In recent years research on writing in academic contexts began to focus on the types and nature of writing tasks students encounter in the content subjects. Research has also examined particular rhetorical features like the use of interactional metadiscourse features that writers use to present their voice in writing and which might distinguish specific genres. These developments in academic writing have also considered the socio-cultural context in which specific genres are produced. The pedagogical motivation for researchers has been to better understand students' writing needs in their content subjects in order to prepare them for academic writing in their disciplines. Much of this research has focused on other fields of study like science and engineering and business students and in L1 contexts and I have found nothing that relates specifically to academic writing for Media Studies and Primary Education in the context of Botswana. Using mixed-methods approach to genre analysis, this thesis compares students' use of interactional metadiscourse features to present voice in three writing contexts, the EAP preparatory course and two undergraduate courses (Media Studies and Primary Education) at the University of Botswana. A sub-corpus of L1 (BAWE) undergraduate writers working on similar essays was also used to compare how the L2 writers and L1 writers in this study vary in the use of these features in essay writing. A total of 123 essays from these various contexts were analyzed. Interviews with students and tutors in the EAP department and Media Studies and Primary Education departments were also done to understand the socio-cultural context in which the essays were produced. The results indicate that writing tasks in the departments of Media Studies and Primary Education included both the general essay and discipline specific genres. The comparison of interactional metadiscourse features in the different sub-corpora indicated variations in the use of these features by the different groups of learners. Contextual information shows that such variations reflect the different values and beliefs about academic writing of the concrete discourse communities that students belong to. These values and beliefs can be problematic for EAP tutors who have to prepare students for writing in the various disciplines. The research has provided valuable insights into writing in Botswana context and may prove to have relevance for similar contexts. They have raised pedagogical implications for the design of the EAP writing course at the University of Botswana where a focus on a more contextual approach to teaching the academic writing would prove useful. The findings of this study are also potentially beneficial to the wider EAP community and the field of Applied Linguistics as an example of a mixed-method, contextual approach to genre analysis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:536247 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Ramoroka, Boitumelo Tiny |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/35591/ |
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