Goals for Academic Writing: Esl Students And Their Instructors

by Cumming, Alister H.

• ISBN13: 9789027219718
• ISBN10: 9027219710
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-30
• Publisher: John Benjamins Pub Co

Summary

This book documents the results of a multi-year project that investigated the goals for writing improvement among 45 students and their instructors in intensive courses of English as a Second Language (ESL) then, a year later, in academic programs at two Canadian universities. The researchers present a detailed framework to describe these goals from the perspectives of the students as well as their instructors. The goals are analyzed for groups of students from particular backgrounds internationally, for changes over time, and in relation to the ESL and academic courses. The authors use activity theory, goal theory, various sociolinguistic concepts, and multiple data sources (interviews, observations, stimulated recalls, questionnaires, and text analyses) to provide a contextually-grounded perspective on learning, teaching, writing, second-language development, and curriculum policy. The book will interest researchers, educators, and administrators of ESL, university, college, and literacy programs around the world.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
William Grabe
Introduction, purpose, and conceptual foundations	1	(18)
Alister Cumming
Section I. The Main Study	19	(52)
Context and design of the research	21	(8)
Alister Cumming
Students' goals for ESL and university courses	29	(21)
Ally Zhou
Michael Busch
Guillaume Gentil
Keanre Eouanzoui
Alister Cumming
A study of contrasts: ESL and university instructors' goals for writing improvement	50	(21)
Jill Cummings
Usman Erdosy
Alister Cumming
Section II. Case Studies	71	(86)
Nine Chinese students writing in Canadian university courses	73	(17)
Luxin Yang
Students' and instructors' assessments of the attainment of writing goals	90	(18)
Khaled Barkaoui
Jia Fei
The language of intentions for writing improvement: A systemic functional linguistic analysis	108	(17)
Michael Busch
Goals, motivations, and identities of three students writing in English	125	(17)
Tae-Young Kim
Kyoko Baba
Alister Cumming
Variations in goals and activities for multilingual writing	142	(15)
Guillaume Gentil
Section III. Implications	157	(17)
Implications for pedagogy, policy, and research	159	(15)
Alister Cumming
References	174	(25)
Appendices
Profiles of 45 students and 5 ESL instructors (Phase 1)	189	(2)
Profiles of 15 students, their courses, academic programs, and 9 of their university instructors (Phase 2)	191	(2)
Protocols for interviews and stimulated recalls	193	(6)
Subject index	199	(4)
Contributors	203