An Innovative Approach for Delivering Academic Writing Courses

Abstract

EUROPEAN research universities are facing a constant process of decline in the English writing and publishing skills of students against an ever-increasing pressure for research publications. This article presents the development and assessment of efficiency of an English academic writing (AW) programme implemented at Babeş-Bolyai University, a Romanian research-focused university, by offering insights into the following: (a) an intervention programme for English AW integrating formal writing across and in the disciplines (AID) modules with informal writing skills, and writing and publishing career development modules; (b) perceived and assessed efficiency of the programme; and (c) opportunities and challenges encountered at the institutional level. The intervention targeted doctoral students from different disciplines, and doctoral schools and with/without previous writing experience. This article not only suggests viable strategies to address the learning needs, challenges and opportunities of doctoral students at the institutional level, but also discusses the way in which the intervention is perceived in terms of efficiency and methodological approach. Designing the intervention: description of the moduleAcademic writing programmes in English are dedicated to improve professional performance at the MD or Ph D level, where research results should be rapidly put into practice 1-3 . Meanwhile, institutions are interested in developing such programmes to increase the publishing rate and assure international visibility of the research results 4 . The targeted academic writing skills required structured training programmes as they cannot be otherwise osmotically acquired 5,6 . As a result, several strategies have been developed, such as programmes based on the learners and their learning needs [7][8][9] or those that can be delivered to a non-selected group based on discipline, as writing in the disciplines requires specific conventions, is epistemological, and aims to acquire social practices 10,11 and combined approaches 12 . The AW programme structure relies on the shared purpose of writing and community discourse conventions as well as on the existing teaching traditions at the institutional level 9,10,13 . Before designing the programme structure, the learning needs of the doctoral students were analysed with the help of a questionnaire and focus group. A 16-item questionnaire was developed based on the tools that have been used in the field of academic writing 14 , but are adapted to the specificity of the doctoral students in the target group whose second language is English. The rationale for the programme design was partially based on direct observations and conclusions drawn from hands-on experience for Ph D candidates at Babeş-Bolyai University. As part of its own development strategy, the university applied for structural and cohesion funds available at that time through the SOPHRD 2007-2013. Hundreds of doctoral candidates in three consecutive cohorts (i.e. 2008, 2009 and 2010 enrolment) in natural ...

Weather, Vol. 77, no. 3, March 2022, pp. 73–112

“…In India, where most people learn English as a second or third language, the difficulty level in scientific writing for Indian scientists may be higher. Here, lack of writing skills can be detrimental to the career survival of scientists (Carraway, 2006;Eberle, 2013;Aluas et al, 2017), because clear and precise writing is an integral part of their career and constitutes a major part of their professional life. But the absence of empirical data on whether weather and climate scientists lack clear and precise scientific writing skills inspired me to explore this topic.…”

Scientific writing: an analysis of Pune‐based climate scientists’ perceptions and training needs

“…In India, where most people learn English as a second or third language, the difficulty level in scientific writing for Indian scientists may be higher. Here, lack of writing skills can be detrimental to the career survival of scientists (Carraway, 2006; Eberle, 2013; Aluas et al ., 2017), because clear and precise writing is an integral part of their career and constitutes a major part of their professional life. But the absence of empirical data on whether weather and climate scientists lack clear and precise scientific writing skills inspired me to explore this topic.…”