<p>This study explores second and third year students' and teachers‟ views on factors that hinder or facilitate the mastery of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in the Science and Engineering Technology Higher Institutions of learning in Rwanda (KIST) and seeks to establish the extent to which the current programme meets the needs of the students. This is done by highlighting a whole range of teacher and student perspectives on the EAP programme. Two key requirements invite students to write their academic assignments in the form of research proposals and research project reports. In order to help them perform well in their field subjects, KIST introduced a department of English with a General English Programme under the umbrella of the then School of Language Studies (SORAS) in 1997. The department‟s first assigned mission was to teach English to students in all departments in a bid to support and encourage them to cope with their field specific courses which are taught in English. Rwanda‟s National Council for Higher Education (2007), on language teaching and learning, states that the trio, that is Kinyarwanda (the Mother Tongue and national language) and English and French (as foreign languages), should be taught at primary, secondary and higher education levels in order to reconcile the divide between Rwandan returnees (who had lived abroad for many decades) and locals. It is in this context that KIST, one of the institutions of higher learning, adopted the bilingual policy to cater to students‟ needs to learn both French and English as media of academic communication. However, after Rwanda‟s integration into the East African Community and the Commonwealth, English has been officially adopted as the medium of instruction in all schools and higher institutions of education. That is why there was a sudden language shift in 2006 from French to English as a medium of instruction at KIST. French and Kinyarwanda are now merely taught as subjects. The motive behind the move was to cater for Rwanda‟s needs to fully participate in the economic community of East African Community in general and in the global economy in particular. The move drastically affected students‟ ability to read and write English in their respective disciplines. The move also affected lecturers of other speciality areas. To avert the obvious challenges emanating from this sudden shift in language policy, the Institute introduced the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes under the then KIST School of Language Studies (SOLAS) and the KIST Language Centre. However, appropriate instructional materials for such courses have not been easily available. Given this situation, English teachers have had to create their own materials rather than the existing generalised and pre-packaged language teaching materials. As a result, students‟ specific needs for induction into a scientific writing community at tertiary level have rarely been met. It is against this background that the study seeks to investigate factors that are facilitating and the mastery of EAP. The study operates on post-colonial/post-structuralist theoretical perspectives. These were founded on the analytical framework that is guided by thematic and/or conceptual underpinnings of language policy in the post-colonial Africa. Thus, English Language Teaching (ELT), developed into English as a second and additional language that is multi-semiotic and multi-modality in EAP and science genres, focusing mostly on its academic literacy, identity, ideology, power and agency, as well as its investment in language teaching and learning and the scientific community practice. Using a combination of ethnographic principles/practices like participants‟ observations, oneto- one interviews, focus group discussions and documentary review in data collection, the study utilises thematic/conceptual analysis to draw its conclusions. Drawing from the above conceptual perspectives, therefore, as well as from the methodological approach, this thesis emphasises the fact that the inability of students to successfully master EAP is caused by various factors, including the choice of English language learning materials. Contradictory approaches to language learning and to academic literacy practices create further challenges to the Rwandan students‟ advancement in English mastery. These same practices also serve to limit the students‟ ability to learn this language and complicate their access to local and global cultural exposure that is necessary for their socio-economic development of Rwanda. The study also reveals lack of appropriate discursive competence and multi-semiotic repertoires as some of the major factors inhibiting students‟ academic progress. This is partly explained by the nature of the English language learning and teaching materials that is in use which neither provides general nor disciplinary specific academic and learning opportunities in English. Similarly, a range of structural and professional constraints on &bdquo / agency‟ exists for teachers of English in Rwanda as an additional language to the students, including lack of induction into scientific discourses or the EAP community of language practice. The overall lack of power and agency by teachers also contributes to constraints and constrictions in English language learning practices for these students in Rwanda. The study, however, observes that this situation is not only peculiar to KIST, as it is also common in almost all tertiary institutions in Rwanda. Specific recommendations are made in the study to improve the quality of English language learning and teaching in general and EAP in particular at KIST as an institution of higher learning, through the establishment of a clearer language policy and training opportunities for staff to update and develop required language skills in EAP, especially with regards to writing skills in sciences and engineering. The government of Rwanda, under the umbrella of Rwanda Education Board (REB) and the contribution of English language experts at the Institute, should provide a clearer direction of the language policy and curriculum that addresses Rwandan students‟ specific needs. KIST, as an institution of higher learning, should value and facilitate the teaching and learning of English in general and the teaching of EAP in particular, bearing in mind its assigned mission. The management of the Institute should encourage interaction between EAP and subject area lecturers to discuss and agree upon, text types to be used by EAP lecturers in teaching. KIST management should also provide room for regular interactions with English lecturers to listen to their views and offer them further language training opportunities in order to update and develop the required skills in EAP, especially with regards to writing skills in science and engineering.</p>

The present paper is an attempt to study different aspects of academic writing and develop the profile of assessment criteria in academic writing. Since scholarly discourse is not uniform and monolithic, in Part One academic writing is discussed in terms of its three-fold purposes (viz. teaching, learning and assessing), its key distinctive features (complexity, formality, objectivity, explicitness, hedging, and responsibility), and the relationship between academic writing and other kinds of writing. University studies-related and most common genres, learner study skills and strategies (among which summarising, analysing and synthesising are emphasised) as well as different ways of acquiring adequate skills in academic writing are also discussed thoroughly. Part Two of the present paper focuses on establishing criteria for assessing certain pieces of students’ academic writing, viz. summaries and analyses. While pursuing this objective, manifold aims and principles in assessing academic writing skills, analytic and holistic scoring methods are given consideration, and a step-by-step procedure for developing analytic rating scales is constructed. The analytic rating scales (for assessing student written summaries and analyses) developed in the course of writing the present paper can provide students with useful feedback on the language gain and progress made. In Part Three of the paper, the devised scales are used to assess and discuss VPU second year student written... [to full text]

The professional profile of researchers is established through communication of scientific work practices, leading to the establishment of a scholarly identity. Understanding scholarly identities is currently addressed through a conceptualisation of research narrative mechanisms. Citation and citing practices are a central component of scientific communication work practices. Therefore understanding these formal communication practices of researchers through their citing behaviours may contribute to the building of scholarly identity. This study is undertaken to understand whether scholarly identity could be informed through the use of citation identities. Studies on the citation identities of individuals were conducted, using authors working in the area of Consciousness, which provided a diverse field of participants for the testing of citation analysis techniques. This is accomplished through methodological development and further examined using a combination of field-level and individual-level analyses. A new methodology was developed for the generation of citing identities, based on the calculation of the Gini coefficient and the citee-citation ratio of authors' citing profiles. The resu!ting relationship was found to have high levels of consistency across a heterogenous set of researchers. An exploration of identification of author characteristics was subsequently undertaken using the new methodology and existing citation analysis techniques. The techniques were successful in identifying departures from conventional citation practice, highlighting idiosyncrasies well, but otherwise understanding of scholarly identity through citation analysis was only marginally successful. Aportion of the difficulty of achieving clarity was the complexity of the Consciousness author set, which was useful for establishing broad applicability of a new methodology, but poor for judging its successful application. In summary, definition of citing identity type offers possibilities for improving the understanding of scholarly identity, but will require further methodology development to reach its full potential.

Australia has been striving to increase the number of international full fee paying students at its universities and as a result, foundation studies programs (FSPs) have been developed to ensure that these students have the best chance of succeeding at said universities. These programs comprise many elements. Some, like History of Ideas and Western Literature, provide foreign students with the educational background expected of all students pursuing tertiary studies in western universities. Others, like English for Academic Purposes (EN) provide the everyday skills needed for success at university. This trend raises the question: Are current EAP courses meeting the academic needs of international students when it comes to succeeding at university? And, if they are not, what can be done to these EAP courses? Traditionally, decisions about student needs (needs analysis) have been left to the teachers and researchers in the field. However, this study looks at a relatively new way of evaluating the success of EAP courses: It asks the students themselves what has or has not been helpful about their EAP course with regard to their university studies.

Academic success is clearly linked to one's ability to write well. Given this close link between the two and the poor academic record of Pacific Island students within mainstream education in New Zealand, it is surprising that very little research has been undertaken to examine the academic writing problems of Pacific Island students. This emancipatory, critical study focused on tertiary students who identified as New Zealand-born Samoan. Since Samoans constitute half the Pacific Island population in New Zealand, New Zealand-born Samoan participants were chosen as being representative of this larger group. They were also chosen because they represented a group of New Zealanders identified as disadvantaged in terms of their largely low socio-economic status and poor academic achievement levels.The theoretical framework for this study is grounded in Bernstein's critical theories on communicative and teaching practices in mainstream education which disadvantage minority students from working class communities. These theories are discussed in conjunction with a general review of relevant literature in Chapter 2. The Samoan researcher in this study has added an inter-generational commentary to some of the views and experiences of school and Samoan homelife in New Zealand of participants, firstly from the perspective of her own first-hand experiences of school and Samoan homelife in the 50s and 60s and secondly from the perspective of an experienced English language teacher in New Zealand tertiary institutions.This study used a triangulation approach to enhance reliability and validity of quantitative and qualitative data collected. Three data collecting instruments were used: a written questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, and students' actual essay assignments. A written questionnaire was completed by 14 students who identified as NewZealand-born Samoan. A case study approach was then used with a sub-group of five students, representative of the original 14, who were interviewed more closely in the following areas of interest which emerged through the questionnaire: students' perceived and actual academic writing skills, communicative and teaching practices of high school and tertiary teachers, students' learning strategies, the role and effectiveness of Pacific Island support staff and programmes and the impact of the cultural and communicative practices of Samoan parents in traditional, bilingual Samoan homes on students' academic performance and success in the formal learning environment. The impact of factors such as poor self-motivation and time-management skills, inadequate reading skills and a lack of understanding of and exposure to the academic discourses of the formal learning environment, on the academic writing problems of the participants in this study, were also examined.Teaching methods which perpetuated rote learning practices amongst students were reported by participants in this study from both low and middle-decile high schools. The communicative and teaching practices of Pacific Island teaching staff were also examined in this study. Relevant data from the one-to-one teaching sessions with participants were also included as part of this study. The face-to-face interviews and one-to-one teaching sessions were tape-recorded.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2007. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Sustainability, Environmental and Life Sciences. Title of CD-ROM: Uniting the voices : decision making to negotiate for Native Title in South Australia. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois, 2007. / Vita. Abstracted in DAI-A 69/02, Aug 2008. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-204).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed May 20, 2008). PDF text: iii, 150 p. ; 617 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3284033. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 327-342).