Russian Educational Research Papers In International Publications: The Urge For Academic Writing

Abstract

English as the internationally accepted language of scholarly publications is used by multilingual scholars as a shared linguistic code to create knowledge. Despite the difficulties encountered by non-anglophone writers, it should be mastered by all the members of the global academic community. However, this code involves not only linguistic, but also rhetorical and publishing conventions common for all disciplines and aimed at alleviating the process of academic communication, which means that mastering them involves metalinguistic competences that can be learned via the native tongue, bypassing English. The bilingual approach to teaching writing for academic and research publication purposes can reduce the differences between the national and international rhetorical and publishing traditions. Drawing on the studies of writing in discourse analysis, social constructivism and literacy studies, the paper focuses on the problems that can be overcome by teaching writing for research publication purposes. Critical discourse analysis of Russian publications demonstrates the differences between the international (English) and Russian writing and publishing traditions. Qualitative analysis of papers in educational research demonstrates that the drawbacks of Russian papers in English result from the lack of academic literacy and awareness of international rhetorical conventions rather than poor command of English. The solution is seen in developing writing for academic and research publication purposes in a bilingual format, which can foster the development of academic literacy and raise the quality of scholarly publications both nationally and internationally.