An Introduction to Applied Linguistics
particular college and university professors (Vann, Meyer and Lorenz, 1984
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Norbert Schmitt (ed.) - An Introduction to Applied Linguistics (2010, Routledge) - libgen.li
particular college and university professors (Vann, Meyer and Lorenz, 1984; Santos, 1988) and, to a lesser extent, on editors of scholarly journals (Gosden, 1992). This research has been done primarily through surveys and addresses academics’ beliefs, practices, expectations and reactions with regard to errors, literacy skills and writing problems. The question of whether and how students should be initiated into the academic discourse community has also been debated. In recent years, the study of genre in second language writing has become very popular. In addition to general treatments of genre, many studies of particular written genres have appeared. Some address general types or modes of writing, such as narrative, descriptive and argumentative writing as well as personal, academic, business, technical and legal texts. A number of more specific text types addressed include summaries, essay examinations, laboratory reports, research papers, theses, dissertations, research articles, experimental research reports and letters of reference. Instruction in writing English for academic purposes focuses primarily on academic discourse genres and the range and nature of academic writing tasks (Swales, 1990; Hyon, 1996). This instruction is meant to help students work successfully within the academic context. The instructional methodology suggested aims at recreating, as well as is possible, the conditions under which actual university writing takes place and involves closely examining and analysing academic discourse genres and writing task specifications; selecting and intensively studying materials appropriate for a given task; evaluating, screening, synthesizing and organizing relevant information from these sources; and presenting these data in a form acceptable to the academy. To sum up, in the English for academic purposes tradition, the emphasis is placed on the production of texts that will be acceptable at an English-medium institution of higher education; learning to write is part of becoming socialized into the academic community. The writer is pragmatic and interested primarily in meeting the standards necessary for academic success; the reader is a player in the academic community who has clear and specific expectations for academic discourse. The text is viewed as a more or less conventional response to a particular writing task that fits a recognizable genre; the context is the academic discourse community. Issues that Transcend Traditions There are a number of important issues in second language writing that transcend the traditions described above and need to be touched upon in even the most cursory survey of this research area. These include programmatic, contextual, disciplinary and political issues. A number of ‘programmatic’ issues have been addressed in the research. These include second language writing programmes and programme administration, needs analyses and placement. A great deal has been written on specific instructional practices and issues. These include writing conferences and workshops, the use of model texts, peer and teacher response, peer tutoring, the use of journals, writing 243 Writing about literature, sentence combining, reformulation, plagiarism, sequenced writing assignments and content-based instruction (see Reid, 1993; Grabe and Kaplan, 1996; Ferris and Hedgcock, 2005). However, the programmatic issue that has received by far the most recognition is the assessment of second language writing (see Hamp-Lyons, 1991, 2001; Hamp-Lyons and Kroll, 1996). Second language writing assessment has been written about from a number of perspectives. These include test types, specifically ‘indirect’ or ‘objective’ (wherein no written text is produced or examined) and ‘direct’ tests (wherein a text is produced and examined), for example, holistic, analytic/multiple trait and primary trait tests. Another basic issue is ‘text rating’ or grading; here issues such as rater training, rater judgements and the difference between rating done by individuals with and without experience with second language writers. Also central are questions of test validity and reliability. In addition, a number of variables that could potentially affect ratings have been explored. These include ‘linguistic variables’ (primarily lexical and syntactic); ‘rhetorical variables’ and the writer’s subject matter knowledge, cultural expectations, nationality, reading comprehension and amount of reading done in both the first and second languages. Elements such as writing prompts, topics and time constraints have also been explored. Different types of tests, for example, writing proficiency exams, entrance and exit exams and placement exams have been described. Finally, some specific second language writing tests: the Test of Written English (TWE), the English as a Second Language Composition Profile (Jacobs, Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Hartfiel and Hughey, 1981) and the writing sub- test of the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) test have been developed, deployed and critiqued. A number of instructional contexts have been described in the literature. These include, most generally, the academic discourse community (at both the graduate and undergraduate levels) and a number of specific programme or course types therein: basic or ‘remedial’ writing courses, bilingual education programmes, immersion and submersion programmes, sheltered ESL courses, mainstream (native English speaker dominant) courses, cross-cultural composition courses, writing across the curriculum programmes, intensive language programmes and writing centres. Also addressed are particular instructional contexts in academia (engineering, natural sciences, science and technology, and sociology courses) or in the private sector (corporate and medical contexts) (see Belcher and Braine, 1995). In recent years, and following from work in composition studies, interest has grown in disciplinary matters; for example, the nature of L2 writing as a discipline or area of research; its standing in relation to fields like rhetoric, composition studies, second language studies/acquisition and linguistics; and the future direction of research in second language writing (Matsuda, 2003; Santos, Atkinson, Erickson, Matsuda and Silva, 2000). The last two decades or so have also seen increased interest in and explicit treatment of matters of politics and ideology growing out of post-modern thought, social constructionist inquiry and critical theory and pedagogy (Santos, 1992, 2001; Severino, 1993; Benesch, 2001). The current situation in second language writing studies is one of reflection on and re-examination of basic assumptions about the nature of second language writing and writing instruction, of rejecting easy answers to complex problems, of taking stock of what has been learned and trying to put it together as a coherent whole, of synthesis and model building, of realizing that there will be no magic bullet, no particular approach or procedure that will work with all people in all 244 An Introduction to Applied Linguistics places at all times. It is a situation in which second language writing professionals are beginning to seize the opportunity to escape the confines of a particular tradition, to resist simplistic methods of ‘teacher training’, to reflect critically on ‘what the research means’, to discard off-the-shelf instructional approaches, to use their knowledge of theory and the results of inquiry to decide for themselves what makes sense for their students, for their objectives and teaching styles and for their instructional contexts. In short, it is an exciting time to be involved in such a vital, vibrant and evolving area of research and instruction. Further Reading Here we provide some basic works on second language writing and writing instruction. For a more extensive listing, see the annotated bibliographies of Tannacito (1995), Silva, Brice and Reichelt (1999) and the brief bibliographies that appear in each issue of the Download 1.71 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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