The Impact of Knowledge of English Rhetorical Patterns of Organisation on BA Accounting and Finance Students' Writing Academic Genres

This chapter discusses the impact of knowing the English rhetorical pattern of organisation on BA Accounting and Finance students' academic writing. More specifically, it focuses on the knowledge of how to structure a letter of application for job hunting purposes. This case study involved the analysis of 40 letters of application written by 40 Accounting and Finance students in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Ghardaïa, Algeria after they had been trained to structure this type of letter. The training lasted for two sessions in the Department of Accounting and Finance at Ghardaia University, Algeria. The training was a direct instruction in which students were shown activities that assisted them in mastering the rhetorical pattern of organisation that concerns letters of application. They were also shown the difference between formal and informal letters of application. The obtained results demonstrated the efficiency of the direct instruction in teaching Accounting and Finance students how to write a letter of application.

A Genre-Based Study of Algerian EFL Writers' Academic Texts

To disseminate academic knowledge, scholars publish their research in the form of journal articles, whose content is sketched in an abstract with a conventional rhetorical organization. This chapter reports a study that aims to examine and assess the organization of research article abstracts in terms of move units. The move structure of 42 abstracts of English research papers written by Algerian researchers and published in one of the Algerian language journals was scrutinized. The study follows Hyland's analytic model, comprising five rhetorical moves: introduction, purpose, method, product, and conclusion. The findings of the study indicate that the writers predominantly employ the pattern introduction-purpose, with some inconsistencies in using the other moves. On the basis of identifying the existing deviations from the predictable generic arrangement of abstracts, the importance of raising genre awareness among EFL writers has been highlighted as a means to enhance the quality of published discourse.

The Use of Metadiscourse Markers in Dissertations Produced by MATESOL Students

The use of metadiscourse markers is an important writing strategy employed both to structure the text and to engage the reader in the text production. In this connection, the purpose of this study is to assess the use of metadiscourse markers in term papers produced by MATESOL students at university of Khartoum. Forty papers were examined using Hyland's model of metadiscourse markers. Twenty papers were chosen from class 2016-2017, and the other 20 were selected from class 2017-2018. The data were analyzed in percentage terms. The results revealed that trained students use more metadiscourse markers than the untrained students. Additionally, it was found that female students used more metadiscourse markers than male. Also, it was found that all participants used more metadiscourse markers in the background section than in the statement of the problem section.

Discipline-Focused Revision Practices

In this chapter, the authors present a conceptual framework grounded in a comprehensive review of the literature that discusses disciplinary writing and scholarly identity, specifically focusing on the role that revision has in both the scholarly writing process and the formation of scholarly identity. A review of the revision process is described, followed by the impacts of discipline and context factors on that process. An example of this process in the social sciences for doctoral students is provided to illustrate the application of the ideas described in the chapter. This discussion concentrates on novice writers such as graduate students and early career researchers. Finally, research-based strategies for providing scholarly writing instruction to graduate students are described with regard to improving students' revision processes.

Less Is More in College Students' Writing

This chapter reports on a study of the content of extremely short stories (ESS) written by freshman undergraduates in the language and literature department of a university in Jordan. It looks at the origins and benefits of extremely short stories, with particular reference to the extensive work of Peter Hassall who established the first Extremely Short Story Competition (ESSC) for non-native English speakers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study is the first in an Arab country outside the UAE. Students' most popular themes included problems and problem-solving, travel, student life, family, and friends. Stories contained features of academic writing as well as many literary elements, including character, plot, metaphor, simile, and more. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the ESS can successfully serve as a bridge to academic writing and bring writer and reader closer together by generating interesting texts for audiences other than the instructors.

The Significance of Teaching Academic Writing as a Discipline-Specific Skill

The purpose of the present study was to popularize the conscious initiation of novice scholars and postgraduate students into the writing conventions of their disciplines. In so doing, the study proposes the integration of writing courses into the disciplinary syllabus so that the students study writing developmentally throughout their stay in the faculty. A questionnaire, and an interview, were used to collect data from the study participants, who were lecturers and teaching assistants in different Sudanese higher education institutions. Data analysis revealed that the participants highly value the proposal to teach academic writing as a discipline-specific skill. It also showed significant differences in the participants' perceptions of explicit instruction of academic writing based on their disciplinary affiliation in favour of hard science specialists. However, the participants' research profiles did not show statistically different perceptions.

Wikipedia Practices, Quick Facts, and Plagiarism in Higher Education

Plagiarism has been a sensitive issue in higher education in Sweden, as many cases were reported during the last years. It depends partly on resources that are devoted to have efficient detection systems, but it is deeply related to how students are prepared for academic exercises. Many freshmen and sophomores are not familiar with academic requirements and can get used to plagiarizing instead of developing critical thinking. The first step in academic writing is to present guidelines to search relevant sources. The chapter is based on an experimentation on sources made at the University of Stockholm with students enrolled in a course in “Culture and Society in France.” By inviting students to work with second hand sources such as Wikipedia and evaluate their validity, it is possible to analyze their learning strategies. The result of the study shows a paradox: if students acknowledge that Wikipedia sources are inappropriate in an academic context, they confirm that they use these sources to have access to other references. A reflection on the quick access to sources is then necessary.

University Librarians' Role in Supporting Academic Writing

The university library is often referred to as the heart of the university because of the central role it plays in providing information resources to support research, teaching, and learning activities. The study was carried out among reference librarians and subject librarians at selected universities to establish how the librarians have been supporting academic writing endevours by researchers at their respective institutions in Zimbabwe. The study also sought to examine the challenges faced by university librarians when offering services to support academic writing by researchers at Zimbabwean universities. The study adopted a qualitative approach. Ten librarians were interviewed. Findings from the study reveal that university librarians are readily available to offer their services in support of academic writing by researchers. There is however a need to increase researchers' awareness of the role of academic librarians in supporting academic writing. A strong partnership between academic librarians and researchers throughout the research cycle is recommended.

The Use of Engagement Resources in English, Arabic, and EFL Applied Linguistics Research

This study investigates how academics from different cultural backgrounds and levels of expertise use engagement resources to align themselves and their readers towards text-external voices. Using the appraisal theory engagement model, the introduction sections of three sets of texts from Applied Linguistics were analyzed: (1) research articles published in English, (2) research articles published in Modern Standard Arabic, and (3) Master's theses of Saudi EFL students. Results revealed that English- and Arabic-speaking writers prefer different resources due to the impact of culture. Also, Arabic-based patterns appeared in EFL writing supporting the contrastive rhetoric hypothesis at the interpersonal dimension of discourse. The patterns identified had different effects on the type of authorial voice and the nature of reader power-status. The study makes implications for novice EFL academics and for tertiary academic institutions. Explicit instruction of engagement strategies can enculturate student writers into their discipline-specific rhetorical conventions.