Peer facilitated writing groups: a programmatic approach to doctoral student writing

Very few empirical studies have investigated programmes in which doctoral students act as peer facilitators in faculty writing groups. We report on the development of a centrally delivered doctoral student writing programme in which twenty student participants were mentored and provided with the resources to initiate their own faculty-based doctoral writing groups. ‘Legitimate peripheral participation’ was used as a conceptual lens to interpret the data collected during the establishment and evaluation of the programme. All student participants in the preparatory training course, which was developed in consultation with postgraduate students and research supervisors, went on to become doctoral writing peer facilitators of peer writing groups. Insights from seven of these showed how a well-structured and supportive programme harnessed the benefits of peer learning by bringing personal rewards to participants and building institutional capacity around doctoral research writing literacies.     

Doing academic writing differently: a feminist bricolage

This article emerged as the product of a collaboration between two individuals at different stages of our academic careers, one a beginning researcher and the other a senior academic. Written as an experimental bricolage, the article weaves together two main threads to chart our engagements with feminist research and with writing practices, both of which we envisage as forms of feminist praxis. The red thread explores feminist research as a continuous accomplishment in which becoming-feminist is enacted through our different research narratives. The green thread employs diffraction, as an experimental practice to undo the normalised practices of academic writing by weaving together various kinds of texts. In its entangled quilting of the red and green threads, the article foregrounds bricolage as an experimental feminist praxis of doing collaborative writing differently.     

Writing time: A rhythmic analysis of contemporary academic writing

ABSTRACT

Where and when do academics write and what are the feelings associated with it? Is the pressure to write a fulfilling process of joyful exploration, or is it stressful and wracked with self-doubt? Inspired by Henri Lefebvre’s Rhythmanalysis, this article explores the rhythmic dispositions and orientations of contemporary academic writing, exposing the perils of neoliberal quantification and fragmentation in relation to the practice and experience of writing. The critical examination of Helen Sword’s guide to successful academic writing and a critique of the material and abstract spaces destined to contemporary academic writing inform the analysis, revealing problematic contractions and ruptures in the spatio-temporal continuum that organically connects reading, thinking and writing. The article makes, therefore, a case for the use of Rhythmanalysis as a diagnostic method capable of signalling – by detecting arrhythmias – the increasing disjunction between the institutional demands of accelerated production and the slower, irrational rhythms of craftsmanship. By politicizing the pathologies of contemporary academic writing, Rhythmanalysis discloses its potential as a progressive political resource: both as a radical call for appropriation and as a counter-discourse, it allows to restore a more harmonious relationship between thinking, reading and writing against dominant forms of productivist fragmentation, while shedding light on the non-places and dead times of our everyday writing habits.     

Widening access to writing support: beliefs about the writing process are key

Abstract

Universities’ performance indicators for scholarly outputs depend on academics having productive and sustainable writing behaviours. Research shows that writing programmes can increase research output, but less is known about which writing processes are productive. A project was initiated at a university which widened access to writing support to include staff who were not included in these performance targets, but who might be in the future. Following a writing for publication workshop, 36 academics were offered a place at a structured writing retreat. The evaluation aimed to increase our understanding of participants’ perceptions of their writing skills and processes before and after the retreat using a transactional model. We found that participants’ perceptions of their writing abilities were greater than their perceptions of their ability to employ effective writing practices. Both scores improved after the retreat. This finding confirms that a structured writing retreat provides an environment and structure for academics to practise effective writing. It enhances self-belief in the processes and skills required to produce output. Widening access to writing support for academics is essential for success in performance-based systems. Writing support must provide opportunities for academics to develop strong performance beliefs by practising writing skills and productive and sustainable writing processes.     

Peer-formativity: a framework for academic writing

The system currently deployed to assess research outputs in higher education can influence what, how and for whom academics write; for some it may determine whether or not they write at all. This article offers a framework for negotiating this performative context – the writing meeting. This framework uses the established theoretical underpinning of motivational interviewing, which involves autonomy, self-determination, environmental factors and social support. A study showed that the framework helped academics negotiate performativity and re-connect their writing to their values. In this way, they could both privilege writing that was meaningful to them and meet personal and institutional targets. Writing meetings did this by developing writing-oriented peer relationships, defined in this article as peer-formativity. Using writing meetings, academics can submit for research assessment systems without surrendering to performativity.     

Promoting writing amongst peers: establishing a community of writing practice for early career academics

In the current research-focused climate, academics are facing increasing pressure to produce research outputs. This pressure can prove particularly daunting for early career (EC) academics, who are simultaneously attempting to master new teaching and administrative demands while establishing their own independent research trajectories. Previous reports suggest that academic writing retreats can be an effective way of increasing research outputs. Such retreats generally involve academics from a range of career stages and require expert facilitators. Through organising a series of structured writing events, this project aims to cultivate an enduring community of practice for academic writers. Reflecting on our EC retreat and subsequent writing days with academics from different career stages, we suggest that success hinged on three key factors: (1) A formal structure comprising bounded periods of intense writing, flanked by group reviewing and goal-setting; (2) Co-located writing with participants based in a shared space, away from their usual workstation and distractions; (3) Peer discussions involving participants at a similar career stage. Specifically we found that writing amongst ‘equals’ increased productivity and confidence amongst EC academics.     

Experiences of bullying-related behaviours by English and Zambian pupils: a comparative study

Experiences of behaviours associated with bullying were compared between English and Zambian primary and secondary school pupils. Findings showed different patterns in the incidence of various types of behaviour for English and Zambian pupils overall and across age, school level and gender. English pupils generally reported experiencing proportionally more incidents of bullying-related behaviour than Zambian pupils. Proportionally more boys than girls reported such behaviours in both countries but these differences were only significant among English pupils. These findings are discussed as indicating possible differences in the salience of various types of behaviour, which are a function of age and gender in the two countries studied. Cultural and/or national differences in educational structures that may account for the differences are explored.     

A scaffolded approach to Discussion Board use for formative assessment of academic writing skills

Mastery of academic writing skills remains one of the greatest challenges for university students, especially in the first year. Amongst the reasons offered for the challenges are lack of clarity about the university’s expectations and low levels of teacher feedback on work submitted, a failure to engage, and low levels of contact with teaching staff and other students. Academic staff are challenged by increased class numbers and increased student diversity in classes and university policies to adopt a wide range of information technologies into teaching modes. In this paper, we offer one attempt at addressing these three important contemporary academic challenges: use of information technology to provide timely feedback through formative assessment to help students with a range of abilities to acquire the academic writing skills necessary to succeed in higher education. Early indications show that students find this form of formative assessment very useful. They value the timely and focused feedback from the lecturer and are developing collegiality as they learn from each others’ writing and feedback. We believe that this strategy is sustainable and can be adapted to facilitate academic and social integration for students across many disciplines.     

Writing plan quality: Relevance to writing scores

If writing matters, how can we improve it? This study investigated the nature of writing plan quality and its relationship to the ensuing writing scores. Data were drawn from the 1998 Provincial Learning Assessment Programme (PLAP) in Writing, which was administered to pupils in Grades 4, 7, and 10 across British Columbia, Canada. Common features of writing quality were qualitatively identified in a sample of writing plans across the three grade levels. An analytic scoring scheme based on (i) identified features of writing quality in writing plans, (ii) evaluative terms commonly used as criteria to measure writing performance in both large-scale and classroom assessments, and (iii) theory and research in writing, was developed and used to assess a sample of 1,797 writing plans. Correlation and regression analyses were used to determine relationships between quality of writing plans and writing scores. Evidence of features of writing quality in writing plans was associated with higher writing scores. Identification of features of writing plan quality provides valuable instructional information to promote student writing.     

Developing grass roots writing resources: a novel approach to writing within the social work discipline

In this case study, we report on the development of a writing-specialist position, the ‘Writing Resource Coordinator (WRC)’, in a school of social work at a large state university in the southern USA. Such programs are facing increasing budgetary pressures at the same time as their growing enrollments strain available resources. Students who arrive under-prepared or un-acculturated to the discipline often suffer high writing-related anxiety, putting them at risk for low performance, or dropping out altogether. The WRC provides discipline-specific ‘grass roots’ writing assistance to the most at-risk students through a program aimed at both students and faculty, providing a two-pronged service strategy including: (a) individual consultations and (b) group-oriented seminars and workshops. We describe the implementation of this resource and offer recommendations for improving upon and adopting this approach in social science programs at comparable institutions.     

The benefits and challenges of academic writing retreats: an integrative review

The immediate drivers to increase publication outputs in higher education are government and research funding, organisational status, performance expectations and personal career aspirations. Writing retreats are one of a range of strategies used by universities to boost publication output. The aims of this integrative review were to synthesise the available evidence, identify the attributes, benefits and challenges of academic writing retreats and examine the components that facilitate publication output. The review was based on a systematic search of six electronic databases. Of the 296 articles identified, 11 primary research papers met the inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis of the data highlighted a raft of personal, professional and organisational benefits of writing retreats. The five key elements of writing retreats conducive to increasing publication output were protected time and space; community of practice; development of academic writing competence; intra-personal benefits and organisational investment. Participants involved achieved greater publication outputs, particularly when provided ongoing support. Further research is required to examine more substantively the feasibility of writing retreats, their cost-effectiveness and the features that increase publication outcomes.     

以读促写——阅读对英语写作的促进作用

全球经济一体化、国际交流日趋频繁,要求学生具有良好的英语写作能力。通过阅读尤其通过正确的语篇阅读教学能促进英语写作,把“读”“写”教学环节结合起来,使之成为一个有机的整体,迅速提高学生的写作能力。     

English for Specific Purposes and Academic Literacies: eclecticism in academic writing pedagogy

Academic Literacies and English for Specific Purposes perspectives on the teaching of academic writing tend to be positioned as dichotomous and ideologically incompatible. Nonetheless, recent studies have called for the integration of these two perspectives in the design of writing programmes in order to meet the needs of students in the increasingly diverse and shifting landscape of academia. The aim of the present paper is to reflect on how this theoretical integration could be put into practice. Drawing on the design of a research-based writing workshop for postgraduate anthropology students, we argue that rather than a ‘hybrid’ model of writing pedagogy, a theoretically grounded but eclectic approach is needed in order to respond to students’ personal, local, and disciplinary contexts.     

The academic writing of community college remedial students: Text and learner variables

Community college remedial reading studentscomposed an informational report from sources,a task commonly assigned in higher educationthat integrally combines reading and writingprocesses. Productivity, use of source text,reproductions, accuracy, and inclusion of keyideas were analyzed as a function of twoexogenous variables, text density (high, low)and domain (health, business), and twoendogenous variables, prior knowledge andgeneral literacy skill. Text densityinteracted with literacy skill forproductivity, and with prior knowledge foraccuracy. Individuals with lower literacy orprior knowledge scores were at a disadvantagewith high but not low density source text. Domain affected productivity, use of source,and inclusion of key ideas: health text wasassociated with superior performance. Domaineffects may be explained by metacognitive ormotivational variables, or differences in thereadability of the source texts. The resultshave implications for instruction aimed atimproving community college students'preparedness for the academic demands of highereducation.     

Writing together to foster wellbeing: doctoral writing groups as spaces of wellbeing

ABSTRACT

Candidate wellbeing is recognised as a continual challenge for doctoral programs, with government mandates requiring an institutional response. This article explores the experiences of candidates undertaking intensive writing sessions (‘Write-Ins’) and their influence on their wellbeing. Exploratory findings demonstrate opportunities for Write-In models to contribute positively to ‘Spaces of Wellbeing’. Spaces of Wellbeing theory highlights four dimensions of space that influence wellbeing: capability, security, integrative and therapeutic spaces. Findings show the Write-Ins contributed positively to wellbeing by offering space for candidates to enhance writing productivity, to work to their own pace, to connect with others, and to work flexibly.     

Writing like writers in the classroom: free writing and formal constraint

This paper considers how ‘free writing’, derived from the automatic writing of the surrealists, can be used with students in writing poetry in order to emulate the successful practice of established writers. The paper considers how form can be taught, specifically line breaks and stanza breaks, both in relation to free writing and in relation to drafting, and argues that drafting should be considered an extension of the creative act of writing rather than as something which is done afterwards ‘to’ preexisting work.     

电子邮件——改变传统英语写作的新模式

Internet的迅速发展和广泛应用给教育带来了新的挑战和机遇。就英语写作教学而言,方便快捷的e-mail电子邮件,为英语写作教学展示了一个新的空间,通过e-mail进行写作从根本上改变了传统的英语写作教学模式。从电子邮件的特点入手,探讨e-mail在英文写作中的优势,并倡导英语教师在写作教学中使用e-mail,能更有效地提高英语写作效率及水平。