Brezilyalı Yüksek Lisans Öğrencilerinin İngilizce Akademik Yazıda Karşılaştıkları Zorluklara Dair Algıları

Uluslararası saygın İngilizce dergilerde yayın yapmak, yabancı dil olarak İngilizce alanındaki  tecrübesiz araştırmacıları, özellikle de yükseklisans öğrencilerini, zorlamaktadır. Bu zorluklar Brezilya dışındaki ülkelerde yaygın bir şekilde çalışılmaktadır (Bitchener & Basturkmen, 2006; Lavelle & Bushrow, 2007; Zhang & Mi, 2010; Huang, 2010; Phakiti & Li, 2011; Pessoa, Miller & Kaufer, 2014; Smirnova, 2015). Bu zorlukları ortaya çıkarmak için, bir anket geliştirilmiş ve Brezilya’nın en kalabalık devlet üniversitesinden 303 yüksek lisans öğrencisine uygulanmıştır. En sık karşılaşılan zorlukların İngilizcenin doğal kullanımı, edatların doğru kullanımı ve yeni türlerde yazma olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Katılımcılar “iyi” İngilizce yazımında ifade netliğini çok önemli bulmuşlar; ancak kelime dağarcığı ve dilbilgisindeki eksikleri düşünüldüğünde netliği sağlamanın bir o kadar zor olduğunu belirtmişlerdir. Bu sonuçlar, katılımcıların geleneksel bir dil ve yazı görüşünü benimsemeleri (Zamel, 1976; 1982) ve İngilizcede akademik anlatım konusundaki deneyimsizlikleriyle açıklanabilir.

Brazilian Graduate Students’ Perceptions of Their Challenges with Academic Writing in English

International publication in prestigious English journals challenges novice EFL researchers, especially graduate students. While these challenges have been extensively studied abroad (Bitchener & Basturkmen, 2006; Huang, 2010; Lavelle & Bushrow, 2007; Pessoa, Miller & Kaufer, 2014; Phakiti & Li, 2011; Smirnova, 2015; Zhang & Mi, 2010), they have not in Brazil. To uncover these difficulties, a questionnaire was designed and applied to 303 graduate students from the largest Brazilian public university. The most frequent challenges were writing in natural-sounding English, using prepositions, and writing unknown genres. Participants also perceived clarity as very important in “good” English writing, yet hard to achieve given their vocabulary or grammatical limitations. These results might be explained by the participants’ affiliation to a traditional view of language and of writing (Zamel, 1976, 1982) and their lack of experience with academic discourse in English, possibly due to their insufficient English literacy trajectories.

___

  • Almeida, V. C. (2014). O uso de MAKE na escrita acadêmica de aprendizes brasileiros de inglês [The use of ‘make’ in Brazilian EFL learners’ academic writing]. Domínios de Lingu@gem, 8(1), 75-90. Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3-4), 290-305. Aranha, S. (2002). A otimização da escrita acadêmica através da conscientização textual [Optimizing academic writing through textual awareness]. In: Estudos Linguísticos, 31. Aranha, S. (2009). 23 The development of a genre-based writing course for graduate students in two fields. Perspectives on Writing, 465-482. Badenhorst, C., Moloney, C., Rosales, J., Dyer, J., & Ru, L. (2015). Beyond deficit: graduate student research-writing pedagogies. Teaching in Higher Education, 20(1), 1-11. Bitchener, J., & Basturkmen, H. (2006). Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L2 thesis students writing the discussion section. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5(1), 4-18. Bonini, A. (2002). Metodologias de ensino de produção textual: a perspectiva da enunciação e o papel da psicolinguística [Methodologies for the teaching of textual production: the perspective of enunciation and the role of psycholinguistics]. Perspectiva, 20(1), 23-47. Camps, D. (2004). Paying attention to identity in advanced EAP writing class. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, 4(1), 315-328. Canagarajah, A. S. (2002). A geopolitics of academic writing. University of Pittsburgh Press. Carrió-Pastor, M. L., & Mestre-Mestre, E. M. (2014). Lexical errors in second language scientific writing: Some conceptual implications. International Journal of English Studies, 14(1), 97-108. Casanave, C. P., & Hubbard, P. (1992). The writing assignments and writing problems of doctoral students: Faculty perceptions, pedagogical issues, and needed research. English for Specific Purposes, 11(1), 33-49. Cheng, A. (2008). Analyzing genre exemplars in preparation for writing: The case of an L2 graduate student in the ESP genre-based instructional framework of academic literacy. Applied linguistics, 29(1), 50-71. Cho, S. (2004). Challenges of entering discourse communities through publishing in English: Perspectives of nonnative-speaking doctoral students in the United States of America. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 3(1), 47-72. Coelho, J. G. R. (2011). Análise linguístico-discursiva do gênero introdução de artigo de pesquisa (para fins específicos): Teste ANPAD [Linguistic and discursive analysis of the genre introduction to research article (for specific purposes): The ANPAD test]. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, 11(4), 871-894. Davoudi, M., Nafchi, A. M., & Mallahi, O. (2015). A macro-level error analysis of Iranian undergraduate EFL learners’ performance on writing tasks. Journal of Studies in Education, 5(4), 222-241. Dayrell, C., & Aluísio, S. (2008). Using a comparable corpus to investigate lexical patterning in English abstracts written by non-native speakers. In LREC 2008 Workshop on Comparable Corpora (pp. 61-66). Estela, E. N. E. (2014). Understanding the EAP writing and online learning needs of Chinese university students: a multiple-method needs assessment study. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 24(24), 121-150. Evans, S., & Green, C. (2007). Why EAP is necessary: A survey of Hong Kong tertiary students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 6(1), 3-17. Ferreira, M. M. (2007). Approaches to L2 writing instruction. In: Maciel, R.F. & Araújo, V.A. (org.). Ensino de Língua Inglesa: contribuições da Linguística Aplicada. Campo Grande - MS: UNAES, p. 175-190. Ferreira, M. M. (2012). O letramento acadêmico em inglês: Dificuldades na confecção da seção introdução de artigos acadêmicos [Academic literacy in English: Difficulties in writing the introduction to research articles section]. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, 12(4), 1025-1048. Ferreira, M. M. (2016). Challenges for Brazilian post/graduate students writing in the academy: insights for future pedagogical interventions. In: Badenhorst, C., & Guerin, C. (Eds.) (2016). Research literacies and writing pedagogies for masters and doctoral writers. Brill. Ferreira, M. M., & Lousada, E. G. (2016). Ações do Laboratório de Letramento Acadêmico da Universidade de São Paulo: promovendo a escrita acadêmica na graduação e na pós-graduação [Actions by the Laboratory of Academic Literacy of the Universidade de São Paulo: promoting academic writing in undergraduate and graduate programs]. Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies, 69(3), 125-140. Flowerdew, J. (1999). Writing for scholarly publication in English: the case of Hong Kong. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8(2), 123-145. Gnutzmann, C., & Rabe, F. (2014). ‘Theoretical subtleties’ or ‘text modules’? German researchers' language demands and attitudes across disciplinary cultures. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 13, 31-40. Hess, D. J. (1995). Science and technology in a multicultural world: The cultural politics of facts and artifacts. New York: Columbia University Press. Holliday, A. (2006). Native-speakerism. ELT Journal, 60(4), 385–387. Huang, J., & Foote, C. J. (2010). Grading between the lines: What really impacts professors’ holistic evaluation of ESL graduate student writing? Language Assessment Quarterly, 7(3), 219-233. Huang, L. S. (2010). Seeing eye to eye? The academic writing needs of graduate and undergraduate students from students’ and instructors’ perspectives. Language Teaching Research, 14(4), 517-539. Hülmbauer, C., Böhringer, H., & Seidlhofer, B. (2008). Introducing English as a lingua franca (ELF): Precursor and partner in intercultural communication. Synergies Europe, 3(9), 25-36. Hyland, K. (2002). Specificity revisited: how far should we go now?. English for specific purposes, 21(4), 385-395. Hyon, S., & Chen, R. (2004). Beyond the research article: university faculty genres and EAP graduate preparation. English for Specific Purposes, 23(3), 233-263. Jenkins, S., Jordan, M. K., & Weiland, P. O. (1993). The role of writing in graduate engineering education: a survey of faculty beliefs and practices. English for Specific Purposes, 12(1), 51-67. Koljatic, M. M., & Silva, M. R. (2001). The international publication productivity of Latin American countries in the economics and business administration fields. Scientometrics, 51(2), 381-394. Lavelle, E., & Bushrow, K. (2007). Writing approaches of graduate students. Educational Psychology, 27(6), 807-822. Leki, I., & Carson, J. G. (1994). Students' perceptions of EAP writing instruction and writing needs across the disciplines. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 81-101. Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2006). Reframing notions of competence in scholarly writing: from individual to networked activity. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 53, 63-78. Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing in global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. New York, Routledge. Meneghini, R., & Packer, A. L. (2007). Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non‐English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication. EMBO reports, 8(2), 112-116. Motta-Roth, D., & Hendges, G. R. (1998). Uma análise transdisciplinar do gênero abstract [A transdisciplinar analysis of the genre abstract]. Intercâmbio. Revista do Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Linguística Aplicada e Estudos da Linguagem. ISSN 2237-759X, 7. Ntereke, B. B., & Ramoroka, B. T. (2015). Effectiveness of academic writing activities and instruction in an academic literacy writing course at the University of Botswana. Journal of pedagogic development, 3(5), 45-56. Paasi, A. (2005). Globalisation, academic capitalism, and the uneven geographies of international journal publishing spaces. Environment and Planning A, 37(5), 769-789. Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the Discourses of Colonialism. London: Routledge. Pessoa, S., Miller, R. T., & Kaufer, D. (2014). Students' challenges and development in the transition to academic writing at an English-medium university in Qatar. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 52(2), 127-156. Phakiti, A., & Li, L. (2011). General academic difficulties and reading and writing difficulties among Asian ESL postgraduate students in TESOL at an Australian university. RELC Journal, 42(3), 227-264. Plakans, L. (2009). Discourse synthesis in integrated second language writing assessment. Language Testing, 26(4), 561-587. Qiang, Z. (2003). Internationalization of higher education: Towards a conceptual framework. Policy futures in education, 1(2), 248-270. Ramos, R. C. G. (2004). Gêneros textuais: uma proposta de aplicação em cursos de inglês para fins específicos [Genres: a proposal for the application in ESP courses]. The ESPecialist, 25(2), 107-129. Raymond, P. M., & Des Brisay, M. (2000). An EAP course for Chinese MBA students. TESL Canada Journal, 17(2), 29-32. Recski, L. (2004). Negociando certeza e incerteza em escrita acadêmica em inglês [Negotiating certainty and uncertainty in EAP writing]. Trabalhos em Linguística Aplicada, 43(1), 51-68. Recski, L. (2006). Epistemic modality and spoken discourse: an English-Portuguese cross-linguistic investigation. Linguagem & Ensino, 9(1), 159-185. Richards, L. (2015). Handling qualitative data: A practical guide. 3rd ed., London, Sage. Robertson, M., Line, M., Jones, S., & Thomas, S. (2000). International students, learning environments and perceptions: A case study using the Delphi technique. Higher Education Research & Development, 19(1), 89-102. Schuster, E., Lizotte, R., Aluísio, S. M., & Dayrell, C. (2013). Approaches for helping Brazilian students improve their scientific writings. Proceedings of the 9th Brazilian Symposium in Information and Human Language Technology, (pp. 178-182). Available on: www.aclweb.org. Scollon, R. (1995). Plagiarism and ideology: Identity in intercultural discourse. Language in Society, 24(1), 1-28. Smirnova, N. V. (2015). Writing-for-publication: Online pedagogy for post/graduate research writing. In Cecile Badenhorst and Cally Guerin (Eds.). Research literacies and writing pedagogies for masters and doctoral writers. Leiden: Brill. Street, B. (2009). “Hidden” features of academic paper writing. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 24(1), 1-17. Strunk, J. R., & White, E. B. (2009). The elements of style. Pearson Education (50th anniversary edition). 1st ed.1935. 106 p. Swales, J. M. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2004). Academic writing for graduate students. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Uzuner, S. (2008). Multilingual scholars’ participation in core/global academic communities: A literature review. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 7(4), 250-263. Vieira, B. G. A. M. (2017). Genre knowledge in the needs analysis process: using a writing activity to assess present-situation. Trama, 13(28), 29-53. Vieira, B. G. A. M., & Aranha, S. (2015). A análise de necessidades na trajetória da elaboração de um curso de EAP para pós-graduandos em Ciência da Computação [Needs analysis in the elaboration trajectory of na EAP course for Computer Science graduates]. The ESPecialist, 36(1). Wingate, U. (2012). ‘Argument!’ helping students understand what essay writing is about. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(2), 145-154. Zamel, V. (1976). Teaching composition in the ESL classroom: What we can learn from research in the teaching of English. TESOL Quarterly, 10(1), 67-76. Zamel, V. (1982). Writing: The process of discovering meaning. TESOL Quarterly, 16(2), 195-209. Zhang, Y., & Mi, Y. (2010). Another look at the language difficulties of international students. Journal of Studies in international Education, 14(4), 371-388. Zhu, W. (2004). Faculty views on the importance of writing, the nature of academic writing, and teaching and responding to writing in the disciplines. Journal of second language Writing, 13(1), 29-48.