Spreading the Word:

The challenge of the corpus as an agent of change

Hilary NesiCoventry University, UK

A talk about connecting theory and practice

The original research questions of the BAWE corpus

1. What are the characteristics of proficient student writing produced for degree programmes in British universities?

2. How can this writing be categorised in terms of genres and sub-genres?

3. What are the characteristics of genres produced at different stages of university study?

4. What are the characteristics of genres produced in different disciplines, and for different degree programmes?

Its aim:to develop descriptors for all the genres of British university student assignment – identifying assignment types according to their social purposes.

• 6,506,995 words • 2,896 texts• 2,761 assignments• 1,953 written by L1 speakers of English• 1,251 “distinction” and 1,402 “merit”• 1000+ modules & 300 degree courses

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Arts & Humanities 200 200 200 200

Life Science 200 200 200 200

Physical Science 200 200 200 200

Social Science 200 200 200 200

30+ disciplines representedArts & Humanities

Archaeology, Applied Linguistics, Classics, Comparative American Studies, English, History, Philosophy

Life Sciences Agriculture, Biological Sciences, Food Sciences, Health, Psychology, Medical Science

Physical Sciences

Architecture, Chemistry, Computer Science, Cybernetics & Electronics, Engineering, Mathematics, Meteorology, Physics, Planning

Social Sciences Anthropology, Business, Economics, HLTM (Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management), Law, Politics, Publishing, Sociology

Contextual and Textual Information

Files marked for• writer (age,L1,gender,schooling, course) • module (title, department, disc. group)• assignment (title, level, date, grade

>60) • number of words, s-units, p-units, tables,

figures, block quotes, formulae, lists, abstract, w/s, s/p, …

• and genre family

The Genre Families1. Case Study2. Critique3. Design Specification4. Empathy Writing5. Essay6. Exercise7. Explanation8. Literature Survey9. Methodology Recount10.Narrative Recount11.Problem Question12.Proposal13.Research Report

Also tagged for 67 linguistic features

Tense and aspect markers Prepositional phrases, adjectives and adverbs

Place and time adverbials Lexical specificity (type token ratio, mean word length)

Pronouns and pro-verbs Downtoners, hedges, amplifiers, emphatics etc.

Modals Questions

Specialized verb classes such as 'public', 'private' and 'suasive' verbs

Nominal forms

Reduced forms and dispreferred structures such as split infinitives

Passives

Coordination Stative forms

Negation Subordination features

Plenty of data here!

For comparisons across:• Disciplines• Disciplinary groupings• Levels• Genre families

And possibly between:• Writers with different L1s

Some findings: across levels Level Average

1 2 3 4

Words per assignment 1782 2323 2637 2903

Sentences per assignment 75 95 108 122

Words per sentence 24.8 25.6 25.5 24.6

Involved Narrative Elaborated

Persuasive

Abstract / Impersonal

1 -12.8 -2.7 5.1 -1.4 5.9

2 -13.9 -2.8 5.6 -1.5 6.2

3 -14.8 -3.0 5.7 -1.4 6.4

4 -17.3 -3.2 6.4 -2.0 5.4

Across levels, L1-English students show

• Increase in nouns; slight decrease in verbs

• Increase in the use of phrasal post-modifiers of nouns

• Strong increase in the use of phrasal pre-modifiers of nouns

• Decrease in the use of complement clauses, finite relative clauses

Some findings: across genres

Some findings: across genres

Distribution of Genre Families

194

322

93

35

1238

114

214

35

362

75

40

76

61 case study

critique

design specification

empathy writing

essay

exercise

explanation

literature survey

methodology recount

narrative recount

problem question

proposal

research report

Arts and Humanities

0 481

4

602

14 9718 10029case study

critique

design specif ication

empathy w riting

essay

exercise

explanation

literature survey

methodology recount

narrative recount

problem question

proposal

research report

Social Sciences

66

114

3

3

444

18

23

10

16

19

3229 14

case study

critique

design specif ication

empathy w riting

essay

exercise

explanation

literature survey

methodology recount

narrative recount

problem question

proposal

research report

Life Sciences

91

84

2

19

127

33117

14

158

25

2

26

22case study

critique

design specif ication

empathy w riting

essay

exercise

explanation

literature survey

methodology recount

narrative recount

problem question

proposal

research report

Physical Sciences

37

76

87

9

65

4965

4

170

21

6

19

16case study

critique

design specif ication

empathy w riting

essay

exercise

explanation

literature survey

methodology recount

narrative recount

problem question

proposal

research report

BUT....where’s the connection?

Recent publications on the BAWE website

An ESRC-funded follow-on project

March 2012 - April 2013

Intended to apply findings from ‘An Investigation of Genres of Assessed

Writing in British Higher Education’ 2004-2007

For the British Council Learn English website http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

Beneficiaries

• student writers who are not yet fully familiar with departmental writing conventions.

• tutors - the materials will be suitable for use in class, in one-to-one writing tutorials, or on a self-access basis, according to local requirements.

• subject lecturers, by providing insights into the specific language features that characterise writing in their disciplines.

Project objectives

• To raise teachers' and learners' awareness of the types of writing produced by students in specific disciplines

• To create motivating and attractive academic writing materials

• To improve the quality of student writing, especially the writing produced by users of English as a second or a foreign language.

The exercises on the Learn English site

The five purposes of student writing

Demonstrating knowledge & understanding

Building Research Skills

Developing powers of independent reasoning

Writing for oneself and others

Preparing for professional practice

Genre families Disciplines

Archaeology, Applied Linguistics, Classics, American Studies, English, History,

Philosophy

Agriculture, Biological Sciences, Food

Sciences, Health, Psychology, Medicine

Architecture, Chemistry, Computer Science, Electronics,

Engineering, Mathematics,

Meteorology, Physics, Planning

Anthropology, Business, Economics, HLTM , Law, Politics, Publishing, Sociology

Exercise

Critique

Essay

ResearchReport

Literature Survey

Methodology Recount

Explanation

Problem Question

Proposal

Design Specification

Case Study

EmpathyWriting

NarrativeRecount

The British Council site

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

The Wordtree

Word Tree http://wordtree.coventry.ac.uk/?BAWE

From Case Study clusters to the Sketch Engine

Some examplesMethodology Recount (the) aim of this experiment/report is/was

Case Study it is important / recommended / suggested / vital that

The Writing for a Purpose team• Hilary Nesi and Sheena Gardner - from the original ESRC project• Andy Gillett – materials developer• Tim Kelly – video and multimedia• Alex Woolner – consultant from Coventry Serious Games Institute• Elly Hutchins – art work• Martin Peacock and Melissa Cudmore – British Council• Adam Kightley – British Council website• Stakeholders – representing EAP practitioners in universities and

language schools• A wider group of EAP practitioners – to pilot materials

The end - thanks for listening!