Reframing graduate student writing strategies from an Activity Theory perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v2i1.24977Keywords:
academic writing, Activity Theory, ESL learners in graduate schools, sociocultural approach, writing strategyAbstract
This study adopts a sociocultural approach, more specifically, an Activity Theory (Leont'ev, 1978, 1981; Engestr?m, 1987, 1999) framework, to explore an international graduate student’s use of writing strategies. Using a case study design, we investigate how an MA student from Nepal learns to write academic papers that meet the academic norms of a US graduate school. Through the analysis of course materials, the participant’s written work, stimulated recall, and interview, we examine what strategies the participant used, and how she developed them over her first semester in graduate school. Findings indicate that the participant used various tool-mediated, rule-mediated, and community-mediated strategies. Her mediated actions were driven by her goals and motives that were understood within her social and cultural environments, and interacted with each other in a dynamic and constructive manner. In addition, contradictions between the strategies used by the participant and between the participant and the contextual factors were found; these contradictions, in turn, acted as sources of the development and the change of her writing activity.
References
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Antoniadou, V. (2011). Using Activity Theory to understand the contradictions in an online transatlantic collaboration between student-teachers of English as a foreign language ReCALL 23: 233-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0958344011000164
Baralt, M. (2012). Coding qualitative data. In A. Mackey and S. Gass (Eds), Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition, 222–244. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444347340.ch12
Bitchener, J. and Basturkmen, H. (2006). Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L2 thesis students writing the discussion section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5 (1): 4–18.
Canseco, G. and Byrd, P. (1989). Writing required in graduate courses in business administration. TESOL Quarterly 23 (2): 305–316. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3587338
Cross, J. (2011). Social-cultural-historical contradictions in an L2 listening lesson: A joint activity system analysis. Language Learning 61 (3): 820–867. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00658.x
Cross, R. (2010). Language teaching as sociocultural activity: Rethinking language teacher practice. The Modern Language Journal 94 (3): 434–452. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01058.x
Cumming, A. (1989). Writing expertise and second-language proficiency. Language Learning 39 (1): 81–135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1989.tb00592.x
De Larios, J. R., Murphy, L., and Manchón, R. (1999). The use of restructuring strategies in EFL writing: A study of Spanish learners of English as a foreign language. Journal of Second Language Writing 8 (1): 13–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(99)80111-8
Donato, R., and McCormick, D. (1994). A sociocultural perspective on language learning strategies: The role of mediation. The Modern Language Journal 78 (4): 453–464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02063.x
D?rnyei, Z. and Skehan, P. (2003). Individual differences in L2 learning. In C. J. Doughty and M. H. Long (Eds.), The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, 589–630. Oxford: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756492.ch18
Engestr?m, Y. (1987). Learning by Expanding: An Activity Theoretical Approach to Developmental Research. Helsinki, Finland: Orienta-Konsultit Oy.
Engestr?m, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformation. In Y. Engestr?m, R. Miettinen and R.-L. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on Activity Theory, 19–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812774.003
Engestr?m, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work 14 (1): 133–156.
Flower, L. and Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication 32 (4): 365–387. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/356600
Friedman, D. A. (2012). How to collect and analyze qualitative data. In A. Mackey and S. Gass (Eds), Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition, 188–200. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Gardner, R. C. and Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second-Language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers.
Griffiths, C. and Oxford, R. (2014). The twenty-first century landscape of language learning strategies: Introduction to this special issue. System 43: 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.12.009
Hayes, J. R. (1996). A new framework for understanding cognition and affect in writing. In C. M. Levy and S. Ransdell (Eds), The Science of Writing: Theories, Methods, Individual Differences, and Application, 1–27. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hu, G. and Lei, J. (2012). Investigating Chinese university students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward plagiarism from an integrated perspective. Language Learning 62 (3): 813–850. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00650.x
Hyland, K. (2003). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal of Second Language Writing 12 (1): 17–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(02)00124-8
Johnson, K. E. (1992). Cognitive strategies and second language writers: A re-evaluation of sentence combining. Journal of Second Language Writing 1 (1): 61–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1060-3743(92)90020-P
Juffs, A. and Friedline, B. E. (2014). Sociocultural influences on the use of a web-based tool for learning English vocabulary. System 42: 48–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.10.015
Kang, Y.-S. and Pyun, D. O. (2013). Mediation strategies in L2 writing processes: a case study of two Korean language learners. Language, Culture and Curriculum 26 (1): 52–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2012.762012
Keengwe, J. and Kang, J.-J. (2013). A triangular prism model: Using activity theory to examine online learning communities. Education and Information Technologies 18 (1): 85–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10639-011-9178-4
Lantolf, J. P. (2004). An overview of sociocultural theory. In K. van Esch and O. St. John (Eds), New Insights into Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, 13–34. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Lantolf, J. P. and Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lantolf, J. P. (2011). The sociocultural approach to second language acquisition. In D. Atkinson (Ed.), Alternative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, 24–47. London: Taylor and Francis.
Lei, X. (2008). Exploring a sociocultural approach to writing strategy research: Mediated actions in writing activities. Journal of Second Language Writing 17 (4): 217–236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2008.04.001
Leont’ev. A. N. (1978). Activity, Consciousness, and Personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Leont’ev. A. N. (1981). Problems of the Development of the Mind. Moscow: Progress.
Li, Y. (2013). Three ESL students writing a policy paper assignment: An activity-analytic perspective. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 12 (2): 73–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.11.006
Li, Y. and Casanave, C. P. (2012). Two first-year students' strategies for writing from sources: Patchwriting or plagiarism? Journal of Second Language Writing 21 (2): 165–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2012.03.002
Manchón, R., De Larios, J. R., and Murphy, L. (2007). A review of writing strategies: Focus on conceptualizations and impact of first language. In A. D. Cohen and E. Macaro (Eds), Language Learner Strategies, 229–250. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McCafferty, S. G., Roebuck, R. F., and Wayland, R. P. (2001). Activity theory and the incidental learning of second-language vocabulary. Language Awareness 10 (4): 289–294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658410108667040
Murphy, E. and Rodriguez-Manzanares, M. A. (2008). Using activity theory and its principle of contradictions to guide research in educational technology. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 24 (4): 442–457.
Murphy, L. and De Larios, J. R. (2010). Searching for words: One strategic use of the mother tongue by advanced Spanish EFL writers. Journal of Second Language Writing 19 (2): 61–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2010.02.001
O’Malley, J. M. and Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524490
Oxford, R. L., Rubin, J., Chamot, A. U., Schramm, K., Lavine, R., Gunning, P., and Nel, C. (2014). The learning strategy prism: Perspectives of learning strategy experts. System 43: 30–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.02.004
Petri?, B., and Czárl, B. (2003). Validating a writing strategy questionnaire. System 31: 187–215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(03)00020-4
Riazi, A. (1997). Acquiring disciplinary literacy: A social-cognitive analysis of text production and learning among Iranian graduate students of education. Journal of Second Language Writing 6 (2): 105–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(97)90030-8
Sarangi, S. and Candlin, C. N. (2003). Introduction trading between reflexivity and relevance: new challenges for applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 24 (3): 271–285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.3.271
Seloni, L. (2012). Academic literacy socialization of first year doctoral students in US: A micro-ethnographic perspective. English for Specific Purposes 31 (1): 47–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2011.05.004
Snively, H. (1999). Coming to terms with cultural difference: Chinese graduate students writing academic English (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Harvard University, Boston.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yang, L. (2014). Examining the mediational means in collaborative writing: Case studies of undergraduate ESL students in business courses. Journal of Second Language Writing 23: 74–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2014.01.003
Zhu, W. and Mitchell, D. A. (2012). Participation in peer response as activity: An examination of peer response stances from an activity theory perspective. TESOL Quarterly 46 (2): 362–386. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tesq.22
Antoniadou, V. (2011). Using Activity Theory to understand the contradictions in an online transatlantic collaboration between student-teachers of English as a foreign language ReCALL 23: 233-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0958344011000164
Baralt, M. (2012). Coding qualitative data. In A. Mackey and S. Gass (Eds), Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition, 222–244. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444347340.ch12
Bitchener, J. and Basturkmen, H. (2006). Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L2 thesis students writing the discussion section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5 (1): 4–18.
Canseco, G. and Byrd, P. (1989). Writing required in graduate courses in business administration. TESOL Quarterly 23 (2): 305–316. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3587338
Cross, J. (2011). Social-cultural-historical contradictions in an L2 listening lesson: A joint activity system analysis. Language Learning 61 (3): 820–867. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00658.x
Cross, R. (2010). Language teaching as sociocultural activity: Rethinking language teacher practice. The Modern Language Journal 94 (3): 434–452. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01058.x
Cumming, A. (1989). Writing expertise and second-language proficiency. Language Learning 39 (1): 81–135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1989.tb00592.x
De Larios, J. R., Murphy, L., and Manchón, R. (1999). The use of restructuring strategies in EFL writing: A study of Spanish learners of English as a foreign language. Journal of Second Language Writing 8 (1): 13–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(99)80111-8
Donato, R., and McCormick, D. (1994). A sociocultural perspective on language learning strategies: The role of mediation. The Modern Language Journal 78 (4): 453–464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02063.x
D?rnyei, Z. and Skehan, P. (2003). Individual differences in L2 learning. In C. J. Doughty and M. H. Long (Eds.), The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, 589–630. Oxford: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470756492.ch18
Engestr?m, Y. (1987). Learning by Expanding: An Activity Theoretical Approach to Developmental Research. Helsinki, Finland: Orienta-Konsultit Oy.
Engestr?m, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformation. In Y. Engestr?m, R. Miettinen and R.-L. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on Activity Theory, 19–38. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511812774.003
Engestr?m, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work 14 (1): 133–156.
Flower, L. and Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication 32 (4): 365–387. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/356600
Friedman, D. A. (2012). How to collect and analyze qualitative data. In A. Mackey and S. Gass (Eds), Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition, 188–200. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Gardner, R. C. and Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second-Language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers.
Griffiths, C. and Oxford, R. (2014). The twenty-first century landscape of language learning strategies: Introduction to this special issue. System 43: 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.12.009
Hayes, J. R. (1996). A new framework for understanding cognition and affect in writing. In C. M. Levy and S. Ransdell (Eds), The Science of Writing: Theories, Methods, Individual Differences, and Application, 1–27. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hu, G. and Lei, J. (2012). Investigating Chinese university students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward plagiarism from an integrated perspective. Language Learning 62 (3): 813–850. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00650.x
Hyland, K. (2003). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal of Second Language Writing 12 (1): 17–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(02)00124-8
Johnson, K. E. (1992). Cognitive strategies and second language writers: A re-evaluation of sentence combining. Journal of Second Language Writing 1 (1): 61–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1060-3743(92)90020-P
Juffs, A. and Friedline, B. E. (2014). Sociocultural influences on the use of a web-based tool for learning English vocabulary. System 42: 48–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.10.015
Kang, Y.-S. and Pyun, D. O. (2013). Mediation strategies in L2 writing processes: a case study of two Korean language learners. Language, Culture and Curriculum 26 (1): 52–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2012.762012
Keengwe, J. and Kang, J.-J. (2013). A triangular prism model: Using activity theory to examine online learning communities. Education and Information Technologies 18 (1): 85–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10639-011-9178-4
Lantolf, J. P. (2004). An overview of sociocultural theory. In K. van Esch and O. St. John (Eds), New Insights into Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, 13–34. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Lantolf, J. P. and Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lantolf, J. P. (2011). The sociocultural approach to second language acquisition. In D. Atkinson (Ed.), Alternative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, 24–47. London: Taylor and Francis.
Lei, X. (2008). Exploring a sociocultural approach to writing strategy research: Mediated actions in writing activities. Journal of Second Language Writing 17 (4): 217–236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2008.04.001
Leont’ev. A. N. (1978). Activity, Consciousness, and Personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Leont’ev. A. N. (1981). Problems of the Development of the Mind. Moscow: Progress.
Li, Y. (2013). Three ESL students writing a policy paper assignment: An activity-analytic perspective. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 12 (2): 73–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.11.006
Li, Y. and Casanave, C. P. (2012). Two first-year students' strategies for writing from sources: Patchwriting or plagiarism? Journal of Second Language Writing 21 (2): 165–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2012.03.002
Manchón, R., De Larios, J. R., and Murphy, L. (2007). A review of writing strategies: Focus on conceptualizations and impact of first language. In A. D. Cohen and E. Macaro (Eds), Language Learner Strategies, 229–250. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McCafferty, S. G., Roebuck, R. F., and Wayland, R. P. (2001). Activity theory and the incidental learning of second-language vocabulary. Language Awareness 10 (4): 289–294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658410108667040
Murphy, E. and Rodriguez-Manzanares, M. A. (2008). Using activity theory and its principle of contradictions to guide research in educational technology. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 24 (4): 442–457.
Murphy, L. and De Larios, J. R. (2010). Searching for words: One strategic use of the mother tongue by advanced Spanish EFL writers. Journal of Second Language Writing 19 (2): 61–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2010.02.001
O’Malley, J. M. and Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524490
Oxford, R. L., Rubin, J., Chamot, A. U., Schramm, K., Lavine, R., Gunning, P., and Nel, C. (2014). The learning strategy prism: Perspectives of learning strategy experts. System 43: 30–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.02.004
Petri?, B., and Czárl, B. (2003). Validating a writing strategy questionnaire. System 31: 187–215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(03)00020-4
Riazi, A. (1997). Acquiring disciplinary literacy: A social-cognitive analysis of text production and learning among Iranian graduate students of education. Journal of Second Language Writing 6 (2): 105–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(97)90030-8
Sarangi, S. and Candlin, C. N. (2003). Introduction trading between reflexivity and relevance: new challenges for applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 24 (3): 271–285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.3.271
Seloni, L. (2012). Academic literacy socialization of first year doctoral students in US: A micro-ethnographic perspective. English for Specific Purposes 31 (1): 47–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2011.05.004
Snively, H. (1999). Coming to terms with cultural difference: Chinese graduate students writing academic English (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Harvard University, Boston.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yang, L. (2014). Examining the mediational means in collaborative writing: Case studies of undergraduate ESL students in business courses. Journal of Second Language Writing 23: 74–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2014.01.003
Zhu, W. and Mitchell, D. A. (2012). Participation in peer response as activity: An examination of peer response stances from an activity theory perspective. TESOL Quarterly 46 (2): 362–386. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tesq.22
Published
2015-04-24
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Park, J.-H., & De Costa, P. (2015). Reframing graduate student writing strategies from an Activity Theory perspective. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 2(1), 25-50. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v2i1.24977
