Tài liệu Developing Learners’ Academic Writing Skills in Higher Education: A Study for Educational

Developing Learners’ Academic Writing

Skills in Higher Education: A Study for

Educational Reform

Nahla N. Bacha

Lebanese American University, PO Box 36, Byblos, Lebanon

L2 writers are known to face problems in developing their writing skills at the univer￾sity level.These problems are even more accentuatedwith L1 Arabic non-native speak- ers of English in required English composition courses. Some researchhas shown that

with low motivation levels the process can further be a very difficult and unrewarding

one for both the learner and the teacher.However, students need to develop their writ￾ing skills in order to cope with their university coursework in the medium of English.

This necessitatesthe searchforlearningtasks thatmeet studentneeds in a wider educa￾tional context. This paper outlines some of the writing theories proposed by research- ers that have contributed to current L2 teaching/learning classroom methodologies.

Drawing upon the insights gained from these theories,one EFL freshman composition

classroom learning experience in doing practical research with L1 Arabic non-native

speakers of English is described. Results indicated that the experience was not only a very highly motivating basis for developing students’writing skillsbut also a valuable one for students in acquiringnecessaryacademic researchknow-how. Implications are made for the teaching/learning of writing and programme development in light of the

post-war educational reform in Lebanon.

Introduction

Developing learners’ writing skills in L2 has been of concern for a long time in

tertiary education (Belcher & Braine, 1995;Jordan, 1997). Students studying in insti￾tutions of higher learning in the medium of English, which may not be their native

language, have been found to faceproblems mainly in writing, making them unable

to cope with the institution’s literacy expectations. However, these ‘disadvantaged’

students may be able to develop writing skills significantly with positive instruc￾tionalattitudes towardsthe errors they make andanawarenesson the teachers’part

of learner problems (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996; Shaughnessy, 1977; Zamel, 1983).

The research literature in L2 writing contains a great range of different

supportive methodologies (e.g. Belcher & Braine, 1995; Grabe & Kaplan, 1996;

Jordan, 1989, 1997;Kroll, 1990;Reid, 1993; Silva, 1993;Zamel, 1983, 1992).Similar

studies on L1 Arabic non-native-speakers of English have also been found and

although their writing problems might sometimes be different (Kaplan, 1966;

Khalil, 2000;Kharma & Hajjaj, 1989),recent findings suggest that, with appropri￾ate instruction, these learners can and do improve in their writing skills (Bader,

1992; Connor, 1996; Grabe & Kaplan, 1996).

The Problem

Studies carried out on L1 Arabic non-native speakers’ English-writing prob￾lems have shown student texts to lack lexical variety, subordination and to rely

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LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION Vol. 16, No. 3, 2002

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Academic Writing Skills in Higher Education