Power and paragraphs: academic writing and emotion

Abstract

Emotions play an important role in academic writing (Cameron, Nairn and Higgins, 2009), and, as learning developers, we often support students with the emotional aspects of their work. The process of writing is strongly linked to identity. Research into academic literacies has highlighted the fact that this often involves complex negotiations, especially for students from widening participation backgrounds (Lea and Street, 1998). Students’ past experiences of learning strongly shape their identity as learners. For example, the early challenges with literacy faced by people with dyslexia often continue to affect their emotions in adulthood (Pollak, 2005; Alexander-Passe, 2015). The concept of learning identities (Bloomer and Hodkinson, 2000; Christie et al., 2007) helps us to understand students’ emotional responses in the wider context of their lives. This paper uses two case histories of students with dyslexia, who were also the first in their family to go to university, to explore the role of academic writing in shaping a student’s learning identity. It argues that learning developers are in a good position to help students develop a positive sense of themselves as academic writers.

‘It can facilitate so much!’ Student writers’ practice of self-efficacy to develop their use of formulaic phrases

“…It can no longer be assumed that most students come to university with strong, recent secondary education in which they learnt this academic register, given the diversity of the students' prior experiences of learning and teaching, including those affected by 'learning loss' during the pandemic. While it is clear that, for students whose first language is not English, lack of familiarity with the academic register and its genres can present a major challenge, similar challenges have also been reported for L1 (English as a first language) students who are from widening participation backgrounds (in terms of ethnicity, social level, or age groups underrepresented in higher education), students who are returning to academia after a long gap, or those who have a specific learning difficulty (SpLD) (Forster, 2020).…”

“…Thus, it is likely that for many students with dyslexia, given the challenges they face when reading, the process of noticing useful phrases in academic texts is made that much more difficult when compared to their non-dyslexic peers. In addition, Forster (2020) draws attention to the feeling dyslexic students have that they are not 'clever enough' (meaning good at academic writing) to be at university. The participant quoted below seems to be suggesting that AP provides them with the language they need to structure and formulate their ideas in an acceptable way.…”

“…French highlights how the stakes are extremely high in academic writing and seeking support may be seen as failing by some students, so they try to manage alone. Other studies have found that students with some diversity dimensions (such as first in family to attend university) label themselves as failures at university because they are not good at writing (Forster, 2020).…”

Magic to conjure up academic skills for dissertation support

“…Fear of failure is closely associated with academic writing, particularly because, when reading, students are being exposed only to the final version of a piece of writing, not the entire process. This can create a false presentation of perfection in published writing, which can translate into students feeling as though they are doing something wrong in the process of drafting, editing, and organising complex thoughts into a written format (Cameron, Nairn and Higgins, 2009;Forster, 2020).…”