Activity 1:

Draw or describe or
demonstrate the
conceptual model used
to explain the human
communication process.

Agenda
Key issues in teaching AW for PhD Ss in an EFL
context
Model of communication and its application to
teaching AW
Demonstration of writing research-based
activities aimed at:
- developing students inner writer
writer
- improving their texts
- becoming aware of the target audience
(readers)
readers
Evaluation of the approaches

AW for PhD Ss in an EFL

context
Masaryk University: courses for PhD Ss
general AW for all disciplines
discipline-specific AW (geography, IT,
medicine)
Many projects financed by EU funds e.g.
Geoinnovations (support for research in
geography included AW for PhD Ss of
geography), IMPACT (academic skills in
English for Czech researchers, academicians,
faculty includes general AW)

Activity 2: Write a list

of some of the key
issues in teaching
AW for PhD Ss in
the context of EFL?

10 key issues in teaching AW in

HE
1. Ss have different linguistic levels.
2. Ss study different disciplines.
3. Ts are unsure which AW pedagogy to follow.
4. Ss do not use enough academic vocabulary.
5. Ss write in an informal way.
6. Ss do not plan unstructured/confusing W.
7. Ss do not use correct punctuation.
8. Ss make a lot of spelling mistakes.
9. Ss make a lot of grammatical mistakes.
10. Ss do not reference other authors ideas.
Mansfield 2014

10 key issues in teaching AW for

PhD
1. Ss have different linguistic levels.
2. Ss come from different disciplines. ?
3. Ts are unsure which AW pedagogy to follow.
4. Ss do not use enough academic vocabulary.
no
5. Ss write in an informal way. no
6. Ss do not plan unstructured/confusing W.
7. Ss do not use correct punctuation. no
8. Ss make a lot of spelling mistakes. no
9. Ss make a lot of grammatical mistakes. ?
10. Ss do not reference other authors ideas. no

Additional issues in AW for PhD

occupation-related:
occupation-related extreme lack of time for
writing due to research and teaching duties
culture-related:
culture-related Czech culture is generally not
a culture cultivating writing (disregard of
process)
language-related:
language-related influence of mother tongue
on the way meaning is expressed (translation)
genre-related:
genre-related influence of mother tongue on
the way the writing is organized in expository
W (e.g. in RAs)

Cultural thought patterns

Thought patterns (logical arrangements of
ideas) of expository texts will vary
depending on the culture and the mother
tongue of the writers.

Model of communication

Model of Communication
The three main components involved
in any communication:
the sender
the message
the receiver
The model of communication can be
taken as a useful framework for
focusing on various aspects of AW.
Hyland 2009

Overview of Approaches to Teaching

AW
Parallel developments in applied linguistics,
genre studies, composition studies / L1
writing, ESP/EAP, creative writing, etc. AW
pedagogies draw on all of these disciplines.
Based on the communication model:
1.Writer-oriented approach (focus on sender)
sender
2.Text-oriented approach (focus on message)
message
3.Reader-oriented approach (focus on
receiver)
receiver
Hyland 2009

1. Writer-oriented approach
Writing is a creative and cognitive process
with
certain stages:
stages
- pre-writing, writing, post-writing and certain skills:
skills
- brainstorming, composing, editing.

Focus on the writing process

Why should we teach the process?
composing processes similar between L1 and L2
skilled writers compose differently from novices
they plan and revise more effectively
they are organized and write regularly

L2 writers plan less than L1 writers

they may revise more but they reflect less
difficulties setting goals and generating material

Silva 1993 cited in Hyland (ibid.)

The POWER writing process

(proposed by Shulman 2005)

Q: What does
the acronym
POWER
stand for?

Activity 3: Focusing on
sender/receiver, think of
pedagogic approaches that
could be incorporated in AW
seminars.

Activities
The field of creative writing offers a wide
range of activities aimed at the specific
stages of the writing process.
teaching about the POWER writing process:
process
e.g. Ss draw the process of their own
writing
pre-writing:
pre-writing acrostic, free/automatic
writing, clustering, pros and cons...
writing and post-writing:
post-writing writing reflection
log, six thinking hats...
Pazdernkov 2009

An acrostic for the key word

reality
Acrostic each letter of a key word is used to
express thoughts/ideas related to the key word
Reality in novels is an ambiguous notion
Even a bit vague
And still I have decided to use it
Lacking a better way of expression
Imagination is also a bit confusing word
Therefore Ill have to look them up in a dictionary
Yearning for some clarification of the notions
Pazdernkov 2009 (translated)

Drawing the writing process

Freewriting

Elbow 1973

Activity 4: Draw the

process of your own
writing. Alternatively,
create an acrostic using
a specific keyword (e.g.
WRITING).

2. Text-oriented approach
Writing requires the use of conventional
genre-specific
genre
and
discipline-specific,
discipline
lexicolexico grammatical
and
rhetorical features.

Focus on text
demonstration of lexico-grammatical and
rhetorical resources available to students for
producing texts
- using templates for writing
- providing students with steps/moves for partgenres
looking at instances of good writing overall
structural features and linguistic choices
- developing a corpus of texts for a specific aim
- analyzing texts by identifying steps/moves

The use of templates in AW

Use of templates for academic writing:
patterns for expressing thoughts thus clarifying
them
a stock of common formulas imitating established
models, therefore not plagiarism
a generative quality help students in terms of what
and how to say something in writing
Graf and Birkenstein 2006

Structural move analysis

analyzing specific genres (research articles) or
part-genres (introductions) using move analysis
encouraging students to include moves in their
writing that they would not make by themselves
matching moves with the corresponding parts of
a text
putting a text together based on the most
appropriate sequence of moves (problemsolution, general-specific)

Structural move analysis: MCR

introductions

Swales 1990

Syntactic borrowing/skeleton
writing

useful to novice doctoral students who have

only recently joined the discourse
community of discipline-specific professionals

encourages writers to take on the role of an

experienced, authoritative writer
allows them to write themselves into an
authoritative stance they may not be able to
take by themselves
scaffolds a kind of linguistic identity work
Kamler and Thomson 2006

Activity 5: Paragraph
skeleton introduction:
ex. I, II, III, and IV on
the handout.

Paragraph skeleton ex. I and II

Paragraph skeleton ex. III

Paragraph skeleton ex. IV

3. Reader-oriented approach
Writing has a social dimension:
the writer should anticipate
the target audience
(in case of PhD students: target
journals in their sub/disciplines)

Focus on reader
Writers should anticipate the interests,
understandings, and needs of a potential audience.
The notion of discourse community:
- expert vs. novice members
- knowledge of important topics in the discipline
- skill to use conventionalized language
- identity issues taking on the role of a researcher
- scaffolding students initiation into the community
Swales 1990

Activity 6: Think of ways

we could help our Ss
take into consideration
the readers of their
writing.

Activities
building corpora of texts that are:
- discipline-specific
- journal-specific
- genre-specific
- topic-specific
- part-genre-specific
presenting research to various audiences:
- elevator talk (30 sec.)
- extended summary (2 min.)
- presentation (10 - 15 min.)

Analysis of the target journal

Out of the respected journals in your field, choose one
as the target journal where you might consider
publishing your research. Be prepared to comment on
the journal in class. You may wish to consider the
following features:
-

What is the character of the journal?

What sort of audience does the journal cater for?
Who are the editors?
What are the rules to respect?
In what form to submit revised articles?
What happens after acceptance?
How long is the review process?

Corpus of RAs from geography

journal

Resources for disciplinespecific AW

Sources
ELBOW, P. Writing Without Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973, 209 p.
ISBN 0-19-512016-7.
GRAF, G., C. BIRKENSTEIN They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
New York and London: Norton & Company, Inc, 2006 p. ISBN 978-0-393-92409-1.
HYLAND, K. Teaching and Researching Writing. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited,
2009, 263 p. ISBN 978-1-4082-0505-1.
KAMLER, B., P. THOMSON. Helping Doctoral Students Write. Pedagogies for Supervision.
Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2006, 173 p. ISBN 978-0-203-96981-6.
MANSFIELD, K. Academic Writing Workshop for EAP Tutors. 2014.
PAZDERNKOV, P. Creative Writing and Scientific Work. The Use of Creative Techniques
for Preparation, Writing and Presentation of Scientific Text. Dissertation. Brno:
Masarykova univerzita, 2009, 328 p.
SWALES, J. M. Genre Analysis. English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1990, 260 p. ISBN 978-0-521-33813-4.
GRAF, G., C. BIRKENSTEIN They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
New York and London: Norton & Company, Inc, 2006 p. ISBN 978-0-393-92409-1.