Teaching academic writing

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Teaching Academic Writing
by Kendall Peet
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One of the increasingly voiced complaints of university professors today is that matriculating students lack the necessary academic writing skills that are considered to be a prerequisite for tertiary education. In regard to L1 students matriculating, it is clear inthe majority of circumstances that students have acquired the necessary language- in that they possess a productive knowledge of the minimum level of vocabulary required at university level (1) and are grammatically fluent- but that they lack the necessary academic writing skills. In the case of L2 students, however, the situation is more complex, as it can neither be assumed that they have thenecessary language, nor the necessary academic writing skills. This worrying trend in regard to L1 students should, therefore, indicate the mammoth nature of the task charged to English teachers teaching academic writing to L2 learners, for whatever difficulties there may be facing L1 teachers, they will no doubt be compounded by the additional problems faced by L2 teachers. It is with this currentsituation in mind that I have chosen to write a paper on teaching academic writing skills, in regard to the common problem shared by both L1 and L2 students, being that of developing in the learner the ability to structure writing so to “ensure that student writing falls within…[the] range…of acceptable writing behaviours dictated by the academic community” (Horowitz, 1986b:789).
This articlewill deal with the topic of teaching content (2) in academic writing in three parts. Part 1 will attempt to answer the question, “What is acceptable writing behaviour?” in specific regard to academic content. Part 2 will briefly examine some common problems learners face in attempting to produce acceptable content. Finally, Part 3 will present an approach to help learners produce acceptablecontent and a rationale to support the adoption of this approach by teachers teaching English for academic purposes.
Part 1: What is Acceptable Writing Behaviour in Academic Writing?
To begin, we first need to access whether or not there is in fact a standard that we can refer to as acceptable writing behaviour in academic writing. Cneanseco and Bryd (1989), Horowitz (1986a, b), Johns (1986), Reid(1984, 1985, 1987, 1989), Shih (1986), Strauch (1997), Raimes (1992), Grabe and Kaplan (1996) and a long list of other authors, concur that there is a standard of acceptable writing behaviour. That there is standard is also evident in the various marking rubrics used to assess academic writing at different levels of development.
If we look, for example, at the marking guidelines used in IGCSEexams, which I take to be the unofficial entry point of formally assessed academic writing, we can see that there are already clear expectations in regard to content:
1. Answering the question
… Does the student make their answer interesting using colourful detail, personal experiences and/or facts?
7. Paragraphing
Has the student organised his/her work into paragraphs? Are the paragraphs in theright sequence and accurately linked together so the writing makes a coherent whole?
8. Subject matter
How well does the student deal with the topic? Does s/he get straight into the topic and seem interested in it, and also make the reader interested in it?
10. Sense of argument
Is the argument set out clearly and logically and does the writer come to a clear conclusion? … Does the writergive clear examples? Are linking words (e.g. however, moreover) used, and do these help make the meaning clear?(3)
At A Level, content in academic writing again plays a significant role, with the top band (22-25) requiring the following:
… content relevant to the topic; accurate detail; fluent expression; ideas clearly stated and supported; appropriately organized paragraphs; logical sequencing...