Pengrong Zhang, Associate professor, School of Foreign Studies, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China
Title: Understanding and Scaffolding: Chinese Postgraduate Students' Academic Writing from Sources
Nowadays more and more Chinese postgraduate students are practicing writing papers for academic purposes in English, but how to present their research work systematically and authentically is challenging for them, especially for the beginners. In such circumstances, source-based writing plays an important role in their writing processes. The study examined how sources are read, analyzed and understood, and thereafter, how academic papers are scaffolded based on sources. A survey was conducted among Chinese postgraduate students. Rosemary Wette’s source-based writing method was applied and replicated for measuring the effectiveness of writing through reading. The teacher recorded the processes and feedback of the postgraduate students and analyzed the factors closely related to their writing capability. The findings indicate that the students’ ability to write academic papers has a positive correlation with sources they have read and understood. The instruction of source-based writing in an educational setting may facilitate the students to scaffold the model of SCI papers. From independent analysis to interactions with team members, the students may learn to organize the structure of academic papers, and then fit the writing around that structure. Through scaffolding, the research may provide a simplified method and have a positive effect for academic writing.
Title: Understanding and Scaffolding: Chinese Postgraduate Students' Academic Writing from Sources
Nowadays more and more Chinese postgraduate students are practicing writing papers for academic purposes in English, but how to present their research work systematically and authentically is challenging for them, especially for the beginners. In such circumstances, source-based writing plays an important role in their writing processes. The study examined how sources are read, analyzed and understood, and thereafter, how academic papers are scaffolded based on sources. A survey was conducted among Chinese postgraduate students. Rosemary Wette’s source-based writing method was applied and replicated for measuring the effectiveness of writing through reading. The teacher recorded the processes and feedback of the postgraduate students and analyzed the factors closely related to their writing capability. The findings indicate that the students’ ability to write academic papers has a positive correlation with sources they have read and understood. The instruction of source-based writing in an educational setting may facilitate the students to scaffold the model of SCI papers. From independent analysis to interactions with team members, the students may learn to organize the structure of academic papers, and then fit the writing around that structure. Through scaffolding, the research may provide a simplified method and have a positive effect for academic writing.