A genre-instantiation approach to teaching English for Specific Academic Purposes
Student writing in Business, Economics and Engineering
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v8i1.27934Keywords:
EAP, BAWE Corpus, Genre, University Student Writing, Online MaterialsAbstract
This paper introduces five linked resources and demonstrates, with a focus on Business, Economics and Engineering, their use in a novel genre-instantiation approach to teaching academic writing. The resources centre on the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus. They are: (1) published research literature that investigates the student assignment genres and registers; (2) descriptions of the contents of the corpus; (3) the BAWE corpus itself, which can be freely searched by teachers and learners; (4) online teaching materials based on the above; and (5) lesson plans from EAP teachers who use these materials in their teaching of presessional and in-sessional academic English. The genre instantiation approach to teaching academic writing builds on two central principles: the identification of key genres for target discipline-levels, and the exemplification of these through instances of successful student writing. This enables teachers to develop programmes that raise genre awareness, where learners can engage with instances from across specific topics, courses, levels and disciplines. The genre-instantiation approach is illustrated here with specific reference to Business Case Studies, Economics Essays and Engineering Methodology Recounts.
References
Alexander, O., Argent, S., and Spencer, J. (2008). EAP Essentials: A Teacher’s Guide to Principles and Practice. Reading: Garnet.
Alsop, S. and Nesi, H. (2009) Issues in the development of the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus. Corpora, 4: 71-83.
Benesch, S. (2001) Critical English for Academic Purposes: Theory, Politics and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Biber, D. (2006) University Language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bruce, I. (2010). Textual and discoursal resources used in the essay genre in sociology and English. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9: 153-166.
Coffin, C. and Donohue, J. (2012) Special Edition of JEAP 11 (1).
de Chazal, E. (2013). The general-specific debate in EAP: Which case is the most convincing for most contexts?, Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research, 2: 135–48.
Durrant, P. (2014) Discipline and level specificity in university students written vocabulary Applied Linguistics, 35: 328-356
Ferris, D. (2001) Teaching writing for academic purposes. In J. Flowerdew and M. Peacock (eds) Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 298-314.
Flowerdew, J. (1993). An educational, or process, approach to the teaching of professional genres. ELT Journal, 47: 305-316.
Gardezi, S. A. and Nesi, H. (2009). Variation in the writing of economics students in Britain and Pakistan: the case of conjunctive ties. In: M. Charles, S. Hunston, D. Pecorari (eds) Academic Writing: At the Interface of Corpus and Discourse. London: Continuum, 236-250
Han, Chao. (2015) The development of the Han CH-EN Corpus. Paper presented in the DEL Seminar Series, Coventry University, 22 April 2015.
Heaton, A., Preshous, A. and Smith, S. (2015) ‘Joined-up ESAP: drawing on in-sessional provision to establish a pre-sessional ESAP programme’. Paper given at the 22nd Biennial BALEAP Conference, University of Leicester, 17-19 April 2015.
Horwitz, D. (1986). What professors actually require of students: Academic tasks for the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 20: 445-462.
Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing. London: Longman.
Hyland, K. (2011). Discipline and divergence: evidence of specificity in EAP. In Etherington, S. (Ed.). Proceedings of the 2009 BALEAP Conference: English for Specific Academic Purposes.. Reading, UK: Garnet Education. 13-22.
Hyland, K. (2014) Academic Written English. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Johns, A. M. (1997). Text, Role and Context: Developing Academic Literacies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johns, A. M. (2008). Genre awareness for the novice student: An ongoing quest. Language Teaching, 41: 237–252.
Lea, M., and Street, B. (1998). Student writing in higher education: an academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23: 157–172.
Lee, D. and Chen, X. (2009) Making a bigger deal of smaller words: function words and other key items in research writing by Chinese learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 18: 281-296.
Leedham, M. (2014) Chinese students’ writing in English: Implications from a corpus-driven study. London: Routledge.
Lillis, T. (2008). Ethnography as method, methodology, and ‘deep theorizing’: closing the gap between text and context in academic writing research. Written Communication, 25: 353–388.
Lisicka, Z. (2013) Frequently-used phrasal verbs in student writing across three different disciplines - Business, Law and Cybernetics & Electronic Engineering in the BAWE corpus. MA Dissertation Coventry University.
Mahboob, A. Dreyfus, S., Humphrey, S. and Martin, J.R. (2010) Appliable Linguistics: The Scaffolding Literacy in Adult and Tertiary Environments (SLATE) Project. In Mahboob, A. and N. Knight (eds) Appliable Linguistics: Texts, Contexts and Meanings. London: Continuum.
Nesi, H (2011) BAWE: an introduction to a new resource. In: Frankenberg-Garcia, A. Flowerdew, L. and Aston, G. (eds) New Trends in Corpora and Language Learning. London: Continuum, 213-228
Nesi, H. (2008) The form, meaning and purpose of university level assessed reflective writing. .In M. Edwardes (ed) Proceedings of the BAAL Annual Conference 2007, Edinburgh University. London: BAAL/Scitsiugnil Press.
Nesi, H. and Moreton, E. (2012) ‘EFL/ESL writers and the use of shell nouns’ in R. Tang (ed) Academic Writing in a Second or Foreign Language. London: Continuum. 126-145.
Nesi, H. and Thompson, P. (2011) Using Sketch Engine with BAWE. Available at www.coventry.ac.uk/BAWE.
Prior, P. (1998). Writing/disciplinarity: a sociohistoric account of literate activity in the academy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Sayers, J. (2014) Review: Writing for a Purpose. ELTJAM.COM
Spack, R. (1988). Initiating ESL students into the academic discourse community: how far should we go? TESOL Quarterly, 22: 29–52.
Starfield, S. (2004). Word power: negotiating success in a first-year sociology essay. In L.J. Ravelli, and Ellis, R.A. (Eds.), Analysing Academic Writing: Contextual Frameworks. London: Continuum, 66-83.
Swales, J.M. and Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students.. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Yeung, L. (2007) In search of commonalities: Some linguistic and rhetorical features of business reports as a genre. English for Specific Purposes, 26: 156–179.
Zhu, W. (2004) Writing in business courses: An analysis of assignment types, their characteristics, and required skills. English for Specific Purposes, 23: 111–135.
Alsop, S. and Nesi, H. (2009) Issues in the development of the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus. Corpora, 4: 71-83.
Benesch, S. (2001) Critical English for Academic Purposes: Theory, Politics and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Biber, D. (2006) University Language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bruce, I. (2010). Textual and discoursal resources used in the essay genre in sociology and English. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9: 153-166.
Coffin, C. and Donohue, J. (2012) Special Edition of JEAP 11 (1).
de Chazal, E. (2013). The general-specific debate in EAP: Which case is the most convincing for most contexts?, Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research, 2: 135–48.
Durrant, P. (2014) Discipline and level specificity in university students written vocabulary Applied Linguistics, 35: 328-356
Ferris, D. (2001) Teaching writing for academic purposes. In J. Flowerdew and M. Peacock (eds) Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 298-314.
Flowerdew, J. (1993). An educational, or process, approach to the teaching of professional genres. ELT Journal, 47: 305-316.
Gardezi, S. A. and Nesi, H. (2009). Variation in the writing of economics students in Britain and Pakistan: the case of conjunctive ties. In: M. Charles, S. Hunston, D. Pecorari (eds) Academic Writing: At the Interface of Corpus and Discourse. London: Continuum, 236-250
Han, Chao. (2015) The development of the Han CH-EN Corpus. Paper presented in the DEL Seminar Series, Coventry University, 22 April 2015.
Heaton, A., Preshous, A. and Smith, S. (2015) ‘Joined-up ESAP: drawing on in-sessional provision to establish a pre-sessional ESAP programme’. Paper given at the 22nd Biennial BALEAP Conference, University of Leicester, 17-19 April 2015.
Horwitz, D. (1986). What professors actually require of students: Academic tasks for the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 20: 445-462.
Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic Writing. London: Longman.
Hyland, K. (2011). Discipline and divergence: evidence of specificity in EAP. In Etherington, S. (Ed.). Proceedings of the 2009 BALEAP Conference: English for Specific Academic Purposes.. Reading, UK: Garnet Education. 13-22.
Hyland, K. (2014) Academic Written English. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Johns, A. M. (1997). Text, Role and Context: Developing Academic Literacies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johns, A. M. (2008). Genre awareness for the novice student: An ongoing quest. Language Teaching, 41: 237–252.
Lea, M., and Street, B. (1998). Student writing in higher education: an academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23: 157–172.
Lee, D. and Chen, X. (2009) Making a bigger deal of smaller words: function words and other key items in research writing by Chinese learners. Journal of Second Language Writing, 18: 281-296.
Leedham, M. (2014) Chinese students’ writing in English: Implications from a corpus-driven study. London: Routledge.
Lillis, T. (2008). Ethnography as method, methodology, and ‘deep theorizing’: closing the gap between text and context in academic writing research. Written Communication, 25: 353–388.
Lisicka, Z. (2013) Frequently-used phrasal verbs in student writing across three different disciplines - Business, Law and Cybernetics & Electronic Engineering in the BAWE corpus. MA Dissertation Coventry University.
Mahboob, A. Dreyfus, S., Humphrey, S. and Martin, J.R. (2010) Appliable Linguistics: The Scaffolding Literacy in Adult and Tertiary Environments (SLATE) Project. In Mahboob, A. and N. Knight (eds) Appliable Linguistics: Texts, Contexts and Meanings. London: Continuum.
Nesi, H (2011) BAWE: an introduction to a new resource. In: Frankenberg-Garcia, A. Flowerdew, L. and Aston, G. (eds) New Trends in Corpora and Language Learning. London: Continuum, 213-228
Nesi, H. (2008) The form, meaning and purpose of university level assessed reflective writing. .In M. Edwardes (ed) Proceedings of the BAAL Annual Conference 2007, Edinburgh University. London: BAAL/Scitsiugnil Press.
Nesi, H. and Moreton, E. (2012) ‘EFL/ESL writers and the use of shell nouns’ in R. Tang (ed) Academic Writing in a Second or Foreign Language. London: Continuum. 126-145.
Nesi, H. and Thompson, P. (2011) Using Sketch Engine with BAWE. Available at www.coventry.ac.uk/BAWE.
Prior, P. (1998). Writing/disciplinarity: a sociohistoric account of literate activity in the academy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Sayers, J. (2014) Review: Writing for a Purpose. ELTJAM.COM
Spack, R. (1988). Initiating ESL students into the academic discourse community: how far should we go? TESOL Quarterly, 22: 29–52.
Starfield, S. (2004). Word power: negotiating success in a first-year sociology essay. In L.J. Ravelli, and Ellis, R.A. (Eds.), Analysing Academic Writing: Contextual Frameworks. London: Continuum, 66-83.
Swales, J.M. and Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students.. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Yeung, L. (2007) In search of commonalities: Some linguistic and rhetorical features of business reports as a genre. English for Specific Purposes, 26: 156–179.
Zhu, W. (2004) Writing in business courses: An analysis of assignment types, their characteristics, and required skills. English for Specific Purposes, 23: 111–135.
Published
2016-05-23
Issue
Section
Reflections on Practice
How to Cite
Gardner, S. (2016). A genre-instantiation approach to teaching English for Specific Academic Purposes: Student writing in Business, Economics and Engineering. Writing and Pedagogy, 8(1), 149-176. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v8i1.27934
