Academic writing programs are one way universities seek to increase the academic achievement of first-year students and decrease attrition. This paper examines data from an evaluation of a first-year academic writing program at Canadian Mennonite University. The original program evaluation was conducted to determine student attitudes toward the program and whether the academic writing lab program increased students’ writing abilities. This thesis goes further by examining relationships between affective outcomes (motivation, self-regulatory ability, perceived writing ability), writing ability, and cumulative grade point average. Data was collected using student surveys and writing samples. The results indicated that academic attainment was positively correlated with: writing ability, motivation, and self-regulation. Motivation and self-regulation, but not perceived writing ability, correlated with actual writing ability. Participation in the Academic Writing Lab did not affect student affective characteristics. However, student writing ability did improve which indicates that even a small program can improve students’ writing skills. / October 2016

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the world’s leading high stakes test that assesses the English Language Proficiency of candidates who speak languages other than English and wish to gain entry into universities where English is the language of instruction. Recently, over 3000 institutions in the United States accepted the IELTS test to be an indicator of language proficiency (IELTS, 2012a). Because of this preference for the IELTS test, and its worldwide recognition, there has been an increase in the number of students who are taking the test every year. According to the IELTS website, more than 7000 institutions around the world trust the test results and, not surprisingly, more than 1.7 million candidates take the test every year in one of the 800 recognised test centres across 135 countries (IELTS, 2012a). These candidates include people who seek not only to obtain admission to universities, but also for immigration authorities, employers of certain companies and government agencies. Acknowledging this popularity and importance to learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), this qualitative study has investigated the construct validity of the academic writing module in the IELTS test from the perspectives of the stakeholders (i.e. candidates, lecturers and markers). The aim was to understand why some Saudi students fail to cope with demands of the university despite the fact that they have achieved the minimum requirements in IELTS. In this study, data was collected in two phases in two different settings through open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured observations and semi-structured interviews. Phase I was carried out in the Department of English Language (DEL) at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, while Phase II was conducted in one university in the UK. The sample of the study included: 8 students, 6 university lecturers and one marker. In this study, data were analysed and coded into themes by using NVivo 9. The results of this case study have shown that the stakeholders were doubtful about the issue of readiness of students, which is claimed by IELTS, and they wanted the test to be clearer about how the students were going to cope with university demands upon gaining entry. In addition, with respect to the content validity of the test, this study found that the tasks in the academic writing test to a large extent do not reflect the kind of tasks candidates are likely to encounter at university. Furthermore, this study pointed out that response validity, on the part of students who may not have understood the rubric of the tasks, is another important factor affecting the students’ performance. Also, the findings of this study suggested that scoring validity could have a significant effect on the students’ scores because of the inconsistency of markers during the scoring process as they may have sometimes failed to assign the students to their corresponding level of proficiency. Consequently, the study provided a set of implications as well as recommendations for future research.

HYBNER, Otakar. Bachelor Diploma Thesis: Genre of the Bachelor Diploma Thesis, its Formation and Contemporary Form. Prague, 2019. Master thesis. Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Education, Department of Czech Language. Supervisor PhDr. Radka Holanová, Ph.D. This master thesis deals with the context of conditions leading to the existence of the bachelor thesis genre. A style norm of this expert communication genre is interpreted on the basis of the available literature. The overall conception of this issue in the available literature is evaluated. With respect to the style norm, criteria that are expected to be fulfilled in a bachelor thesis are set. The fulfilment of the criteria is tested on a randomly selected sample of bachelor theses.

A research report submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by combination of coursework and research. Johannesburg, 2015 / Achievement rates in higher education in South Africa for black students remain low after 20 years of democracy. Writing academic English according to existing conventions is a complex skill. One aspect of this skill is producing dense, cohesive text. The writing of a group of IsiZulu speakers at Wits is analyzed to find out how Hallidayan (1976) cohesion is operating therein: how does this language group use conjunctions, lexical cohesion, referencing, ellipsis and substitution when writing in English? In addition, it explores whether differences in how IsiZulu and English are structured create problems with cohesion for these undergraduates when writing in English. Furthermore, it aims to uncover if the rhetorical structure of IsiZulu influences the organization and the cohesion of their English texts. From this analysis, it is evident that there are elements of referencing, conjunction use and lexical cohesion which are well developed in their writing. At the same time, evidence of speech-type syntax in the data points to areas where further development is possible. This knowledge has led to suggestions on how academic literacy input could facilitate writing skills development for this language group. The investigation has also established the dominance of English rhetorical organisation in both the English and IsiZulu writing of this cohort. It has also shown that these students experience rhetorical conflict when instructed not to use repetition as a meaning-making strategy in their writing. Both a pragmatic and a critical response to these findings has been provided. The pragmatic response is a set of suggestions on how to develop language skills in the area of cohesion. The critical response is a proposal for an alternative style of academic textual organisation with stronger links to IsiZulu oral rhetoric practices. Key words: Cohesion in IsiZulu, cohesion in English, IsiZulu rhetoric, English rhetoric, academic literacy, transformation in tertiary education

Thesis advisor: David A. Karp / A qualitative study based on forty four in-depth interviews with undergraduates experiencing severe difficulties with academic writing, this dissertation examines how structural factors--social class and race in particular--contribute to academic "writer's block." Writing block is more than the "personal trouble" it is typically conceived of being, it is also a "public issue" with definitive structural contributors. All of my subjects perceived writing as a high stakes performance, and their writing blocks can be understood as instances of "choking" in the face of these high stakes. For many working class students, writing block is an expression of dominant cultural capital disadvantage; while for many upper middle class students, writing block represents the psychological costs of privilege. For students with unusual class-race identifications, writing block embodies their liminal social status. In the current economic climate of uncertainty, class status for students across the socioeconomic spectrum has become relatively unstable given individuals' increased risk of downward mobility. As such, academic writing blocks may be construed as angst experienced at the intersection of psychology and structure. This study contributes to and extends the literature on social reproduction in higher education as well as the literature on the price of privilege. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Esta tese de doutorado começa investigando as relações entre história e ficção nos séculos XX e XXI, com ênfase na ideia de pós-modernidade e de crise da representação. Depois da leitura de alguns romancistas contemporâneos (como W.G. Sebald, J.M Coetzee, Orhan Pamuk e Enrique Vila-Matas) e de alguns historiadores contemporâneos (especialmente Carlo Ginzburg), a pesquisa avança sobre o estudo teórico da autobiografia e da autoficção, tentando refletir sobre as implicações epistemológicas da narrativa também no discurso da crítica literária e na escrita acadêmica. / This doctoral thesis began by researching the relationship between history and fiction in the 20th and 21st centuries, focusing on the crisis of representation and the idea of post-modernity. After reading some contemporary novelists (such as W.G. Sebald, J.M Coetzee, Orhan Pamuk e Enrique Vila-Matas) and also some contemporary historians (notably Carlo Ginzburg), the research advances towards the theoretical study of autobiography and autofiction, attempting to reflect on the epistemological implications of narrative both for the discourse of literary criticism and for academic writing.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar o desenvolvimento das capacidades de linguagem necessárias para a produção dos gêneros résumé e note de lecture por meio de sequências didáticas elaboradas para um curso de escrita acadêmica. Buscamos, ainda, verificar se os alunos desenvolvem capacidades de linguagem no trabalho com o gênero résumé que podem transferir para a produção do gênero note de lecture. Finalmente, visamos a investigar se há influência, nas produções dos alunos, da atuação do professor na aplicação das sequências didáticas. Propomo-nos, assim, a contribuir com os estudos realizados sobre o ensino de gêneros textuais e com os estudos realizados sobre o desenvolvimento da escrita acadêmica em língua francesa. Esta pesquisa fundamenta-se no Interacionismo Sociodiscursivo (ISD) tal como desenvolvido por Bronckart (1999, 2006, 2008) e por outros pesquisadores que fazem parte do mesmo quadro teórico (SCHNEUWLY e DOLZ, 2004; MACHADO, 2009) que se concentram na questão dos gêneros textuais no ensino-aprendizagem de línguas. Visando a alcançar nossos objetivos, elaboramos os modelos didáticos dos gêneros résumé e note de lecture, a partir da análise de 20 textos de cada gênero, e duas sequências didáticas para ensiná-los em um curso de escrita acadêmica intitulado Gêneros textuais acadêmicos: produção de textos orais e escritos em francês para participação no contexto universitário. As produções iniciais e finais de cada gênero, realizadas pelos alunos participantes do curso, foram analisadas segundo o modelo de análise de textos do Interacionismo Sociodiscursivo (BRONCKART, 1999) e através de uma comparação com seus respectivos modelos didáticos. Com nossas análises, observamos que ao trabalhar com os gêneros résumé e note de lecture em sala de aula, os alunos puderam desenvolver capacidades de linguagem necessárias para a produção desses gêneros e, além disso, verificamos que capacidades desenvolvidas através da sequência didática do résumé podem ser transferidas para a produção da note de lecture. Dessa forma, nossa pesquisa traz contribuições para os estudos sobre gêneros desenvolvidos no grupo ALTER-AGE-CNPq, para os estudos que vêm sendo realizados sobre a escrita acadêmica e para as pesquisas que têm sido desenvolvidas no âmbito do Laboratório de Letramento Acadêmico da FFLCH-USP. / This dissertations goal is to analyse the development of language capacities that are necessary to write the genres résumé and note de lecture through didactic sequences elaborated for a course of academic writing. We also intend to verify if the students develop language capacities when working with the genre résumé which could be transferred to the genre note de lecture. Lastly, we aim at investigating if the teachers application of didactic sequences influences the students written productions. We intend therefore to contribute with the research on genre teaching and on the development of academic writing in French. This research is based on the Socio-Discursive Interactionism (SDI) as developed by Bronckart (1999, 2006, 2008) and by other researchers from the same theoretical framework (SCHNEUWLY; DOLZ, 2004; MACHADO, 2009) whose focus is the study of textual genres in the teaching and learning of languages. In order to achieve our goals, we elaborated the didactic models of the genres résumé and note de lecture based on 20 texts of each genre and two didactic sequences for the sake of teaching them in a course of academic writing entitled Academic textual genres: oral and written texts in French in an academic context. The first and last written productions of each genre done by the students enrolled in the course were analysed according to the model of textual analysis proposed by the Socio-Discursive Interactionism (BRONCKART, 1999) and compared to their didactic models. We observed that the students could develop the language capacities that are necessary to write the genres résumé and note de lecture when working with these genres in the classroom. Moreover, we verified that the language capacities developed through the didactic sequence of the résumé could be transferred to the note de lecture. Consequently, our research brings contributions to the studies about genres developed by the group ALTER-AGE-CNPq to the studies about academic writing and to the studies that have been held under the Academic Literacy Laboratory at FFLCH-USP.

Esta tese compõe o conjunto de pesquisas coordenadas pelo projeto coletivo Movimentos do Escrito, desenvolvido pelo Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa Produção Escrita e Psicanálise GEPPEP. Tem como objeto de estudo as intervenções feitas por um orientador em um processo de escrita acadêmica. Versa não só a respeito das produções textuais propriamente ditas como, também, tematiza o laço do professor-orientador e de seu aluno-orientando que facilita a sustentação do trabalho por meio do qual são produzidas. Postula a existência de uma correlação entre as intervenções do orientador e o processo de escrita do texto acadêmico realizado sob orientação. Os dados analisados são as várias versões do trabalho de conclusão de curso de Joana, a aluna-orientanda, o diário clínico da professora-orientadora e os e-mails trocados entre ambas durante a realização do curso de pós-graduação. Busca responder duas questões: a) Quais os manejos realizados por um professor-orientador para promover, quando julga necessário, a reescrita do texto pelo aluno-orientando? e b) Quais efeitos essas intervenções provocaram na escrita do orientando? Para respondê-las, construiu-se uma interlocução entre os estudos da educação e os da psicanálise de orientação lacaniana. Assim sendo, o entendimento sobre o laço entre o professor-orientador e seu aluno-orientando partiu do conceito de transferência cunhado por Freud (1912): vínculo que se estabelece exclusivamente nas relações humanas, em especial naquelas que se configuram como um processo no qual o agente depende de um parceiro mais experiente para ter sucesso. Posteriormente, considerou as reelaborações de Lacan (1964/1998), que, por sua vez, subordinou este afeto à suposição de saber a respeito dos modos de satisfação do ser humano. Freud define o conceito de transferência e, depois, Jacques Lacan o ressignifica não mais privilegiando a realidade empírica do sujeito, mas sua dimensão fantasmática. A metodologia do trabalho está fundamentada na pesquisa psicanalítica, a partir da qual se fez uma construção do caso, tal qual proposto por Fédida (1992). Como resultado desta investigação, foi possível perceber que a intervenção/manejo do professor-orientador pode provocar mudança no laço estabelecido entre ambos, alterando, assim, a posição do orientando frente a sua escrita. Foi, ainda, possível mostrar que, no caso específico aqui tratado, Joana, a orientanda, saiu de uma posição de inércia frente ao saber para assumir uma postura investigativa a partir da qual pôde construir seu trabalho. / This thesis is part of a group of researches coordinated by the collective project Movimentos do Escrito, developed by Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa Produção Escrita e Psicanálise GEPPEP. It aims to study the interventions made by an adviser during an academic writing process. It focuses not only on the textual productions themselves but also on the link between the adviser and his student-disciple, which corroborates to sustain the academic writing process. It postulates the existence of a correlation between the adviser´s interventions and the academic text´s writing process carried out under supervision. The data analyzed are the various versions of the course conclusion paper written by Joana, the student-disciple, the adviser´s clinical diary, and the e-mails exchanged between them during the post-graduation course. It aims to answer two main questions: a) Which are the interventions made by the adviser to stimulate the student-disciple to re-write her text? And b) Which effects those interventions cause in the disciple´s writing? In order to answer those questions, this study is supported by both education and psychoanalysis studies. Thus, it understands the link between the adviser and his student-disciple on the basis of the transference concept (Freud, 1912): link that is established exclusively in human relationships, especially in the ones that are figured as a process in which the agent depends on a more experienced partner to be successful. Afterwards, it considered Lacan´s elaborations (1964/1998) who subordinated that concept to the knowing supposition in relation to the ways the human being gets his satisfaction. Freud defines the concept of transference and, later, Jacques Lacan re-signifies it giving privilege not to the subject empirical reality but to its phantasmal dimension instead. The methodology adopted here is based on the psychoanalytic research, from which this case received its outlines, in the way recommended by Fédida (1992). This study allowed to observe that the adviser´s intervention can provoke changes in the link established between him and his student-disciple, modifying the disciple´s position facing his own writing. It was even possible to show that, in the specific case dealt with here, Joana, the disciple, could get out of an inert position facing Knowledge in order to assume an investigative one.

A escrita é uma das evoluções mais significativas da humanidade desde a descoberta do fogo. Devido à importância indiscutível dela, principalmente no ambiente de aprendizagem, há muitas pesquisas delineadas para qualificá-la, mesmo com os avanços tecnológicos digitais que ampliaram o uso da linguagem, ainda encontramos muitos estudantes com dificuldades para escrever, expressar ou argumentar as suas ideias por meio do código escrito e respeitando a coerência. Sendo que essa dificuldade sofre um aumento significativo quando se trata da produção de um texto acadêmico científico no ensino superior, pois os acadêmicos encontram dificuldades para escrever a partir de critérios de análise textual, como por exemplo, o que poderá tornar um texto coerente ou não. Nesse sentido, as tecnologias digitais podem apoiar a qualificação desse processo. Diante da problemática apresentada, essa tese tem por objetivo compreender como uma ferramenta com base em mineração de texto pode apoiar os estudantes no processo de construção e avaliação da escrita acadêmica a partir de determinados critérios de análise textual. Para a organização dos procedimentos metodológicos foram escolhidas as abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas, assim como, o método de pesquisa quase-experimental e as técnicas de coleta utilizadas foram questionários e documentos. Para analisar os dados coletados foram aplicadas as técnicas de análise estatística descritiva e análise de conteúdo. O experimento se deu com 782 alunos, divididos em dois grupos para aplicação e comparação dos resultados por meio da avaliação às cegas de um grupo de professores selecionados. Alguns resultados são perceptíveis na trajetória da investigação, como por exemplo, as significativas contribuições do software Sobek integrado na ferramenta Seshat para identificar os critérios de análise textual que confirmam ou não a coerência na construção de um texto científico. / Writing is one of the most significant evolutions of mankind since the discovery of fire. Due to its undisputed importance, especially in the learning environment, there are many researches outlined to qualify it, even with the technological advances in digital technology that have expanded the use of language, we still find many students with difficulties to write, express or argue their ideas by The written code and respecting coherence. This difficulty suffers a significant increase when it comes to the production of a scientific academic text in higher education, since academics find it difficult to write from criteria of textual analysis, for example, what can make a text coherent or do not. In this sense, digital technologies can support the qualification of this process. In view of the problems presented, this paper aims to understand how a tool based on text mining can support students in the process of construction and evaluation of academic writing based on certain criteria of textual analysis. For the organization of the methodological procedures were chosen the qualitative and quantitative approaches, as well as the quasi-experimental research method and the collection techniques used were questionnaires and documents. To analyze the collected data, the techniques of descriptive statistical analysis and content analysis were applied. The experiment was carried out with 782 students, divided into two groups for application and comparison of the results through the blind evaluation of a group of selected teachers. However, some results are perceptible in the research trajectory, such as the significant contributions of the software Sobek integrated in the tool Seshat to identify the criteria of textual analysis that confirm or not the coherence in the construction of a scientific text.

Das coisas que acontecem quando se pesquisa em uma pósgraduação. Das dimensões ética, estética e política em produzir uma dissertação de mestrado ou tese de doutorado nos tempos atuais. Da construção de um atelier de escrita em um programa de pós-graduação em Psicologia Social e Institucional. Dos efeitos e registros de um escrever-com: com os participantes do atelier, com autores e autoras (acadêmicos e/ou não), com as bobagens, bibliotecas, músicas e literaturas. Dos risos e embrulhos de escrever em meio à vida. Dos ingredientes e modos de usar uma pesquisa. Dos efeitos coletivos de escrita a partir de 10 figuras disparadas por Roland Barthes: abandono, apneia, assinatura, bissemia, centro, círculo, embrulhado, prosa, tranquilidade, violência. Da escrita acadêmica como uma política da bolha: frágil, torpe, singular mas em constante movimento. / About what happens when you engage in academic research. About the ethical, aesthetic and political dimensions of writing a thesis on times like these. About creating a writing workshop in a Social and Institutional Psychology graduate program. About the effects and records of weiting-with. with the participants of the workshop, with the authors (academic and/or not), with the nonsense, libraries, musics, literatures. About the laughter and nausea of writing immerse in life. About the ingredients and ‘how-to use’s of a research. About the collective effects of writing from Roland Barthes’s 10 abandoned figures: abandon, apnea, bissemia, center, circle, crammed, prose, signature, tranquility, violence. About academic writing as a politics of the bubble: fragile, nasty, singular but in constant movement.