An examination of the drafting-responding process used to develop students' writing in an English Language for Academic Purposes Course

Quinn, Lynn

Title: An examination of the drafting-responding process used to develop students' writing in an English Language for Academic Purposes Course
Creator: Quinn, Lynn
Subject: English language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Foreign speakers
Subject: Rhodes University -- Academic Development Programme
Subject: Academic writing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa
Subject: Educational anthropology -- South Africa
Subject: Educational sociology -- South Africa
Date Issued: 2000
Date: 2000
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MA
Identifier: vital:2359
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002642
Identifier: English language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Foreign speakers
Identifier: Rhodes University -- Academic Development Programme
Identifier: Academic writing -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa
Identifier: Educational anthropology -- South Africa
Identifier: Educational sociology -- South Africa
Description: Many students when they arrive at university do not possess the “cultural capital” (Bourdieu 1977) which is favoured by the institution. The purpose of the English Language for Academic Purposes (ELAP) course and the drafting-responding process is to help students to begin to acquire the “cultural capital” required to succeed at university. The research reported on in this thesis examined the drafting-responding process as it is used to develop students’ writing in the ELAP course at Rhodes University. The process involved students submitting drafts of their essays on which they received constructive and formative feedback from their ELAP tutor. This feedback was then used to revise their essays before a final version was submitted for assessment. The research took the form of a case study with an essentially interpretive orientation. I examined the drafts (with the tutor’s comments) and final versions of seven students’ ELAP essays. Additional data was obtained by interviewing the students and the tutor. Underpinning my beliefs regarding the role of writing in learning as well as my orientation to research is an understanding of knowledge and learning as being socially constructed. All writing is embedded in and dependent on, not only the immediate social circumstances, but also the broader social and cultural context. In analysing and discussing the data in this research I used Halliday’s (1985) definition of context, in which he draws a broad distinction between the immediate context of situation and the broader context of culture The research findings showed that the drafting-responding process can help students with the process of developing the academic literacy they need in order to write essays within specific situational contexts, in this case, the context of the ELAP course. In addition, at a broader level, it can help students to begin the process of being initiated into the culture of the university as a whole.
Format: 138 leaves
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, English Language and Linguistics
Language: English
Rights: Quinn, Lynn

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Quinn, Lynn (Prof)

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