requires rigor,precision and method.As heuristic practice is not a natural exercise,the skills required in the development of scientific work need to be taught to students who are often helpless in face of these requirements.It is therefore important for the faculty to support and,even more so,to train students in research.The Faculty of French and Francophone Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University(BFSU)propose an Academic Writing course accessible to students of the fourth year of the bachelor program.This article first offers a description of the course in its components,both theoretical and practical.Then,it analyses the weaknesses observed by the professor during his teaching and some reflections are proposed in order to try to develop a more systemic approach to research at university aimed at allowing a greater empowerment of the students coupled with more comprehensive training.

Academic Writing and the Challenges It Poses to Chinese Students in Anglophone Universities

Academic literacy is the fundamental quality that scholars should possess in order to get socialized in their disciplinary communities, of which academic writing is one of the most important aspects. This article attempts to summarize some common features of academic writing and the skills and background knowledge that are essential for successful writing. The next part focuses on the possible challenges that academic writing may pose on Chinese overseas students as they try to meet the requirements of the Western discourse communities. In the last part, it provides some recommendations to those who intend to study abroad and concludes that for both native and non-native speakers the learning of academic writing is a lifelong process of endless confliction and negotiation.

High-frequency Grammatical Errors in Academic Writings by Chinese Students in International School

This research investigates four categories of high-frequency grammatical errors from 45 students’academic writings via script analysis.A group of 36 students responded to a questionnaire focusing on their beliefs regarding these grammatical constructions.The participants are enrolled in an international school in Suzhou City.A total of 646 sentences were analyzed,among which295(45.7%)are inaccurate.Of the 364 errors found,most of them(64.0%)fall into the category of Subject-verb agreement,followed by subordinate clauses(28.6%);errors in English existential construction and the passive voice are a few.Also,the usage rate of subordinate clause is 42.7%,of which a large proportion was incorrect.

On the Use of the Passive and Active Voice in Academic Writings of Meth ods Section

Voice is an important topic in academic writing research.Despite increasing research interest,voice has remained a contentious topic.In the article:On the Use of the Passive and Active Voice in Astrophysics Journal Papers:With Extensions to other Languages and other Fields,an interesting hypothesis has been put forward:“Writers of methods sections in this field tend to use we+active when they have made a unique procedural choice or have introduced some technical innovation.On the other hand,the passive seems to be used when authors are simply following established or standard procedures.”Based on the existing research,this paper chooses to study the active and passive forms in the methods section of research articles,and we examine the frequency of the active and passive verb forms in the methods section of two linguistics journal articles.And to verify an old hypothesis:The we+active is used for new stuff,while the passive is preferred for old stuff,this paper will examine the we+active forms and passive verb forms the in methods section in two linguistic journal articles.

A New Perspective on an Old Subject:Mobile-assisted Language Learning in English Academic Writing in Hong Kong Universities

The goal of this short paper is to bring English academic writing(EAW)and mobile-assisted language learning(MALL)together to examine to what degree the latter can be effectively employed to support the former in the Hong Kong higher education context.It utilizes the perspectives generated from the literature,together with professional interpretation,to illustrate the affordances of MALL in EAW in the community.It is suggested that MALL can be employed to integrate academic English into the students’daily lives,through which they can implicitly build the knowledge of academic register outside of the classroom and ultimately use it in the classroom.

The intertextuality of argumentation:a semiotic approach to academic writing in higher education

The importance of argumentation in academic writing,while historically recognised,has arguably lost prominence alongside the rapid expansion of higher education since the early 1990s in the UK.This has been exacerbated by an increasingly prevalent technological intervention in teaching and learning processes.With this as a background,this article presents a semiotic analysis of student dissertation extracts to illustrate the role of intertextuality in governing interpretative,evaluative,and concluding propositions in argumentation.Each proposition is perceived as indexed to syntactical compositionality by which a previous proposition elicits a present one that awaits a future one,thus forming a line of argument.The analysis teases out what is at stake concerning the interdependence of signifying codes in textual relations and functions.This brings into view a network of sign actions that lends itself to instances of signification in mediating and coordinating propositions in argumentation.The article concludes with reflection on the medium of English as a lingua franca for studies in higher education,highlighting a semiotic understanding of the intertextuality of argumentation in academic writing.

Exploring the Impact of Translanguaging on Chinese-speaking Students’Academic English Writing:Taking CET-4 as an Example

This qualitative research study attempts to discover the real thinking process of learners who are native Chinese speakers in Academic English Writing(AEW)through interviews.Introspecting an EFL learner’s thinking process in English writing is based on two theories:critical period hypothesis and translanguaging.The results of the study indicate that translanguaging has a positive impact on the English CET-4 writing of learners who lack proficiency in English.For those learners who lack proficiency in the second language,translanguaging is an effective auxiliary tool for them to complete AEW.

ON PLAGIARISM AND CHINESE ESL/EFL LEARNERS:NEGOTIATING ACADEMIC WRITING IN THE WESTERN CONTEXT

在进行关于学术写作方面的背景调查和研究后,笔者吃惊地发现大量的中国学生在他们的第二语言学术写作中都曾经被认为违反了"引用惯例",有"剽窃"嫌疑,并且许多西方语言学者在做"剽窃"研究时,经常以亚洲学生尤其是中国学生为例。由此,本文通过问卷调查和访谈形式,分析了大学生学术写作中高频率出现的"剽窃"现象,重点放在中国的英语学习者方面:探讨了"剽窃"发生的原因和人们对"剽窃"的态度;同时提出了"剽窃"问题的可能的解决途径。

Reporting and Stance in Second Language Academic Writing

This paper reports on an inquiry into the construction of stance in finite reporting that-clauses. The data were drawn from two corpora of academic papers from a journal in the discipline of Applied Linguistics written by different language users： native speakers of English and Chinese writers using English as L2. By drawing on Sindair＇s distinction between ＂averral＂ and ＂attribution,＂ as well as Martin and White＇s notion of extra-vocalization, this paper sets up a framework for analyzing the sources in reporting clauses in order to examine how the writers construe their stances as visible, hedged or concealed. The study found that for self-sourced reports, the L2 writers are inclined to avoid direct self-mention which shows the greatest writer visibility, but instead use hidden averral with internal attribution. As for other-sourced reports, L2 writers prefer reporting verbs which are strong in the strength of attitude to make a much more definite and stronger claim, while native writers tactically use the moderate verbs and boosting expressions to construct more flexible stances. These discrepancies are likely to result from the disciplinary characteristics which are both community-based and context-situated.

Application of Topic Knowledge in Graduate EFL Academic Writing in China

The present study examines the relationship of knowledge resources of the topic and their representation to the self-evaluation of content in academic writing. Factor analysis of the questionnaire data gathered from 403 non-English-major graduate students yields four types of knowledge resources and eight types of knowledge representation strategies. Data analysis shows that personal experience is the most preferred knowledge resource, and that the most frequently used strategies of knowledge representation range from subjective perspective, contrastive evidence, objective statement, paraphrasing, and comprehensive processing to evidence evaluation. Further correlation analysis indicates that content evaluation is significantly correlated to three external knowledge resources （authoritative evidence, multi- source evidence and professional knowledge） and five external knowledge representation strategies （objective statement, paraphrasing, comprehensive processing, evidence evaluation, and objective perspective）.

Instructors' Debate over Error Feedback on Chinese International Students' Academic Writings in a U.S.University

As the number of Chinese international students studying in the U.S. has grown dramatically in recent years, there has been increasing attention to how English Composition instructors approach these students＇ writings. Using a dialogue format representing ＂narratives of classroom life＂ （Nelson, 2011a）, this paper demonstrates two polemic views held by teachers and researchers： one view sees students＇ language use as problematic as it differs from the expected standards required for academic success in the U.S., while the other calls for more tolerance of the students＇ linguistic and cultural diversity and accordingly, more strategic ways to give ＂error feedback.＂ By opening up the debate, the paper explores possibilities for teachers in the U.S. and around the world to help their students address the gap between academic expectations, and what they are currently capable of.

LEXICAL RICHNESS IN L2 ACADEMIC WRITING

This preliminary study investigates the relationship between lexical richness and communicative effectiveness in placement essays for graduate students whose first language (L1) is Chinese. Lexical richness is measured with Nation's web-based vocabulary profiler (Cobb, undated) software, and communicative effectiveness is scored by multiple raters. The structure of the study, lexical data compile review, results analysis, and teaching implications will be discussed. The study indicates that lexical richness needs to be taken into account in scoring the quality of writing. However, further investigation and analysis still need to be developed and discussed on the ongoing study.

Teaching Hong Kong English before Teaching Academic English: The Gateway to Effective Learning of College Writing

Owing to the negative view of Hong Kong English(HKE)in popular discourse,few English lecturers in Hong Kong universities directly acknowledge or discuss the variety in a non-linguistic course.This paper illustrates an action research study of how HKE may play a role in an academic writing course of a sub-degree program in Hong Kong.Focusing on 8 representatives from an academic writing course with 100 students,it employed the qualitative experiment method to examine whether students who had possessed basic linguistic knowledge of HKE from an additional tutorial would perceive HKE and academic writing differently from those who had not.Student representatives from each group were invited to a focus group to explore ideas about the two subjects discussed in class.Their conversations suggested that prior knowledge of the syntactic features of HKE might raise students’awareness of the grammatical differences between the variety and the standard.The analysis also suggested that introducing the linguistic view of HKE to students might render them optimistic about their variety,helping them identify the situations where the variety would be tolerant of and settings where Standard English would be expected.The study suggested that such an intervention might facilitate students’learning of Standard English for academic purposes and practices of English in actual professional communication.Upon the improvement or advancement,they will position themselves more powerfully in the dichotomy between the standard and non-standard.More formal research on a similar or relevant topic is required to validate the impact of understanding HKE on learning academic writing.

Teaching Hong Kong English before Teaching Academic English:The Gateway to Effective Learning of College Writing

Owing to the negative view of Hong Kong English(HKE)in popular discourse,few English lecturers in Hong Kong universities directly acknowledge or discuss the variety in a non-linguistic course.This paper illustrates an action research study of how HKE may play a role in an academic writing course of a sub-degree program in Hong Kong.Focusing on 8 representatives from an academic writing course with 100 students,it employed the qualitative experiment method to examine whether students who had possessed basic linguistic knowledge of HKE from an additional tutorial would perceive HKE and academic writing differently from those who had not.Student representatives from each group were invited to a focus group to explore ideas about the two subjects discussed in class.Their conversations suggested that prior knowledge of the syntactic features of HKE might raise students’awareness of the grammatical differences between the variety and the standard.The analysis also suggested that introducing the linguistic view of HKE to students might render them optimistic about their variety,helping them identify the situations where the variety would be tolerant of and settings where Standard English would be expected.The study suggested that such an intervention might facilitate students’learning of Standard English for academic purposes and practices of English in actual professional communication.Upon the improvement or advancement,they will position themselves more powerfully in the dichotomy between the standard and non-standard.More formal research on a similar or relevant topic is required to validate the impact of understanding HKE on learning academic writing.

Validity Study on the Test Paper of the Academic English Reading and Writing Course

The aim of this study is to conduct the validity analysis of the test paper of the academic English reading and writing course referring to the freshmen of non-English majors in a university of Technology in Shanghai.The validity is mainly analyzed from these three aspects:the content and construct validity,the reaction process,and the internal structure of the test paper.And the principles of language assessment in the design of the test paper are given in this study.The validity study was also conducted in a class with 42 freshmen,and the scores of them were analyzed through the internal correlation coefficient from Statistic Package for Social Science(SPSS)25.0.Finally,the validity of the test paper is concluded.

A Comparative Analysis of Syntactic Complexity in Applied Linguistics Abstracts Written by Chinese Novice Writers and Native English Advanced Writers

The rhetorical structure of abstracts has been a widely discussed topic, as it can greatly enhance the abstract writing skills of second-language writers. This study aims to provide guidance on the syntactic features that L2 learners can employ, as well as suggest which features they should focus on in English academic writing. To achieve this, all samples were analyzed for rhetorical moves using Hyland’s five-rhetorical move model. Additionally, all sentences were evaluated for syntactic complexity, considering measures such as global, clausal and phrasal complexity. The findings reveal that expert writers exhibit a more balanced use of syntactic complexity across moves, effectively fulfilling the rhetorical objectives of abstracts. On the other hand, MA students tend to rely excessively on embedded structures and dependent clauses in an attempt to increase complexity. The implications of these findings for academic writing research, pedagogy, and assessment are thoroughly discussed.