What writing practices international students bring in EAP programmes

1. What writing practices international students bring in EAP programmes Dr. Josephine Mirador The University of Nottingham Ningbo Daisy Almaden De La Salle University

2. Writing Practices • Strategies students use to deal with the writing requirements in EAP programmes • ‘consciousness’ reflected in their written work • Using the perspective of postgraduate students and tutors

3. “If you don’t tell me, how can I know?” • Case study of 4 international ss of various linguistic and cultural backgrounds in first year of study in the US • How ss acquire the conventions of different disciplinary discourses • Results indicate the number of problems that make writing in one’s non-native language for academic purposes an extremely cognitive and social task (p. 522) (Angelova and Riazantseva 1999)

4. ‘Writing across cultures and contexts’ • A case study of 8 international ss • International ss adapt to the writing style and structure of the university, but that they did bring with them particular ways of thinking, writing and meaning-making distinct to their own cultural experience (p. 42) • International students do indeed bring a wide range of world views, but these are not always properly interpreted or understood (p. 43) (Krampetz 2005)

5. ‘Writing across cultures and contexts’ • Social context is important in the formation, reproduction, and resistance to text and findings show that cultural context greatly influences the experience of international students. (Krampetz 2005)

6. International ss and EAP programmes • Initiation or apprenticeship • Accommodation, resistance, transitions in a continuum • Points or stages of transparency

7. This paper • First level of analysis • From essays of international postgraduate ss • Registered in ‘bridging programme’ in EAP. • Corpus: 28 paragraphs

8. Topical structure analysis (TSA) • Developed by Lautamatti (1978) to describe coherence in texts • semantic relationships between sentence topics and the discourse topic • Determines relationships by examining how topics in the sentence work through the text to build meaning in progression

9. Topical Structure Analysis • 3 basic elements • Initial sentence element (ISE) – what comes first in the sentence • Mood subject – grammatical subject of the sentence • Topical subject – idea discussed in the sentence; may or may not be the mood subject • Possible progressions  • 1.  Parallel progression (PP) – sentence topics are semantically identical;  two consecutive sentences/clauses with the same topical subject  • 2.  Sequential progression (SP) – the rheme element of a sentence/clause becoming the theme element of the consecutive sentence/clause   • 3.  Extended parallel progression (ESP) – a topical subject occurs in two sentences/clauses that are not consecutive    • Additional progression in Simpson (2000):  • 4.  Extended sequential progression – the rheme element of a sentence/clause becoming the theme element of a non-consecutive clause 

10. This general-specific article describes about the use of the Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) and Teacher-Directed Instruction in teaching English to students.  It follows a good structure by    moving from general statements to narrower ones, with a broader statement as the final sentence.  However, theauthor fails to elaborate the main idea, which is represented by the title and the first paragraph in the succeeding three paragraphs. It would have been better if the author had focused on the use of those two methods on the lecturing process, rather than the exercise.  There are plenty mistakes regarding the presentation.  The word "to" is used twice in the sentence 17.  The connector used in sentence 7 is also not appropriate.  It would have been more appropriate if the author had used  comma rather than semicolon.  One informal word, at least in my opinion, is found in this article.  The word "for instance" is not common for the academic purposes.  Even so, the writer introduces a specific example of CAI.  That will be a good reference  for anyone who wants to know more about that method.   

11. 1      2      3       4        5        6        7 •   1     general-specific article •   2     it •   3             the author •   4             the author •   5                      mistakes •   6                             the word "to" •   7                                      connector used in Sentence 7 •   8             the author •   9                                              one informal word •   10                                             the word "for instance" •   11          the writer •   12                                                        that

12. Summary of Progression Totals

13. What Results Mean • Paragraphs used repetition of key words and phrases, interpreted as linear or direct writing; considered to be ‘good’ writing (Witte, 1983 cited in Simpson, 2000). • Paragraphs developed ideas by introducing these as the rheme of the sentence and later taking these up as the theme.  This aspect is considered to lend coherence to a paragraph (Simpson, 2000), characteristic of high-quality writing (Connor & Farmer, 1990). • Linking ideas in non-consecutive clauses was also done by writers; this is similarly found in paragraphs written by native English-speaking writers. • Writers did not prefer to link ideas across paragraphs as indicated by the very minimal use of ESP. 

14. All paragraphs followed a topical progression in the development of ideas.  • Similar findings re use of parallel progression as primary pattern in other studies (Simpson, 2000; Connor, 2002; Eggington, 1987;   Almaden, 2007). • Non-native writers of English can write in the same pattern as do natives.  • “Perhaps the academic rhetorical patterns of  many languages of the world are adjusting to fit a linear style” (Eggington,1987:159).