Academic writing in teaching a foreign language



Academic Writing is a valuable study skill that is supported at any discipline-specific contexts. The purpose ıs to consider creative methods in teaching, to study the importance of using academic writing and to identify effective methods in teaching academic writing. With the help of these techniques this study aims help students to consistently learn academic literacy and increase the need for students to further develop skills in academic contexts.

Keywords: academic writing, authentic theories, modeling, classification.

Академическое письмо является ценным учебным навыком.который поддерживается в любой конкретной дисциплине. Цель состоит в том, чтобы расcмотреть креативные методы в обучении изучить важность исползования академическога письма и выявить эффективные методы в обучении письму. Методы включают содержание, классификацию, опрос, моделирование. Данное исследование направлено на то, чтобы помочь учащимся последовательно учиться академической грамотности и повысить потребность студентов в дальнейшем развитии навыков в академическом контексте.

Academic writing is a complex and multifaceted set of skills, which today is worldwide recognized in relation to all other skills required for successful study at higher education institutions. The role of writing and its positive influence on the intellectual development of a man has been researched by many linguists. R. Reich and A. Knopf predicted that most of today's graduates will work in the field of so-called symbolic-analytical services. The authors explain that, in addition to disciplinary knowledge, and future professionals need the critical thinking skills, acquisition, playback and display of knowledge. The letter in this case should be not the final product (result) of the educational process and an effective method of learning (the so-called approach of “writing-to-learn”). Many emphasize the close relationship of writing and thinking activities. Western education system is focused on the letter; a letter is not only a function of the knowledge control (writing as a product), but also as a major method of learning (writing as a process), and as an approach to learning (writing-to-learn). Creating written texts, students get new knowledge, develop critical thinking skills. A letter is perceived in a different way, this skill ceases to be purely formal key that allows how to successfully study at university and work effectively in the future, be an academically competent expert [1; 187]. In higher education academic writing is the significant part of student`s successful academic competence. Focusing on academic writing issues, we also engage in other kinds of academic writing forms as essay writing, writing journals, case studies and so on. To take UK into account only 2 % of the population pursued higher education in the 30^th of XX century, later by the year 2005 the rate of 18–30-year-old highly educated people reached 50 % [2; 62]. Influence by new trend most international universities included this skill into must-taught competence for diverse groups with their cultural and educational background. According to Lillis students are to interpret academic texts and to deal with writing instructions due to their ethical and civilizing features in all [3; 59].

First, the discipline called Academic Writing has long existed due to extensive, well-developed scientific and methodological base, and a truly inexhaustible range of textbooks, and relevant courses — unfortunately, not yet in Kazakh. Moreover, this discipline occupies a crucial place in western countries in the complex of other disciplines aimed at the development of academic skills. The latter are academic literacy skills (academic literacy), and their formation is considered as an institutional responsibility (an institutional obligation) of universities and colleges [4;138].]. According to educational theorist Mike Palmquist writing process has own specified contexts where goes all in-parts of this notion. We notice from his classification three main contexts such as cultural (influences, interests, values), social (interpretation of readers, purposes, interpretation of writers) and physical (writers, documents and genres, readers) that influence at greater or less degree [5;21]. To produce a good writing piece, learners should refer to more resources and to summarize each piece of thought that show clarity, authority and balance. Another essential point is the choice of approach. For many years, among western educational theorists and methodologies of academic writing were disputes about which model is better — disciplinary or universal. If you adhere to the first, it is possible to reach an extreme degree of specialization of the writing skills which will be in the thrall of tradition and templates. Specialization and early profiling of higher education in Russia have already caused injury to domestic science, creating deep roots within disciplinary «traditions of writing”, consisting of phrase logical patterns, complex syntagmatic relations [6; 140]. Foreign educators define academic writing in four «P“ s: personal product, process, and practice. The text as a product quite corresponds to domestic representations about” the whole text «or” the scientific text”; practicing any kind of writing represents long individual experience without which it is impossible to reach qualitative indicators of any activity; and process of the writing is a main work with “pen on paper” or “keys on the keyboard”. The most important term in this system is the vitality of personal, precise, individual, experience of a writer [7; 330].

In UK universities, the development of writing is also given attention during academic study, but it is done in a different way than in American universities. O. Cruse describes the English tradition of teaching writing as absolutely special, in which a significant role is played by individual consultations, accompanying the regular classes and are aimed at development of skills of oral and written communication in the academic environment [8; 41]. The main difference between the two systems is the lack of compulsory courses in writing at the leading British universities. In all four universities there are special courses for foreign students (various options of EAP). In other universities (e.g. Cambridge University, Imperial College London) are offered elective courses and at the Oxford University are organized online learning courses. All support in the development of writing skills is provided to students through language centers (or writing centers). They typically offer individual counseling, short-term courses to develop certain writing skills, and information and resource support. Some resources for students (e.g., avoiding plagiarism) can be found on the websites free to access. However, in most universities all online resources are in the University network (in Cambridge and Oxford Universities resources in WID, inaccessible from the external access) or on the websites of libraries. On the websites there is also support for teachers (e.g., Cambridge and Oxford Universities), that may be concluded in this way: in some of the leading universities also apply the principles of WAC and WID, but mandatory requirements for the study of certain courses, as in our universities, do not exist.

Turning to the analysis of universities in Japan (The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University), it should be noted that since the language of study in these universities is not English, the English version of the official sites provides only a small amount of information about the development of writing skills. Following a global trend towards internationalization of learning, both universities offer students some courses in English and hence organize EAP courses for Japanese students. For foreign students, by contrast, there are organized courses in the Japanese language for academic purposes. Regarding the development of writing skills in Japanese for Japanese students, the information about it on the English-language versions of the website were identified. However, in the studies, references to which were found on the websites of universities, it is said that in the leading universities of the country in recent years, by analogy with American universities, there was practiced an adaptation course (First Year Experience), which is aimed, among other things, at teaching academic writing [9; 109]. This suggests that similar courses exist at the universities under consideration. Those European universities that value the need for specialized learning to write in academic discourses, mostly use the American model of learning to write within academic disciplines (WID) [10; 193]. Most universities provide computing services in some form, so students who are unable to buy their own computer should now be able to access one.

Table 1

Writing resources for academic writing

Student academic writing
Internet	Online databases. list serves e-mails, websites
Audio-visual aids	Word-processing CD ROMs Still images, video, audio (OHP)
Electronic support	Online writing laboratories Individual tutorials/ writing Discussion forums

We consider written changes as a part of online conferencing. Opposed to traditional classes (tutorials or seminars) electronic conferencing prioritize writing skills. There are thousands of conferences and newsgroups on the Internet, each dedicated to discussion of any problem. Conferences are allocated a mailbox on mail servers on the Internet supporting its work. Servers periodically synchronize (exchange the contents of a mailbox) that allows any of them to provide the materials of the conference in full.

Electronic conferences seem to be a thematic exchange of e-mails between subscribers. The conference serves to organize the discussion of various issues. The letter sent by the subscriber to the conference devoted to a certain topic is sent to all subscribers connected to this conference (subscribed to it). And every subscriber connected to any conference can receive all the letters coming to it. There are thousands of themed conferences devoted to almost all areas of human interests. In order to join the conference and receive information from it, as well as to send a letter and it was sent to all subscribers of this conference, you need to know its name [11; 131].

The existing rules define the hierarchical names of the conferences. These names are few words separated by dots, each of which clarifies that the conference belongs to a particular thematic section, the hierarchy. Here are the main hierarchies (the so-called «big six»):

comp	to discuss issues related to computers and programming.
news	to exchange ongoing news, questions of development of system of conferencing.
rec	for common hobbies and interests
sci	for various scientific issues
soc	to raise social problems
talk	to focus on heated or controversial topics

Let us outline gradual process of creating an online conferencing environment.

– Learners and facilitators (tutors) write a preface about spare time activities and interests in their portfolio

– Tutors divide students into sub-groups to explore expectations about the course and advantages they will take from online conferencing

– Each subscriber makes him/herself familiar with ground rules of an online conferencing. Suggestions of learners can be added to the list of rules.

– Tutors provide with learning materials (writing models) and plan synchronous meetings.

– Target learners produce writing assignments in their discipline areas (case studies or essays).

Since 2000 electronic conferencing activities are preferable and stable way to feature both the spoken and written skills. Students need to be engaged in informal language too while it is a starting point to adopt virtual learning environment [12; 149].

Today, in many universities of Eastern Europe, including Russia, an important issue that often falls out of view during the planning and formation of study courses in a particular specialty is the need to develop the skills and abilities of academic communication in the language of study, because it is through the language in which the educational process is carried out, there is the formation of General Academic Literacy of students. As noted above, the development of academic writing often occurs only within the framework of English language courses. Today, education through the Internet is the most innovative and interesting way of organizing the educational process. Learning online is not only popular, but also convenient: from the choice of an educational course, a suitable teacher for you, the time of classes and to the possibility of paying for classes remotely.

There is a great development of internet-based sources to support student`s writing process. In this section, virtual listening sources will be surveyed to assist in teaching academic writing. One of the most effective sources is a computer-based conference where students arrange discussion forums and sub-conferencing by the help of tutor. Each university offers variety of academic support for students throughout their study appropriately, say, digital presentation of learning materials

In recent years, due to the global increase in the influence of the Internet, the role of online learning has increased significantly. People like the simplicity, financial attractiveness and entertaining of this method of learning in comparison with the traditional method of education.

References:

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