Introducing BAWE

1. Introducing BAWE www.coventry.ac.uk/bawe

2. The BAWE corpus • For the project ‘An Investigation of Genres of Assessed Writing in British Higher Education’ 2004-2007

3. The BAWE project was designed to develop descriptors for all the genres of university student assignment – so that academics, students, writing tutors and other stakeholders could identify assignment types according to their social purposes.

4. A neglected area…. Most research into written academic discourse concentrates on: • Professional writing (textbooks, research articles, popular science etc.) • EAP learner writing (general academic texts produced for IELTS practice etc.)

5. ‘Pedagogy by osmosis’ • In contrast to general academic essays (e.g. for IELTS preparation) assignment genres are rarely taught explicitly. • Students are expected to acquire genre knowledge through years of schooling. • Task prompts assume genre knowledge. • Tutors ‘just know’ the linguistic features of the genre, but can’t explain them.

6. Extra confusion because • Different departments adopt different nomenclature for assignment types, even within the same discipline • Names for assignment types may be interchangeable, or they may may mark important generic distinctions (e.g. ‘essay’, ‘report’)

7. Yet the ability to differentiate between argumentative and non-argumentative writing (between Essays, Critiques, Explanations) is absolutely crucial to academic success.

8. Corpus features 6,506,995 words 2,858 texts 2,761 assignments 1,953 written by L1 speakers of English 1,251 “distinction” and 1,402 “merit” grade from 1000+ modules & 300 degree courses

9. BAWE holdings: texts Year of Study Discipline Group 1 2 3 4 Arts and Humanities 255 229 160 80 Social Sciences 216 198 170 207 Life Sciences 188 206 120 205 Physical Sciences 181 154 156 133

10. 2858 texts: 6.5 million words

11. 30+ disciplines represented

12. Contextual and Textual Information Each corpus file includes information on the • writer (age,L1,gender,schooling, course), • module (title, department, disc. group) • assignment (title, level, date, grade >60) • number of words, s-units, p-units, tables, figures, block quotes, formulae, lists, listlikes, abstract, w/s, s/p, … • and genre family

13. How did we identify genre families? Referring to course documentation, and interviews with academic staff and students. Reading the 2858 texts again and again, skimming first sentences and noting statements of purpose. Identifying any structural components, e.g. headings and sub-headings. Matching assignments with similar purposes and structures.

14. Case Study Critique Design Specification Empathy Writing Essay Exercise Explanation Literature Survey Methodology Recount Narrative Recount Problem Question Proposal Research Report The Genre Families

15. With 5 broad social functions:

16. How are assignment tasks chosen? Tutors have some choice, but…. • academia rewards innovation. • the framework for HE qualifications (QAA) specifies the skills that graduates must be able to demonstrate. • Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) specify the requirements for specific professions.

17. So, for example • “typically holders of an honours degree will be able to …. initiate and carry out projects’ (QAA 2008) • ‘a graduate will have …skills necessary for employment requiring: …decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts…’ (QAA 2001)

18. Assignment genres vary in complexity • Some develop lower level skills • Some are a culmination of earlier work • Students produce a greater variety of genres at higher levels of study

19. Explanation distribution across levels (n = 214)

21. Case Study distribution across levels (n = 194)

22. Proposal distribution across levels (n = 76)

23. Essay distribution across levels (n = 1,238) Graph by J Holmes

29. Guess the genre family • Nutrition pregnancy advice • Stem cells; their origin, properties and medical potential • A review of the genetic control of plant morphology • Diseases of coral reefs • Mega events - do they economically and socially benefit their host city? • A-Z Cloth management report on the costs and quantities of yarn produced • Introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy in Poland - evaluation of changes • Flagship Species Fund small grants programme application • Determination of Protein Concentration in Milk samples • Realism, Liberalism and Marxism: An Unnecessary Antagonism • E-Commerce website solution for UK football ticket retailer SoccerBooker.com NB All real titles of assignments in the BAWE corpus

30. Writing for a purpose: ‘materials to improve the quality of discipline-specific student work’ ES/J010995/1, March 2012-February 2013

31. Objectives • raise teachers' and learners' awareness of the types of writing produced in specific disciplines and at specific levels of university study • create motivating and attractive online academic writing materials • improve the quality of student writing, especially the writing produced by users of English as a second or a foreign language

32. Participants • Researchers from the original ESRC project • A materials developer • A video and multimedia consultant • A consultant from Coventry Serious Games Institute • Representatives from the British Council • Stakeholders representing study skills, writing skills and EAP practitioners in universities and language schools • A wider group of users – to pilot materials

33. End product • About 50 hours of free access materials on the British Council website • Launch in March 2013 • With your help!

34. www.coventry.ac.uk/bawe http://beta.thewordtree.net (on Google Chrome)