Journal of Asian Pacific Communication - Volume 14, Issue 1, 2004

The concept of academic competence must be viewed within the context of globalization. The intensification of cultural contact in the current historical period has contributed greatly to the recognition and evaluation of variation in academic systems and to subsequent strategies of adjustment. Contact between varying academic systems is thus being ‘managed’ in the sense in which the word is used in management theory dealing with the noting, evaluation and adjustment of deviations from norms. Theories of contact have existed for decades in linguistics as well as in the study of communication and other disciplines, but it is time to transform them into theories of contact in interaction in general. Contact situations must be viewed not merely as situations in which processes of linguistic misunderstanding occur, but as situations in which a number of social processes, including those of power, assert themselves. One of the concepts that must be accommodated in this scheme is contact between ‘major’ and ‘minor’ academic systems. Another question is that of the assimilation of academics (or acquirers of academic systems) from ‘minor’ systems into socially strong systems. In order not to remain within the constraints of old frameworks of cultural relativism, it is necessary to work towards a theoretically-based evaluation of academic patterns.

Alongside of the concept of academic competence, this paper introduces the notion of “academic interaction” in reference to all aspects of communicative and non-communicative behaviour in academic situations. It is argued that we must undertake more inquiry of the processes and outcomes of academic interaction in naturally occurring situations, not just the written texts that students produce. Focussing upon Japanese university students studying overseas, I introduce some new research that is currently being undertaken following an academic interaction approach, and then raise a number of issues emerging from this research, specifically, problems with the common L1/L2 categorization, the relative importance of difficulties facing students, the neglect of research on activities other than writing, the empowerment of students and facilitators of student transitions, academic paradigms and the superiority of English academic norms, and finally, the notion of major intellectual styles.

The study consisted of an investigation into the argument structures employed in the English academic writing of Japanese native speakers and Australian English native speakers in the Arts (humanities) faculty of an Australian university. In order to investigate naturally occurring written argument structures, an in-depth case-study analysis of a small number of coursework essays was conducted. The complexity of argument structures in terms of the elaboration of individual arguments and the relational links between multiple related arguments of extended persuasive discourse were examined. Consequently, the similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 argumentative structures in the English essays and the nature of argument in English native speaker and Japanese ESL writing were identified. The findings indicate that although there were some differences between the micro- and macro-structures of written arguments in the coursework essays of L1 and L2 students, there were also similarities across both groups of writers. This may suggest that the context of learning plays a role in shaping the argumentative discourse patterns of written texts, which has significant implications not only for L2 writers learning the conventions of English discourse in an academic environment but also for future research investigating forms of written argument.

This study examines students’ management of academic writing tasks, with a particular focus on how a Japanese L2 student writer of English integrates source text information into her written text. The data was gathered over one university semester through a triangulation of data collection procedures, namely interviews, journal studies and collection of written materials such as lecture notes, drafts and subject outlines. To date, there has been little research on this aspect of student writing, despite the integral importance of citation in demonstrating the originality of and/or justification for a writer’s argument and consequently in determining a reader’s assessment as to the effectiveness of an academic paper. By drawing upon the frameworks developed by Campbell (1987, 1990), Hyland (2000) and Stein (1990a), this study examines citation behaviour and task representation by investigating the cognitive processes and written products of one student. More specifically, this study investigates the processes and the concomitant difficulties that the L2 student experienced when integrating source text information and representing a task to herself while composing. In this way, this paper can better inform us of students’ actions, perceptions and attitudes when undertaking reading-to-write tasks.

This article presents a case study that analyzes the revising processes of three Japanese ESL students in academic writing contexts. Much previous research into the revision strategies used by L1 and L2 writers has been conducted in experimental-like settings rather than naturally occurring situations. In contrast, the present study seeks to show what writers are doing during revision in their L2 academic essay writing in naturally occurring situations. The results indicate that the three students had very different revising strategies and very different perceptions of the role that revision played in the entire composing process. The results further demonstrate how ESL students struggle with their academic writing tasks in a new academic discourse community. Implications for ESL writing instructions are discussed from the viewpoint of literacy skills, second language proficiency, and students’ past learning, writing and professional experiences.

This paper deals with the cross-cultural academic communication of Japanese exchange students who are enrolled at an Australian university. In particular, it reports on an investigation of their study management processes, focusing on their responses to assigned tasks, including written assignments, examinations, and oral presentations, and the relationship between such tasks and their prior academic experiences in Japan. On the basis of a conceptual model that integrates the language management framework with the two types of concepts involving situated learning and genres, an exploration is made of the deviations from Australian academic norms found in the conduct of the Japanese exchange students, their awareness and evaluations of these deviations, their planning and implementation of management strategies to rectify or avoid the deviations.

This paper deals with Japanese home-background students who enrolled in a full degree undergraduate program at an Australian university during 2000 to 2001. The study aims to identify and characterize the types of Japanese home-background students and establish a suitable classification of these students based on the findings. This study is an essential step in understanding the problems and the needs of these students in university learning. The findings are from a case study of 17 students, which are made up of seven local students and 10 international students.

This paper deals with communication networks of four upper-intermediate level Japanese language learners with in-country experience who are studying at an Australian university, and it also examines the relationship between the learners’ networks and language learning. Utilizing Boissevain’s criteria for network analysis, I compared the characteristics of the informants’ current networks with those that existed prior to their in-country experiences. In addition, this study applied the framework of communicative competence developed by Hymes and Neustupny to analyse the informants’ language learning that occurred within their networks. The study found that a number of characteristics of the informants’ networks, such as their multiplex social roles and the variety of backgrounds of their Japanese network interactants, were probably related to the raising of the learners’ non-linguistic as well as linguistic awareness. It therefore appears that learners’ out-of-class communication networks with native speakers of the target language play an important role in terms of language learning.

This paper discusses a number of differences between English and Persian in the area of speech acts and links them with different cultural values and norms. The Persian speakers’ use of face-keeping strategies in reaction to complaints was compared with American English speakers’ performance. The most frequent face- saving strategy used by both groups in reaction to complaints was the apology speech act. Therefore, a cross-cultural comparison in the realization patterns of the apology speech acts between the two languages was performed. A detailed analysis of the use of the illocutionary force indicating device (IFID) strategies and supportive strategies revealed important differences in communicative styles of the two groups which can give us insights into understanding different cultural values, norms, and assumptions concerning interpersonal use of language in a Western and a non-Western language. It is shown that Persian speakers are more sensitive to contextual factors and vary their face-keeping strategies accordingly whereas English speakers mostly use one apology strategy and intensify it based on contextual factors.