I Know It When I See It
Uncovering Student and Educator Expectations about Academic Writing in Higher Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.24108Keywords:
Academic English, Meta-awareness, Metalinguistics, Metadiscourse, Academic writingAbstract
A series of focus groups was conducted to obtain and compare attitudes held by undergraduate university students and educators about the nature of academic writing. Analysis of comments found misalignment of assumptions about the linguistic demands on students. Such misalignments were evident not only between groups but also within each population. A follow-up study involved two students recording impressions in journals about their own awareness of language use and demands, to trace any metalinguistic gains from participating in the focus groups. Data from this qualitative study are discussed in terms of the benefits of metalinguistic awareness and the need to uncover assumptions about what academic writing is in order to yield more informed teaching and deeper learning.
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Jackendoff, R. (2007). A whole lot of challenges for linguistics. Journal of English Linguistics 35 (3): 253–262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0075424207305598
Kieffer, M.J. and Lesaux, N.K. (2012). Effects of academic language instruction on relational and syntactic aspects of morphological awareness for sixth graders from linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Elementary School Journal 112 (3), 519–545. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/663299
Kutz, E. (2004). From outsider to insider: Studying academic discourse communities across the curriculum. In Y. Zamel and R. Spack (Eds) Crossing the curriculum: Multilingual learners in college (pp. 75–93). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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Moje, E. B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 52 (2), 96–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.52.2.1
Nathan, M. J. and Petrosino, A. (2003). Expert blind spot among preservice instructors. American Educational Research Journal, 40 (4), 905–928. http:// dx.doi.org/10.3102/00028312040004905
Roland D., Dick, F., and Elman, J. L. (2007). Frequency of basic English grammar structures: A corpus analysis. Journal of Memory and Language, 57 (3), 348–379. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0749596X07000307 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.03.002
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Schleppegrell, M. J. (2013). The role of metalanguage in supporting academic language development [Supplement 1] Language Learning 63, 153–170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00742.x
Shanahan, T. and Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review 78 (1), 40–59. Retrieved from http://her.hepg.org/content/v62444321p602101/ , http://dx.doi.org/10.17763/haer.78.1.v62444321p602101
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Wardle, E. (2007). Understanding ‘transfer’ from FYC: Preliminary results of a longitudinal study. WPA: Writing Program Administration, 31 (1–2), 65–85. Retrieved from http://www.wpacouncil.org/journal/index.html
Wells, J. B., Christiansen, M. H., Race, D. S., Acheson, D. J., and MacDonald, M. C. (2009). Experience and sentence processing: Statistical learning and relative clause comprehension. Cognitive Psychology, 58 (2), 250–271. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2008.08.002
Wilkinson, L. C. and Silliman, E. R. (2012). Language. In J. Arthur and A. Peterson (Eds), The Routledge Companion to Education (pp. 125–135). Oxon and New York: Routledge.
Yu, E. (Fall 2013). Empowering at-risk students as autonomous learners: Toward a metacognitive approach. Research and Teaching in Developmental Education, 30 (1), 35–45. Retrieved from http://www.nyclsa.org/journal.html
Zwiers, J. (2008). Building academic language: Essential practices for content classrooms. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Baron, N. (2008). Always on: Language in an online and mobile world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof: oso/9780195313055.001.0001
Behrens, S., and Jablon, A. (2008). Speaker perceptions of communicative effectiveness: Conversational analysis of student-teacher talk. Journal of College Science Teaching 37 (3), 40–44. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/ retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=Noneandsort=DA-SORTanddocType=Article andprodId=AONEandtabID=T002andsearchId=R2andresultListType=RES ULT_LISTandsearchType=AdvancedSearchFormandcontentSegment=andcur rentPosition=7andsearchResultsType=SingleTabandinPS=trueanduserGroupN ame=nysl_me_mmclanddocId=GALE%7CA182531027andcontentSet=GALE %7CA182531027
Behrens, S. J. (2012). Why every professor needs Linguistics 101. Chronicle of Higher Education, 58 (25). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/ retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=Noneandsort=DA-SORTanddocType=Article andprodId=AONEandtabID=T002andsearchId=R3andresultListType=RES ULT_LISTandsearchType=AdvancedSearchFormandcontentSegment=andcur rentPosition=19andsearchResultsType=SingleTabandinPS=trueanduserGroup Name=nysl_me_mmclanddocId=GALE%7CA286034946andcontentSet=GAL E%7CA286034946
Behrens, S. J. (2013). The Three Rs [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=dJ3ZC9hklAM
Behrens, S. J. (2014). Understanding language use in the classroom: A resource guide for college educators. Brighton: Multilingual Matters.
Berrett, D. (2014). Students come to college thinking they’ve mastered writing. Chronicle of Higher Education, 60 (28), Retrieved from http://go.galegroup. com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=Noneandsort=DA-SORTanddocType=A rticleandprodId=AONEandtabID=T002andsearchId=R4andresultListType=R ESULT_LISTandsearchType=AdvancedSearchFormandcontentSegment=andc urrentPosition=1andsearchResultsType=SingleTabandinPS=trueanduserGrou pName=nysl_me_mmclanddocId=GALE%7CA364442679andcontentSet=GA LE%7CA364442679
Brown, D. W. (2009). Coming to terms with what it means to teach and learn grammar. Teaching American Speech, 84 (2), 216–227. http://dx.doi. org/10.1215/00031283-2009-017
Charity Hudley, A. H., and Mallinson, C. (2011). Understanding English language variation in US schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
Corson, D. (1997). The learning and use of academic English words. Language Learning, 47 (4), 671–718. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00025
Creswell, J. W. (2006). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Crystal, D. (2008). txtng, the gr8 db8. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cummins, J. (2008). Putting language proficiency it its place: Responding to critiques of the conversational/academic language distinction. Retrieved from http://www.iteachilearn.org/cummins/converacademlangdisti.html
Danzak, R. L., Wilkinson, L. C., and Silliman, E. R. (2012). Cultural-linguistic diversity and inclusion. In J. Arthur and A. Peterson (Eds), The Routledge Companion to Education (pp. 263–273). New York: Routledge.
Denham, K., and Lobeck, A. (2010). Linguistics at school: Language awareness in primary and secondary education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770791
Gee, J. P. (2005). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Graff, G. (2003). Clueless in academe: How schooling obscures the life of the mind. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Green, S. (2013). Increasing students’ college-level vocabulary by collaborating with educator. Research and Teaching in Developmental Education, 30 (1), 46–59. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve. do?sgHitCountType=Noneandsort=DA-SORTanddocType=Articleandprod Id=AONEandtabID=T002andsearchId=R5andresultListType=RESULT_LIS TandsearchType=AdvancedSearchFormandcontentSegment=andcurrentPo sition=5andsearchResultsType=SingleTabandinPS=trueanduserGroupNam e=nysl_me_mmclanddocId=GALE%7CA351788614andcontentSet=GALE% 7CA351788614
Guion, L. A., Diehl, D. C., and McDonald, D. (2011). Triangulation: Establishing the validity of qualitative studies. Retrieved from http://www.rayman-bacchus. net/uploads/documents/Triangulation.pdf
Hyland, K. (2009). Academic discourse. London: Continuum Discourse Series.
Hyland, F. and Hyland, K. (2001). Sugaring the pill: Praise and criticism in written feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 185–212. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/S1060-3743(01)00038-8
Hyland, K., and Tse, P. (2007). Is there an ‘academic vocabulary’? TESOL Quarterly, 41 (2): 235–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00058.x
Jackendoff, R. (2007). A whole lot of challenges for linguistics. Journal of English Linguistics 35 (3): 253–262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0075424207305598
Kieffer, M.J. and Lesaux, N.K. (2012). Effects of academic language instruction on relational and syntactic aspects of morphological awareness for sixth graders from linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Elementary School Journal 112 (3), 519–545. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/663299
Kutz, E. (2004). From outsider to insider: Studying academic discourse communities across the curriculum. In Y. Zamel and R. Spack (Eds) Crossing the curriculum: Multilingual learners in college (pp. 75–93). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Lenhart, A. S., Arafeh, S., Smith, A., and Macgill, A. R. (2008). Writing, technology and teens. Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2008/04/24/ writing-technology-and-teens/
McWhorter, J. (2013). ‘Txtng is killing language. JK!!!’ Retrieved from http://www. ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk.html
Moje, E. B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 52 (2), 96–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.52.2.1
Nathan, M. J. and Petrosino, A. (2003). Expert blind spot among preservice instructors. American Educational Research Journal, 40 (4), 905–928. http:// dx.doi.org/10.3102/00028312040004905
Roland D., Dick, F., and Elman, J. L. (2007). Frequency of basic English grammar structures: A corpus analysis. Journal of Memory and Language, 57 (3), 348–379. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0749596X07000307 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.03.002
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2012). Academic language in teaching and learning. The Elementary School Journal 112 (3), 409–418. Retrieved from http://www.jstor. org/stable/10.1086/663297 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/663297
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2013). The role of metalanguage in supporting academic language development [Supplement 1] Language Learning 63, 153–170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00742.x
Shanahan, T. and Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review 78 (1), 40–59. Retrieved from http://her.hepg.org/content/v62444321p602101/ , http://dx.doi.org/10.17763/haer.78.1.v62444321p602101
Verdi, G. G. and Eisenstein Ebsworth, M. (2009). Working-class women academics: Four socio-linguistic journeys. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 4 (2), 183–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17447140802372788
Wardle, E. (2007). Understanding ‘transfer’ from FYC: Preliminary results of a longitudinal study. WPA: Writing Program Administration, 31 (1–2), 65–85. Retrieved from http://www.wpacouncil.org/journal/index.html
Wells, J. B., Christiansen, M. H., Race, D. S., Acheson, D. J., and MacDonald, M. C. (2009). Experience and sentence processing: Statistical learning and relative clause comprehension. Cognitive Psychology, 58 (2), 250–271. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2008.08.002
Wilkinson, L. C. and Silliman, E. R. (2012). Language. In J. Arthur and A. Peterson (Eds), The Routledge Companion to Education (pp. 125–135). Oxon and New York: Routledge.
Yu, E. (Fall 2013). Empowering at-risk students as autonomous learners: Toward a metacognitive approach. Research and Teaching in Developmental Education, 30 (1), 35–45. Retrieved from http://www.nyclsa.org/journal.html
Zwiers, J. (2008). Building academic language: Essential practices for content classrooms. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Published
2016-11-14
Issue
Section
Research Matters
How to Cite
Behrens, S., Johnson, A., Allard, M., & Caroli, A. (2016). I Know It When I See It: Uncovering Student and Educator Expectations about Academic Writing in Higher Education. Writing and Pedagogy, 8(2), 309-332. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.24108
