Assessing Academic Texts Authenticity in EFL Classes

Abstract

To present Russian science at the international level scientists should possess certain specific skills. However, research works in an integrative nature of academic writing recognize the skills that are common for various research fields and specific for academic context. Some works are currently investigating methods to develop academic skills, while a few papers are devoted to the problem of assessing the outcomes. Traditionally the quality of an academic text is measured by the requirements to text organization, context and language proficiency. However, this model does not form a unity until a new idea is introduced into the process of teaching and assessment. The possible solution is to focus on the quality of students' texts authenticity. Academic text authenticity indicates to what extent the initial norms of authentic academic writing-in organization, context and language use-are modified by students belonging to a different writing culture. The paper defines the category "authenticity" for academic texts and presents examples of assessing the text quality with a set of descriptors. The results could be implemented in professional language studies and in the postgraduate training of students aimed at publishing the results of their research work.

They Teach Writing but They Do Not Write: Why Russian University Foreign Language Instructors Rarely Publish

“…As my observations as a writing instructor show, Russian English has a range of distinctive features: sentences tend to be long and wordy, paragraphs unfocused; Russian writers overuse passive voice and synonyms, making referents unclear; writing is non-linear and less guided; there are many unsupported generalizations and weak arguments; and the authorial voice is often not developed. These claims are supported by some studies on Russian undergraduates' writing (Chuikova, 2018;Pospelova, 2016;Terenin, 2015; see also Chapter 8). Even those who are well versed in English need focused training on higher-order concerns before brushing up on language accuracy.…”