Discovering Academic Literacy Skills in English of First Year ESL

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out the academic literacy skills in English of ESL first year humanities students from their own point of view. It is motivated by the fact that many lecturers at this university (and perhaps at many other universities elsewhere) often complain about the limited academic literacy skills of their students, especially those who use English as an additional or non-native language. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the views and final examination essays of thirty conveniently sampled students were analyzed. The findings show that the majority of the students rated many of their academic literacy skills 'average'. In terms of their writing skills, the results indicate that the majority of the students have pragmatic competence which enables them to communicate their intended meaning reasonably well; but what they lack mainly is organizational competence, i.e. the ability to write ideas fluently and accurately. To help the students overcome some of their academic literacy limitations, it is suggested that teachers should first try to understand the students' practices, and to give written work that fosters a sense of ownership, self-reflection and personal engagement.

The Demonstration of Linguistic, Cognitive and Socio-cultural Dimensions of Academic Literacy in Nursing Students’ Written Texts

“…It seemed that the student mixed the use of Indonesian language in the text. The findings in this study is in line with a study by (Chimbganda, 2011) which reported that the use of vocabulary has been a common problem in ESL students' writing.…”

“…Many studies have urged the importance of assessing and improving academic literacy through writing as it plays a significant role in achieving students' academic success (Chimbganda, 2011;Defazio et al, 2010;Gao, 2017;Hyland, 2007;Lea & Street, 2006;Marinkovich et al, 2016;Mujiyanto, 2013;Papashane & Hlalele, 2014;Rajagukguk, T. E. B. et al, 2017). Academic literacy should be fostered in an educational institution since it is indeed not a natural phenomenon; instead, it is a learned ability (Kern, 2000).…”

Academic Literacy of Students for Scientific Paper Competition in National Level

“…This strategic role of literacy is not optimized by students. As a result, many lecturers in universities complained about this academic literacy limitations (Chimbganda, 2011). The significant complaints are the students' ability to deeply and rationally communicate an idea.…”

Authorial Identity of Non-Native Writers of Academic English in the ‘Soft Sciences’: An Analysis of Textographies and Interactional Resources

“…A variety of studies (e.g., Chimbganda, 2011;Gamboa & Álvarez, 2011;Guzmán, Torres, & Rodríguez, 2010;Hyland, 2002) have examined the writing skills that undergraduate non-native students acquire in the course of their majors. Other experts have reported on the efforts made by institutions to provide ESL students the necessary support to successfully achieve their academic tasks while pursuing their degrees.…”

“…These include creating programs and offices to work on their writing assignments, such as writing centers, student learning centers, English language self-access centers, among others (Bräuer, 2012;Natale, 2013;Read, 2008), or creating manuals for instructors to guide the students' progress (e.g., Navarro, 2015). As a matter of example Chimbganda's (2011) study aimed to discover the perception of their own academic literacy skills by ESL first-year humanities students. She evaluated the students' language production in a writing task to determine the correspondence between their perception and their performance.…”