‘Silent’ academic literacies: interpreting student perceptions of academic writing

1. ‘Silent’ academic literacies: interpreting student perceptions of academic writing Lesley Gourlay & Janis Greig Napier University Hearing the Student Voice Seminar 9 May 2007 Glasgow

2. Session overview • Perceptions of Academic Conduct research 06 • Group task 1: ‘Silent’ literacies & the student voice • Uses of the data in development at Napier • JISC PAS research 07 • Group task 2: Developmental uses of diverse student voice data • Conclusions / discussion - illustration, persuasion and audience

3. Perceptions of academic conduct research 06: background • Developed partly from findings of the Napier-based research into the experiences of Chinese Masters students (Gourlay 2006) • Broadened to look at perceptions and experiences of wider student body • Need for strong evidence base for development at Napier focused on academic conduct and academic ltieracies

4. Aims of the study • To investigate: • Student perceptions of boundaries in academic writing • Emergent student writer identities • Perceptions of challenge in academic writing • Related attitudes to academic conduct and plagiarism practices

5. Data collection: breaking the silence • Online survey administered to Napier student body with student union support • “Live” for one month • Over 600 responses • 30 semi-structured interviews conducted with student volunteers

6. Questionnaire: confidence levels • 3% “very unsure” • 24% “a bit unsure” • 52% “fairly confident” • 21% “very confident” • …about ability to avoid plagiarism

7. Questionnaire: writing needs & attitudes

8. Questionnaire: needs and attitudes

9. Questionnaire: motivations for plagiarism • Students could choose more than one – most common responses: • 51% “Difficulties with paraphrasing” • 50% “Short of time” • 47% “Worried about failing” • 31% “Difficulties with references and quotes”

10. Group task 1: format, persuasiveness & warrant • Look at the two data handouts based on the 06 student interviews, and consider the discussion questions in small groups or pairs.

11. Questionnaire interpretations • Information literacy, synthesis of sources and writing in an academic register highlighted as most challenging • Using references and quotes seen as less of a factor • Indicates development needs in the area of academic literacies • Time pressure and assessment loading an issue

12. Interview interpretations • Transition to HE involves a change in academic culture and expectations in terms of writing conventions • The expectations and assessment requirements may not always be shared by staff and students • Groupwork can present difficulties regarding plagiarism • Institutional climate may be linked to esteem and motivation • HE sector should not assume schools, colleges or previous universities are preparing students in terms of academic literacy and plagiarism avoidance

13. Emergent Academic Literacies • Rooted in issues of identity • Fluid, negotiated and individual • Not equivalent to a finite skills set • Transforming / empowering potential • At the heart of the transition experience? (e.g. Candlin & Plum 1998, Ivanic 1998, Lillis 2001, 2003)

14. Academic Literacies & Plagiarism • Plagiarism seen as occurring at the site of “struggle” to construct meaning, and to establish boundaries and norms • “Flashpoint” issue surrounded by student and staff anger • Academic conduct as a cultural gatekeeper

15. Implications for development? • Student academic literacies may be linked to identity, confidence and motivation (Ivanic 1998) • Academic literacies should be developed from within the modular structure • Although essential, guidance on academic conventions / referencing practices is not the whole answer • More explicit expression of expectations and rationale in assessment is vital • There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, instead approach must be robust, continuous, multi-faceted and embedded at all levels

16. How the 2006 ‘voices’ have been heard in development • Academic induction for new staff • Academic staff development events • Academic Conduct Regulations rewrite • Academic literacies policy paper • Academic literacies in modules staff workshops • Informal warrant: ‘I just interviewed a student…’ • Conference papers • Future publications?

17. Overview and initial findingsof current research JISC - funded study Feb- August 2007 AimsTo investigate the first year student experience in terms of # Academic literacies, skills development and awareness of appropriate academic practice # Staff attitudes and strategies for the development of students’ academic skills and awareness of academic practices

18. Methods overview • Student semi-structured interviews, with the student voice augmented by journalling, drawings and cameras. Under analysis • Staff q/naire using Ultimate Survey just released. Analysis June 2007 • 3 focus groups of ‘specialist’ staff Initial analysis done for 2 of the 3 groups

19. Overview of initial focus group findings • Teaching staff and academic support staff operated on very different conceptual models of student development.

20. Teaching staff • Were negative re school standards • Less positive about student diversity & non-traditional students • Tended to operate on a deficit model “plugging the gap”. • Tended to focus on subject and content, rather than process

21. Academic Support Staff • Used an academic literacies model • Were very positive about diversity & NTS skills in general. • Tended to be more holistic in approach and focus on process and formative activity. • Neither group integrated anti-plagiarism strategies with other types of academic development

22. Conclusions • The power of ‘populating’ development with student voices • Immediacy, nuance and personalisation • Stories: the impact of the unsolicited narrative • Persuasion: different data formats, discipline values and levels of development? • Questions and discussion

23. Struggle “…the development of writer identity needs to be seen as a part of the ongoing epistemological negotiation that occurs between students and lecturers as they struggle to construct desired meanings across texts” Thompson 2005:1

24. References • Candlin, C. & Plum, G. (eds) 1998. Researching Academic Literacies. Framing Student Literacy: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Communication Skills in Australian University Settings. Sydney: NCELTR Macquarie University. • Gourlay, L. 2006. Framing the discourse practices of HE: Academic literacies, hidden cultures and the transition experience of postgraduate Chinese students. Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia Annual Conference University of Western Australia, Perth. • Ivanic, R. 1998. Writing and Identity:The Discoursal Construction of Identity in Academic Writing. Amsterdam: Benjamins. • Lillis, T. 2001. Student Writing: Access, Regulation, Desire. London, Routledge. • Lillis, T. 2003. An “academic literacies” approach to student writing in higher education: drawing on Bakhtin to move from “critique” to “design”. Language and Education 17/3: 192-207. • Thompson, C. 2005. 'Authority is everything': A study of the politics of textual ownership and knowledge in the formation of student writer identities. International Journal for Educational Integrity 1-1.