Academic Writing-The Voice of Students

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Ponencia para el Encuentro de Lenguas UAT 2011.

Academic writing: The voice of students.

This study was carried out in the Philosophy and literature Faculty of the Autonomous

University of Tlaxcala. The program of LEMA is a four-year B.A. and the subject ofacademic writing is set in the 7th semester.

The study.

The aim of this study was to explore the perception of students who were in the 7th

semester of the LEMA program, about the academic writing subject and the impact of it in

different aspects of their learning. Data were collected through reflective journals in whichstudents recorded their writing experiences. Journals and perceptions on academic writing

were collected as part of the course tasks for the subject of academic writing in the fallsemester 2010. The group was in the 7th quarter out of 8th and the background subject of

AW was Advanced English Grammar. In order to avoid any kind of limitations inauthenticity students were asked not to write their names when asked about their

perceptions and former writing practices which were required at the beginning of thecourse.

The academic writing syllabus at the LEMA B.A.:

y One of the general objectives of the Academic Writing Subject/syllabus is to equipstudents to develop and produce written papers which reflect their own analytical

thinking. Another objective is that students are expected to respond appropriatelyand according to the acquired knowledge to specific tasks related to academic

writing in English.

y As specific goals, students are to develop effective skills in the writing of complexsentences, paragraphs and academic texts (expository, narrative and descriptive).

Furthermore, students will learn to use referencing styles such as the APA(American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association).

As part of the evaluation, students were required to write four papers along the quarter

term. The topics were chosen by students and the length was three to five pages long. It wassuggested that students could choose the same topic they were developing in another

subject they were taking too, this was Action Research Seminar.

The analysis:

It is a data driven study. Students perceptions and Journals were analyzed toidentify the possible themes that could emerge from the data. The categories identified in

students perceptions of AW were:Perceptions of Academic Writing (AW)/lack of former practice/significance of

practicing.


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Usefulness and significance to write academically for future requirements/tasks.Class/course expectations.Self-confidence/willingness to learn.

Self-awareness of weaknesses and strengths.

The categories that emerged from the journals were:Usefulness of the course.

AW and other subjects.Strengths identification.

Knowledge of specific referencing styles.

From these categories we could re-analyze the data and concluded with:The teaching of writing in LEMA

Perceptions of AWWeaknesses and strengths self-awareness

The perceived outcomes of formal AW training

Findings:

The teaching of writing in LEMA.

According to students the teaching of writing during their stay in the program up to

7th

semester and even before joining the university did not adequately prepare them for thedemands of their undergraduate studies. They reported that they have not developed many

academic skills very likely because the kinds of writing tasks they were required were notnecessarily academic papers (short stories, letters but never a formal paper), there was little

emphasis on the development of academic written competence. S14 we as studentshavent had the chance to face writing en English in an academic way. S3 Nobody in the

B.A. has told us before that we should learn to write academically. In addition, studentsreported that AW is a process that should start in early stages of English learning what I

think is that AW is part of our studies and it is a process that begins from low level to upperlevels. We didnt submit any papers that were appropriate to our education level and that

were of poor quality. We overlooked from grammar mistakes to the lack of sentencemeaning.

In addition, students had the idea that there should be more supportive previous andsubsequent subjects in the B.A. program that could allow them to develop those required

skills in a more effective way. I would like that AW had other consecutive subjects toreinforce what we have learnt.

Perceptions of AW

On the one hand students reported some kind of disdain for academic writing: S3

considered AW as really boring and difficult, S13hard and frustrating, writing isnot an easy activity, it is frustrating to find out that our ideas in our minds are not easy to beexpressed on paper. It is difficult to write what one really wants to mean and even more in a

foreign language. On the other hand, they recognized the importance and significance ofwriting academically for future tasks S13we also find this subject really helpful and

essential in our graduating process considering that we have to write our thesis, S1 We


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think AW is a very important subject in our university studies because it can help us to

write our thesis. Students also reported the significance of having this kind of trainingwithin the program I believe that this subject is very important in the LEMA program.

In addition, students recognize that in order to write academically they needed topractice a lot if we wrote everyday not exactly and essay- we would foster the writing

habit and if we read a little bit more, it would be less difficult to find the vocabulary towrite, we have to practice writing academic essays.

Weaknesses and strengths self-awareness

Students were able to name those areas in which they were not very good at or hadnot paid much attention to. Unfortunately the lack of reading and knowledge of the world

has made us unsecure to give an opinion, personally I dont trust myself and Im not sureabout my opinions and ideas, My main problem was that I used to write as I talked,

Some big problems I have when writing a paper are: coming up with ideas to write about,giving coherence to those ideas so that they can be read in a logical way and avoid the

reader getting confused.

One of the students stated the importance of reading and its close relationship with

writing writing is not difficult if we previously read, someone who reads writes muchmore easily formally or informally. I dont have the reading habit so it is very difficult for

me to write academic papers.

The perceived outcomes of AW formal training

Students reported that the course of AW was very helpful for them this course was

very useful for me since Ive learnt how to write an academic paper in a much better way. Ifound out that when doing a writing paper it is not just to write but to research and support

what your write with sources youve read, This course helped me write my actionresearch paper too, your class has helped me a lot for my action research class, the

presentations, exercises, the information provided and the teachers help wee the main toolsto improve my writing and avoid frustrations, at the beginning I was afraid of knowing

that I had to write an academic paper, I had many mistakes I the first two papers but I feelthat the third and fourth papers are the few ones I have been satisfied with, I have learnt

some useful tips to make my writing clear. However, I think I still need more practice onthe coherence of the whole paper, all I have learnt has helped me a lot to improve my

writing. There were things I didnt know and now that I know them I have realized that theway I link my ideas now is much better than before, I am not saying that now I am really

good at writing but I can see the difference, with this subject I have learned that writing isnot an easy work, it is the most difficult skill that I have to improve because I usually write

as if I were talking with somebody. Students were shown specific formal and standardreferencing styles that they might not have known before thanks to the styles that the

teacher showed us APA, MLA- I could have an idea about formal styles.

Implications and conclusionsWe as an English academy need to reinforce the academic aspect of writing tasks in

the English subject, as well as teachers own AW competence. It could be a greatopportunity to have AW workshops as additional courses to assist students to develop this

competence. Furthermore, it could be also possible that there are supportive subjects


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previously and subsequently to AW that students might not be aware of, very likely

because the content, tasks or learning activities are not exactly linked and sequenced withthe procedural development of students competence not only in AW but in other areas. It

may be how those subjects are understood by the teacher in turn. On the other hand,teachers have also to deal with affective factors such as fear and find ways of increasing

learners confidence, especially early in the program Arnold (2008, p. 51).

Moreover, it would be also important to highlight the kind of reading materialstudents are exposed to, not only in the English class but in other subjects too. Smith (1998,

cited in Krashen & Lee, 2004, p. 1) says: To learn to write for newspapers, you must readnewspapers; textbooks about them will not suffice. For magazines, browse through

magazines rather than through correspondence courses on magazine writing.to writepoetry, read it. We also have to highlight the unavoidable importance of reading

Reading provides writers with knowledge of the language for writing, grammar,vocabulary, and discourse style writers use (Krashen & Lee, 2004, p. 1).

In addition, we all know that students are of all kinds, what we have to work firmly

on is in making students aware of their responsibility for their own learning and that muchis on their hands to acquire/develop all this skills they need as part of an academic

community. This way, they could be able to identify their weaknesses to be improved andtheir strengths to empower them. A change of attitude on students is probably the most

important challenge for teachers and we have work hard on it, once we achieve such achange, students are likely to start working on their own learning.

Most of us have developed their academic writing competence when we are

enrolled in higher education programs, when we already are required to have this skill orcompetence. We go a step backwards in this sense, I must say that it was until I was in a

higher education program when I realized about my poor academic writing skills and whenI had to improve them. The secret was: necessity. Lea & Street (1998, p. 158) say that

Learning in higher education involves adapting to new ways of knowing: new ways ofunderstanding, interpreting and organizing knowledge. Academic Literacy Practices

reading and writing within disciplines- constitute central processes through which studentslearn new subjects and develop their knowledge about new areas of study

Further researchAnalyze students papers to evidence such an improvement they feel aware of, to

analyze the kind of tasks required not only in academic writing but also in every Englishclass to aim at assisting/informing academic writing.

To research on academic staff and students about their own literacy practices(Academic Literacy Practices Approach) to find out possible gaps between academic staff

expectations and students interpretation of what is involved in student writing.

Documents

Academic Writing-The Voice of Students