Analysing academic writing issues

By analysing vocabulary, grammar, construction of sentences, paragraphs, and identifying formal elements such as proficiency in language use, style, register and genre persons will be part of an academic discourse community. Pintos and Crimi (2010) explain that “[a]cademic writing, critical consciousness, and the skills beyond them are not acquired naturally but need to be gained through exemplification, instruction, practice, experience and purpose” (p.12).

Based on  the article by Johanne Myles (2002), the following analysis was carried out. The article discusses the nature of errors produced in writing. It is about the connections between the learner’s language skills and strategies in first language (L1) as a based for the development of writing in second language (L2). Myles’s (2002) purpose is to discuss the nature of errors in writing in L2. The article is addressed to teachers of English who are interested in teaching L2.

The article was analysed in aspects such as use of quotations, omissions, and insertion of words/letters, introductory phrases: their structure, in-text citations: most common structures and the use of reporting verbs. All the mentioned aspects were analysed based on the American Psychological Association (APA, 2006) rules.

As regards in-text citations, Myles (2002) includes many paraphrased in-text citations and direct quotes following APA style. An example of an in-text citation is the one which only includes the author’s last name and the year of publication  because it is used in a signal phrase. An example of this is  “Silva (1993) observes that learners revise at a superficial level” (as cited in Myles, 2002, p. 4). But the most common structures of in-text citations used by the author are short quotations. They allude to a study and both the author`s last name and the year of publication are listed in the same parentheses, (cited in APA, 2006). An example of this is “Likewise, learners' negative attitudes may be strengthened by lack of success or by failure (McGroarty, 1996)” (as cited in Myles, 2002, p. 4). She also includes many direct quotes such as “Additionally, with native speakers, "writing ability is more closely linked to fluency in and familiarity with the conventions of expository discourse" (Kogen 1986, p. 25).” (as cited in Myles, 2002, p. 4). Myles (2002) uses only a few block quotations.

According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), to indicate that a part of the original text has been omitted within a quoted passage, the author uses ellipsis. In the analyzed article there are only a few examples of them. An ellipsis from the article is "to follow their spontaneous interests and impulses . . . and assume responsibility for what becomes of their minds" (Bereiter and Scardamaliap,1987, as cited in Myles, 2002, p.3). Something similar happens with insertions, which are used to include a word or letter into the original quotation (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). The author does not make use of them but just a few. An insertion of a letter from the article is “As Yau (1991) points out: [A]lthough we should not cripple our students' interest in writing through undue stress or grammatical correctness, the influence” (as cited in Myles, 2002, p. 12).

As regards introductory phrases, which are a type of in-text citations too, many signal phrases are included in the article. Introductory phrases such as according to X, X (year of publication) observes, X and X (year of publication) also propose, X and her colleagues (year of publication) analyze, are employed as well as reporting verbs to cite the material by the author (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010).

Taking all the aspects above described into consideration, the article seems to follow APA style and academic requirements. Myles (2002) makes her writing academic as a result of the wide use of formal language, the reporting verbs, the techniques to quote and acknowledge the sources consulted.

References

Center for writing university of Minnesota. APA documentation style: In-text citations. Student writing support. University of Minnesota. Retrieved September 2010, from http://writing.umn.edu/docs/sws/quicktips/APA_in-text.pdf

Myles, J. (2002). Second language writing and research: The writing process and error analysis in student texts. TESEL-EJ, 6, (2). Queen’s University. Retrieved October 2010 from

http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESl-EJ/ej22/a1.html

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Retrieved September 2010, from

http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 3: Academic writing. Retrieved September 2010, from

http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7392

Analysing teaching practices

In recent years, the prevailing culture about education has changed as regards the relationships between teacher and student. It is the result of the educational innovations which have introduced profound changes in teaching – learning processes. In order to improve teaching practices, different techniques have been developed in recent years. One of these techniques are the critical incidents.

Kennedy and Wyrick (1990) define the term critical incident “as a method of reflective practice” (as cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p. 8). According to Fernández González, Elórtegui Escartín and Medina Pérez (2003), Critical Incidents provide the tools for teaching practices analysis. Through critical incidents, teachers are faced to different teaching situations which can be analysed. Therefore, teachers not only interpret and analyse the situations about their teaching practices but they make decisions about them as learners and teachers. In other words, the main idea of critical incidents as a strategy is to integrate theory and practice and thus, the possibility for the reflexive analysis of classroom events which can be solved in a spontaneous way.

For Fernández González, Elórtegui Escartín and Medina Pérez (2003) critical incidents are structured in steps so that they can be solved. First, the context in which the situation happens should be analysed. Then, a description of the incident. Next, the possible causes for the incident. And finally, the more suitable solutions for such incident.

All this considered, I believe critical incidents in education are very useful and they should be present in our daily routine as teachers. Critical incidents do not replace classroom experience but provide teachers with professional resources based on reflexion. Furthermore, they prevent teachers from unsuitable reactions in the classsroom.

References

Fernández González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N. & Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria de ciencias de la naturaleza. Revista universitaria de Formación de Profesorado, 17- 001. Zaragoza, España: Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved December 2007, from

http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107

Pintos,V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Retrieved September, 2010 from

http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214 

A rewarding experience

According to Pintos and Crimi (2010), the phrase critical incident is used in a positive fashion: to help teachers reflect upon their current practices. Critical incidents, which are, in fact, unusual or unpleasant situations we may encounter in our work, should be used as sources of analysis and learning. Some years ago, I experienced a critical incident which I report below. In fact, I have experienced many situations which could be reported as critical incidents on my teaching practice and learning process.

I was in a state-run school in the Province of Buenos Aires. I was in charge of 1^st year of Secundaria Basica. Most of students were 12 years old and the school was in a poor area. It was my first day with this group of students. I had great expectations!. Everything was going well except from an incident with one student.
The student did not seem to listen to a word I said. I had spoken about respect in the classroom and discussed my expectations for the group during the 1^st period. I had decided I was not going to argue with him on that day. I did not confront him for keeping his head down or drawing something. I could see he was drawing something and it looked very nice. It seemed he was very good at drawing.
The next class he came into classroom and this time instead of paying attention to the class or following instructions on blackboard, he proceeded to put a sheet on his desk and started to draw again. With the other students on task, I walked over to him. He looked at me ready to challenge me at anything I said. I asked him where he had learnt to draw like that. He looked at me in surprise and I told him he was really good at that. I asked him where he had learnt so much and he began to tell me his father used to buy him comic magazines, but not anymore. I could feel the pain.

Instead of scolding him for being off task, I surprised him and complimented him on his skills. Then, I asked him to show me what he could do connected to the task, which was something about a brochure. So, his help was worth it. He was amazing. I then asked him to help some of the other students with the drawings in the brochures, which he complied and did a great job explaining it and showing them how to do things he was asked by the other students.
This student had difficulty in so many other classes that he had been wrongly pointed or labeled as a diffucult student, thus he behaved like that. The next class he came into the classroom and from that point on, he was great.
Five years later, I saw him again. From a long distance, in front of his friends, he threw his arms out and came over to me and gave me a big hug saying "Hi, teacher Ana." We talked for a while and before he walked away, he had hugged me twice. This was a reminder to me for what had happened five years before in the class.
My goal or my challenge when I am in the classroom is not only to teach all the contents but to pay attention to students as people whose needs may be totally different. So far, I am in the last period of the year and I have only needed to step out one time with two students to have a conversation about their actions. I think they know I love them first. This was a challenging experience, very hard to me, but very rewarding otherwise.

 

References

Pintos,V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Retrieved September, 2010 from

http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214

Basic criteria for discourse communities

Swales (1990) establishes some basic criteria for a discourse community to be recognized as such (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p.13). Requirements such as common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community-specific genres, highly specialized terminology and high general level of expertise (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p. 13). According to Swales (1990), if a community contains these requeriments, it is considered an academic discourse community (cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010, p.13).

The idea of different discourse communities is expressed by Ovens (2002) when he explains that several discourse communities in teacher reflection have arisen around the critical technical reflection (Ovens, 2002; cited in Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez Torres, 2003). Discourse communities in teacher reflection stand out “how teacher reflection itself is mobilised in particular contexts for particular political, pedagogical, and phenomenological purposes” (Ovens, 2002; as cited in Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez Torres, 2003, p. 2). Ovens (2002) states that the main feature of the Phenomenological discourse community is its focus on the individual and her or his experiences as the source for reflection, because teachers craft their own knowledge through reflection upon their prior experiences (cited in Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez Torres, 2003).

The critical discourse community is still focused on the individual and his or her quest for emancipation. This community utilizes the personal narratives of oppressed members of society as well as other artifacts (e.g., statistics, arguments) to modify teacher beliefs mainly through a critical analysis of content as the source for change. Artifact usage in reflection is an important contribution from this community; however, as it is focused on individual emancipation, little attention is given to the situated nature of teacher reflective practices.

The situated learning discouse community emphasizes the shared nature of reflection through three concepts: situated activity, reflection as a social endeavor, and reflection as a distributed process with distributed content (i.e., the situation, the group, and the artifacts utilized in reflection that permeate this discourse).

Common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community-specific genres, highly specialized terminology and high general level of expertise (Swales, 1990; cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010) are implied at situated learning discourse community. Teachers interact with colleagues in goal-directed activities that require communication and the exchange of ideas where reflection itself is not contained  wholly in the mind of the individual but is “distributed” through sign systems and artifacts that are embedded in the social activity of the school community.

For Bizzell (1992), a community college can be seen as a discourse community. Moreover, as Kutz (1997) explains, its members have developed “a common discourse that involves shared knowledge, common purposes, common relationships, similar attitudes and values, shared understandings about how to communicate their knowledge and achieve their shared purposes, and a flow of discourse that has a particular structure and style” (as cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2001, p 1).

As Giroux (1983) puts it, “language is a social event that is defined, shaped, and constrained by the culture of the setting in which it is used” (as cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2001, p 2). Furthermore, everybody should aknowledge communicative competence to explore the language properly in specific discourse communities (Kutz, 1997; cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2001, p 2) . The above characteristics for language by Giroux (1983) and Kutz (1997) are those which Swales (1990) refers to for belonging to a discourse community (cited in Kelly-Kleese, 2001).

Kelly-Kleese (2004) discusses the concept of the two-year college as a separate discourse community within higher education. She argues that by redefining community college scholarship to include the knowledge gained and shared in the classroom, community college professionals will be better able to assert their knowledge and power within higher education.

In conclusion, there are many points or requirements that Swales (1990) refers to as basic criteria to belonging to a discourse community, which are shared by the above authors mentioned among others. These requirements or characteristics are shared by a group of people, they interact within the group and deal with the outside. By doing this, they are recognized as a discourse community.

 

References

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved October 2010, from      http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mONQM/is_3_42/ai/ai_108442653

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s Choice: An Open Memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2010, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mOHCZ/is_1_29/ai_77481463

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community college 

scholarship and discourse. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2010, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mOHCZ/is_1_32/ai_n6361541

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Retrieved October 2010, from

http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=6856

Welcome to this blog

Dear all,

My name is Ana Maria Montes and I am a teacher of English. I am attending a Licenciatura in WLT at CAECE University, Buenos Aires.  I have opened this blog to share with you my writings from English for Academic Purposes (EAP) class - Universidad CAECE.

I will be greatful to read your comments and contributions which will help me grow in the academic writing field.

Welcome to my blog!

Ana