Tardys (2010) Summary

Wikipedia as a Springboard for L2 Academic Writing Development: Summary of Tardys (2010) Case-study Tardy (2010) examines the employment of Wikipedia in a class project to develop second language (L2) higher education students academic literacy at a beginning stage. The class projects final outcome is a written article for Wikipedia which might deal with topics not found in the original English version but rather in the students first language (L1). Diverse steps in writing like information gathering, selection of topics, paraphrasing and editing, are described. Although Wikipedia and a more academic setting have different exigencies, there are some characteristics common to both scenarios which might give L2 students an insight into the academic writing practice. International students face several difficulties when attempting to write academically in a foreign language; these adversities range from jargon demands on style, sources acknowledgement and reliability concerns to publishing hardships. Given this situation, Tardy, (2010) discusses how Wikipedia proves to be a useful and accessible setting for the growth of students L2 academic writing literacy at beginners level because, as academic communities, Wikipedia is collaborative in nature. Basically, Wikipedia, as Tardy (2010) clearly states, summarizes existing knowledge[while] much academic writing aims to create new knowledge (p. 15); this fact rather than becoming an impediment, turns into a motivating edge from where to start a discussion on different styles and genre requirements. Wikipedia serves as a real-life setting inasmuch as it has genre conventions (regarding citation and data collection) and it offers students a real audience beyond the
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Tardys (2010) Summary

teacher and peers. All things considered, Tardy (2010) concludes that by means of analyzing, researching, documenting, editing and publishing students are able to benefit from writing projects which face them to real and wider audiences.

2 Carla Allende

Tardys (2010) Summary

References Tardy (2010). Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum. Retrieved October, 2012 from: http://marlajarmer.net.p9.hostingprod.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Writing_for_t he_World.303111056.pdf

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