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- Volume 39, Issue, 2016
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics - Volume 39, Issue 2, 2016
Volume 39, Issue 2, 2016
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The content feedback practices of Applied Linguistics doctoral supervisors in New Zealand and Australian universities
Author(s): John Bitchenerpp.: 105–121 (17)More LessThe focus of this article is on the written feedback that supervisors say they often give their second language (L2) doctoral students. Little is known about the focus of this feedback and about what supervisors consider as priorities in the early draft writing of dissertation chapters. Given the potentially different priorities and foci of supervisors in different disciplines and different contexts (Bitchener, Basturkmen, & East, 2010), this article reports the findings of an investigation into the content focus of the written feedback that 30 Applied Linguistics supervisors in New Zealand and Australian universities said they provide on early drafts of dissertation chapters. All supervisors completed a questionnaire and 26 were interviewed. Two broad areas of concern are identified: subject knowledge, coverage and argument; and aspects of the writing that need to be edited in some way. The article closes with recommendations for further research and suggestions for pedagogical application.
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Exploring doctoral students’ perceptions of language use in supervisory written feedback practices – because “feedback is hard to have”
Author(s): Elke Stracke and Vijay Kumarpp.: 122–138 (17)More LessThe mastery of academic writing is essential in doctoral writing. Supervisory feedback provides opportunities for students to improve their writing. It is a communicative tool that can be categorised based on fundamental functions of speech: referential, directive, and expressive. This study provides some understanding of the impact that language and speech functions have on the learning experiences of doctoral students. Sources of data are oral interviews with each student, and their supervisor’s written feedback on drafts of that student’s thesis. Analysis of the feedback provided useful insights into the type of feedback the student considered useful for their development. The students found value in all three types of feedback. In particular, expressive types of feedback often led to an emotional reaction, as students viewed praise, criticism and opinions as motivating or challenging. We argue that expressive types of feedback can play an important role for developing academic writing. This study assists supervisors to acquire a higher level of language awareness so they are better equipped to provide feedback that supports the academic writing and overall learning of their students.
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Becoming an applied linguist
Author(s): Celia Thompson, Janne Morton and Neomy Storchpp.: 139–157 (19)More LessThe need to establish an authorial identity in academic discourse has been considered to be critical for all doctoral students by academic writing teachers and researchers for some time. For students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) in particular, the challenges are not only how to communicate this identity effectively in English, but also how to develop from a writer who simply ventriloquizes the voices of scholarly others to an author who writes with authority and discipline-specific rhetorical knowledge. In the current project, we explored how three EAL students constructed authorial voices through the use of personal and impersonal forms of self-representation and evaluative stance in the Introduction sections of their written PhD Confirmation Reports. Our findings indicate that students combined a complex range of linguistic and rhetorical resources, such as integral and non-integral attribution of sources and attitudinal markers of stance, in their quest to project credible authorial identities as Applied Linguists. We also discovered the effect of these resources on readers to be cumulative. We recommend further research, including interviews with students, supervisors and examiners from across the disciplines, to explore and extend the scope of the present study.
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Challenges faced by second language doctoral student writers in Hong Kong and their writing strategies
Author(s): Fiona Hylandpp.: 158–180 (23)More LessWriting at the doctoral level presents many challenges for second language writers. This paper reports on a longitudinal study investigating English as a second language (ESL) doctoral students’ writing problems and the strategies they developed to meet these challenges. Eight students were interviewed four times over a two-year period during their doctoral program and a questionnaire was sent to over 150 postgraduate students to investigate their major writing challenges and their self-initiated strategies. The findings suggested that students’ writing challenges were in two main areas: difficulties with expressing complex ideas in a second language; and difficulties with developing confidence and a convincing academic voice. This paper focuses on the strategies students developed to deal with their writing challenges and uses one case to show how these evolved over a two-year period. Strategies used consistently and successfully included using expert writing such as academic articles as writing ‘models’ and the use of peer support networks that provided advice and feedback on the students’ writing and also offered opportunities for academic collaboration. The study adds to our growing knowledge of the resources and support available to doctoral writers, highlighting the use of social and academic networking and the role played by textual resources such as articles and theses as textual mentors.
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Oral interactions in a writing group as mediating artefacts
Author(s): Naoko Mochizukipp.: 181–200 (20)More LessWriting groups have been gaining attention as a new approach to doctoral education to cater to students and supervisors’ diversified needs emerging from the globalisation of higher education. However, the relationships between the main activity of these groups, oral interactions, and participants’ learning remain unexplored. To fill this gap, this study investigates the processes of one multilingual PhD student’s genre learning through oral interaction in a 10-week writing group at an Australian university. Data were collected through observation and audio recordings of meetings, written drafts, and interviews with the student and a facilitator. As mediating artefacts, writing group oral interactions were closely examined with reference to the student’s motives and her subsequent writing. Specifically they were analysed for the means of scaffolding and the student’s response patterns. The findings suggest the influence of the student’s motives on her participation in the activity of the writing group as well as her decisions on how to deal with the scaffolding she received. The findings reveal dynamic relationships between motives, scaffolding, and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and shed new light on the facilitative role of learners’ responses to scaffolding. The article concludes with pedagogical implications for oral feedback sessions in classrooms and writing groups.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 47 (2024)
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Volume 46 (2023)
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Volume 45 (2022)
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Volume 44 (2021)
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Volume 43 (2020)
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Volume 42 (2019)
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Volume 41 (2018)
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Volume 40 (2017)
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Volume 39 (2016)
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Volume 38 (2015)
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Volume 37 (2014)
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Volume 36 (2013)
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Volume 35 (2012)
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Volume 34 (2011)
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Volume 33 (2010)
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Volume 32 (2009)
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Volume 31 (2008)
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Volume 30 (2007)
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Volume 29 (2006)
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Volume 28 (2005)
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Volume 27 (2004)
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Volume 26 (2003)
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Volume 25 (2002)
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Volume 24 (2001)
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Volume 23 (2000)
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Volume 22 (1999)
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Volume 21 (1998)
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Volume 20 (1997)
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Volume 19 (1996)
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Volume 18 (1995)
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Volume 17 (1994)
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Volume 16 (1993)
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Volume 15 (1992)
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Volume 14 (1991)
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Volume 13 (1990)
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Volume 12 (1989)
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Volume 11 (1988)
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Volume 10 (1987)
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Volume 9 (1986)
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Volume 8 (1985)
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Volume 7 (1984)
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Volume 6 (1983)
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Volume 5 (1982)
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Volume 4 (1981)
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Volume 3 (1980)
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Volume 2 (1979)
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Volume 1 ([1978, 1977])
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Volume 1 ([1978, 1977])
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The changing face of motivation
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