Research Information System
in: Higher Education Recent Trends, Emerging Issues and Future Outlook,, Smith, L. R., Editor, Nova Science Science Publishers, New York, pp.227-245, 2013
This study reports on the design and evaluation of the effectiveness of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course for the first-year undergraduate students of Economics in Turkish higher education who are studying in the medium of English language. A needs assessment conducted in the Department of Economics with first-year undergraduate students and lecturers through in-depth interviews revealed that examination questions are the most common writing requirements, and that the students experience difficulties in responding to questions in English. To enhance the students’ academic literacies, and to ultimately help them learn how to respond to examination questions in their Economics Department, the writing course is conceptualized within the social constructionist framework, and Lea and Street’s academic socialization and academic literacies models, in three cycles. One hundred and ten questions from 28 different examination papers were provided by the lecturers, and a genre analysis was carried out to examine specific discourse characteristics of each question. Using a blended learning study approach, the researcher - the language expert - collaborated with two subject lecturers during the needs assessment process and the assessment of student writings to ensure that student writings are acceptable to the disciplinary lecturers. The EAP course was evaluated by collecting data from students’ reflection, their self-assessment, and lecturers’ comments on students’ writings. The students’ perceptions of the writing development obtained from their reflection revealed that the writing course helped student writers to increase their awareness of the writing requirements of their discipline, improved their writing skills, influencing their socialization process, and contributing to their evolving identity as economics writers. Lecturers’ comments on student writings indicated that the students had reached a level where they could demonstrate disciplinary knowledge in an acceptable way in their response to examination questions. Samples of written texts are included in the chapter to illustrate how students write answers to examination questions according to disciplinary kinds of thinking and knowledge. Wider implications of the study for the teaching of writing in academic contexts are discussed.