L2 Academic Writing Research Articles

Challenges in the Application of Genre Theory to Improve L2 Academic Writing: Effective Reports and Assessment

This paper examines the application of a systemic-functional linguistic (SFL) Genre Theory approach to an L2 classroom in Spain, where English systems and their formal and functional characteristics were explicated in the teaching-learning process in order to help students improve their writing skills. It analyses various facets of the effectiveness of this approach through a careful consideration of student report writing, first by analysing the assessors’ marking parameters and concentration, and second by thoroughly going through the papers themselves to summarise the nature and quantity of the various writing issues, paying particular attention to areas in which the existing assessment was questionable, incorrect, or not indicating errors in standard English.

The Role of Information Management in the Assessment of Grammar in L2 Academic Writing

Information management of discourse – the ability of a writer to use linguistic forms to organize and present information in a written text – is a key component of second language (L2) ability models in the language assessment literature (e.g., Canale & Swain, 1980; Weigle, 2002), but Purpura’s (2004) language ability model developed specifically for assessment purposes is the only one that considers it to be part of the ability to use grammar accurately and meaningfully when producing a text in an L2. The current study investigated whether L2 academic writing teachers consider information management of discourse as an assessment criterion when assessing grammar in L2 academic texts. Fourteen students in an academic English as a second language writing course at an English-medium university in Canada and their teacher participated in this case study. Students’ essay exam scripts were collected, and the Theme-Rheme progression (TRP) patterns and links (Daneš, 1974) as well as the distribution of new and given information (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) in these essays were analyzed. Pearson correlation coefficients between the teacher-assigned grammar grade and the results from the TRP and information distribution analyses were calculated. The findings indicate that information management of discourse indeed forms part of the assessment criteria for grammar in academic writing for the teacher in this study. The implications of this finding for L2 writing pedagogy are discussed.

Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading.

Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2) academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others) with students’ writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergraduates of English Studies; they are in their fourth year, so they are expected to be proficient in English academic writing but their written production quality varies considerably. Results are analysed following a mixed methodology by which metalinguistic items are statistically measured, and then contrasted with semi-structured interview results; SPSS and NVivo provide quantitative and qualitative outcomes, respectively. The analyses reveal that undergraduate students who produce complex sentences and more coherent texts employ a wider range of writing strategies both prior and while writing, being able to (un)consciously structure and design their texts more successfully. These high-scoring students make more proficient use of complex transition markers for coherence and frame markers for textual cohesion; their commonly used (pre-)writing strategies are drafting, outlining, and proofreading.

Paraphrase Practices for Using Sources in L2 Academic Writing

The present study explores the effects of two types of paraphrase practices (teacher-led and Web-based) on Korean university and graduate...

Differences in L1 and L2 Academic Writing

Since the first contrastive rhetoric study by Kaplan in 1966, many studies have been produced, and over several decades of development, there have been many contributions gained from previous contrastive rhetoric studies. In this article, many kinds of differences existing in L1 and L2 academic writing have been discussed. I will categorize the differences in three major parts as following: differences in the level of lexicon, differences in the level of sentence, and differences in the level of passage.

With regard to L2 Academic Writing: The Use of Topicalisers in L1 English and Spanish)and L2 English) Research Articles

A great deal of cross-cultural research has shown remarkable differences between the written discursive practices of academic disciplinary members using English for international communication and members using other languages for local communication. Less research has been carried out, however, on the possible transfer of non-native scholars’ writing practices from their native language into English when drafting their academic texts for an international audience. It is the aim of this paper to contribute to intercultural rhetoric by taking the latter approach. It will look into the use made of a particular cohesive device, topicalisers (i.e. linguistic signals that writers include in the text to organise the discourse, bringing about, changing or re-taking a topic), in Business Management research articles written in L1 (English and Spanish) and L2 (English) research articles. The analysis focuses on the frequency, distribution and choice of topicalisers. Results reveal significant differences in the use of topicalisers in L1 and L2 English research articles, which gives way to a different discourse flow and organisation of information. In the light of the results obtained, the different use of topicalisers made in L2 English texts could be interpreted as a discursive transfer of Spanish scholars’ writing conventions in their L1. 1

Using the Web as a Research Source: Implications for L2 Academic Writing

As scholars increasingly view the World Wide Web (the Web) as a legitimate research resource in academic writing, questions remain regarding how Web sources, as new media, influence the writing of second and foreign language (L2) learners. Via a 17-item questionnaire and an analysis of the references to 243 Web sources in the essays of 43 Japanese undergraduate English as a foreign language writers, this study examined whether (a) Web-based research influenced the writers' topic choice; (b) their choice of Web sources was appropriate for an academic essay; and (c) using an online, electronic environment would lead writers to use new language-related strategies. The findings suggested a possible shift towards more internationally oriented topics as a result of the predominance of English language sites on the Web. In addition, a considerable portion of the participants' references came from Web genres of questionable suitability for an academic paper. In a similar vein, working in an electronic environment was an enticement for some L2 writers to take ethically dubious shortcuts in their writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural Collisions in L2 Academic Writing

Learning to write in English for academic purposes presents a significant challenge for non-native speakers. Not only must they deal with the obvious linguistic and technical issues such as syntax, vocabulary, and format, but they must also become familiar with Western notions of academic rhetoric. (West or Western in this article refer primarily to North America.) Collisions of cultures are experienced when the discourse practices L2 writers are expected to reproduce clash with what they know, believe, and value in their L1 writing. For this article I reviewed a range of literature that addresses writing and culture. Described by researchers and by L2 writers are collisions regarding voice, organization, reader/ writer responsibility, topic, and identity. Implications for writing pedagogy include awareness of contrastive rhetoric on the part of ESL writing instructors; instructors' acknowledgment of and appreciation for the prior knowledge that students bring from their L1; realization on the part of ESL writing instructors that Western notions of,for example, voice are indeed just notions and are simply one way among many of expressing oneself; and a need for open discussion with students about how they might incorporate standard Western notions of writing without compromising their own identity.

The Effect of Explicit Instruction on Modality Use in L2 Academic Writing

The Effect of Explicit Instruction on Modality Use in L2 Academic Writing