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Getting to specifics in a general writing course

Learn how to teach writing skills to students majoring in Engineering, Natural Science, History, Literature, Communication, and Education. Discover effective strategies for teaching appropriate conventions, critical thinking, and information packaging. Explore the linguistic characteristics of academic writing and use corpus linguistics to identify discipline-specific features. Get selected references and useful online corpora for further exploration.

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Getting to specifics in a general writing course

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  1. Getting to specifics in a general writing course Randi Reppen Northern Arizona University

  2. Multicultural writers

  3. What does it mean to teach writing? • Raise audience awareness • Teach appropriate conventions • Write for different purposes • Writing to learn Focus is on information NOT interpersonal!!

  4. Who are we teaching? Majors: • Engineering • Natural Science • History • Literature • Communication • Education • ?????????

  5. What do we teach? • Using and citing sources • Avoiding plagiarism • Critical thinking • Information packaging • Conventions (formatting, citations) • Discourse conventions

  6. Linguistic characteristics of academic writing A word about corpus linguistics

  7. General characterisitcs • use of nominalizations government, ability, demolition • noun~noun dial caliper, cable television show • prepositional phrases valid for a period of two years from original purchase • Technical / specialized use of terms chain

  8. pronouns I, we, you, they • use of passive (be + past participle) was discussed, is claimed

  9. Active vs. Passive voice • Two Ecology research articles • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion From Biber, D. Conrad, S. Reppen, R. (1996) Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

  10. Lexical bundles • the nature of the • in the case of • as a result of • on the basis of • in terms of the

  11. What about specific disciplines?

  12. Engineering & Natural Sciences • as shown in figure • an increase in the • the rate at which • the ratio of the • as a function of

  13. Humanities & Social Sciences • the fact that the • by the fact that • are likely to be • are more likely to

  14. Frequent passive + preposition constructions • aligned with • based on • coupled with • attributed to • subjected to.

  15. Teaching how to learn • Strategies for looking at texts • Discovering disciplinary norms • Students as researchers • Look at texts for conventions • Look for specific linguistic features

  16. Some things to look for: • Does the article have an abstract, diagrams, pictures, charts, etc? • Are there references in the text? • What types of sources are presented in the bibliography? • Are there explicit research questions or hypotheses? • Does the article identify a gap in the literature? • Are there ‘technical’ terms? • Are data presented?

  17. Feedback • Can’t fix everything at once • Start with big issues that impact understanding • Involve students – text comparisons

  18. Break out sessions • Try some of these ideas • Set of articles from three disciplines • Economics, Geology, Art • Nursing, Engineering, Education Sheet with suggestions of things to look for Plus a task

  19. Selected References • Biber, D. 2006. University language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. • Biber, D., Conrad, S., and Reppen, R. 1998. Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Biber, D., Conrad, S., Reppen, R., Byrd, P., and Helt, M. 2002. Speaking and writing in the university: A multi-dimensional comparison. TESOL Quarterly 36, 9–48. • Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., and Finegan, E. 1999. The Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education. • Biber, D., and Reppen, R. 2002. What does frequency have to do with grammar teaching? Studies in Second Language Acquisition 24, 199–208. • Conrad, S., and Biber, D. 2009. Real grammar: A corpus-based approach to English. Harlow, Essex: Pearson/Longman.  • Donley, K. M., and Reppen, R. 2001. Using corpus tools to highlight academic vocabulary in SCLT. TESOL Journal 10, 7–12. • Horst, M., Cobb, T. and Nicolae, I. 2005. Expanding academic vocabulary with an interactive on-line database. Language Learning and Technology 9 (2), 90–110. • Hyland, K. and Milton, J. 1997. Qualification and certainty in L1 and L2 students’ writing. Journal of Second Language Writing 6, 183–205 • O’Keefe, A., McCarthy, M., and Carter, R. 2007. From corpus to classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Nesi, H., and Basturkmen, H. 2006. Lexical bundles and discourse signaling in academic lectures. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 11, 283–304. • Reppen, R. 2010. Using corpora in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Robinson, M., Stoller, F., Constanza-Robinson, M., and Jones, J. 2008. Write like a chemist. New York: Oxford University Press. Useful online corpora and tools • Antconc concordance program: www.antlab.sci.waseda.ac.jp/software.html • www.americancorpus.org • corpus.byu.edu/time/

  20. Thanks!

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