Approaches to the Teaching of Academic Writing

Abdessamad Saidi
Introduction
Throughout the history of language teaching and learning, the teaching of writing has been the
subject of focus for many teachers and applied linguists. As the pendulum swung from an approach to
another, teaching writing skills has been either prioritized or neglected. More specifically, with the rise of
the communicative movement, different teachers started to direct their practices mostly to speaking and
communicative skills. However, with the increased focus on the learner and with the search for a holistic
approach to language teaching which integrates all the major skills, the writing component has become an
integrative skill that needs to be fit into any language teaching programme. At the university level, writing
occupies a major component; every year, several academic writing textbooks are designed and published
throughout the world incorporating different approaches and activities, all of which with a unifying
purpose of developing academic writing skills among university students. The present essay endeavors to
explore some of the main approaches and techniques used in the teaching of academic writing. First, it is
initiated by a discussion of the notion of writing and its relevance to language teaching and learning. Then,
the second section will be devoted to explore some of the main approaches that have been adopted in the
teaching of academic writing. Afterwards, the third section will be concerned with some practical activities
that are used in the teaching of academic writing.

I. The Notion of (Academic) Writing:

Broadly speaking, writing is defined as “[the] means of recording spoken language through a
conventionalized system of graphic signs” Bussmann (1996: 1294). This broad conception puts emphasis
on the conventions of writing and defines it as a process that emerges from speaking. However, Richards
(1990: 101) contends this narrow view of writing when he remarks that it is not merely a way of recording
language by means of visible marks. Rather, writing is a sophisticated process which is totally divorced
from the act of speaking. In the light of this, several scholars have attempted to define writing by
differentiating it from speaking/spoken language (e.g. Raimes (1983); Richards (1990; Mary M. (1998);
Broughton et. al. (1980) among others). For instance, Richards (op. cit.:101) distinguishes written
language from spoken discourse on the basis of differences at the level of syntax and vocabulary; as he
clarifies:
 “Written language hence employs a different syntax and vocabulary
from spoken discourse. It has also a more elaborated linguistic system
characterized by the use of complex rather than simple clauses, a
greater variety of clause types, more specific vocabulary, a higher
frequency of complex verb phrases and tenses, and a greater variety of
devices for expressing such syntactic processes”

Therefore, writing is seen as a more elevated expression of language which abides by a certain number of
rules and conventions. Furthermore, writing is seen as a process of discovering meaning. In other words,
“It is a process of exploring one’s thoughts and learning from the act of writing itself what these thoughts
are” Zamel (1982: 195). From this perspective, writing is seen as a social practice. This view of writing
has been projected in the context of higher education to encompass academic writing as well. In this sense,
academic writing is no longer seen as producing written works and assignments to be submitted to the
professor. In the light of this view, Coffin et. al. (2003) describes different ways in which academic writing
can be understood as a “social practice”:

- First, academic writing is built on relationships around teaching and learning and these
relationships influence the success of writing at the academic level.
- Second, the conventions and the norms that govern academic writing are social since they have
been developed within academic communities.
- Third, student writers, through academic writing, learn how to write as academics (geographers,
scientists…)

Thus, this view of academic writing goes beyond the student-teacher-classroom model to see academic
writing as a kind of social discourse that is produced by social communities in an academic setting.

II. Academic Writing Teaching Approaches:

The teaching of academic writing at the university level entails a serious endeavor. In contrast with
teaching writing in primary or secondary schools, this profession involves the dissemination of
disciplinary knowledge and understanding along with a focus on the writing skills. Tribble (1996: 83)
states in this regard: “Learners who wish to write in new academic setting have to gain a mastery of the
concepts and content of their subject area as well as developing an ability to express themselves effectively
and appropriately in the foreign language”. Thus, the teaching of academic writing involves a focus on
aspects of content knowledge along with teaching foreign language skills. To fulfill this objective, various
approaches to the teaching of academic writing have been introduced, chief of which are the
intellectual/rhetorical approach and the social/genre approach.

The intellectual/rhetorical approach:

As one of the widely known approaches used in the teaching of academic writing, the
intellectual/rhetorical approach assumes a common intellectual framework for academic discourse as a
whole. In other words, lip service is paid to content knowledge as the modes of classical rhetoric such as
“exposition/description” are taken as the primary objectives in the course syllabus. A teacher adopting
this approach will thus concentrate his teaching practices on one objective; to help students master these
modes of writing Tribble (1996). These modes are generally studied separately and following a certain
order as the following:

- Exposition.
 Examples  Definition
 Process  Division and
 Cause and Effect Classification
 Comparison and Contrast
- Description.
- Narration.
- Argumentation and Persuasion. Langan (1993: 113) cited in Tribble (1996: 84)

The social/genre approach:

The social/genre approach, on the other hand, does not define a common intellectual framework for
academic texts, but makes use of various academic contexts. According to Tribble (1996), this approach
adopts the concept of discourse communities with “common goals”. These common goals may include:

- Accounts of experimental procedures.

- The reporting of new knowledge.
- The examination of students.

As Tribble (op. cit.) claims, in this approach, an account of how the discourse community functions is
presented by the teacher. Therefore, learners go through a process of discovering relationships between
texts, readers and writers. In this step, the text will be the primary data for he learners and, thus, will be
studied, analyzed, criticized and probably challenged by the learners.

In contrast with the modes of rhetoric adopted in the intellectual/rhetorical approach, this approach
focuses on three aspects to exploit context and language system knowledge, namely: Structure and
organization, argumentation and style.

III. Practical Activities used in the Teaching of Academic Writing:

Various activities have been introduced when it comes to teaching academic writing, each one with
a specific focus. Among the introductory activities that might be used by teachers is one that focuses on
the purposes of writing. Following Coffin et. al. (2003), the activity goes as follows:

- First, students are asked to brainstorm individually all the types of writing they have been
exposed to.
- Second, in small groups, students are asked to classify these types of writing into categories.
- Then, in a classroom discussion, the teacher tries to narrow the focus to academic writing
activities such as notes on readings, essay drafts and laboratory reports.
- Afterwards, the teacher asks students about the specific rhetorical purposes of these modes of
writing, the intended audience, the language register used …etc.

In this activity, through the discussion of the different purposes of academic writing, the teacher becomes
more aware of what aspects s/he should focus on and what aspects should be given less prominence.

As far as personal voice is concerned, teachers can make use of several activities to make students
aware of its use in academic writing. Coffin at. al. (op.cit.) presents the following techniques in this regard:

Using a disciplinary (specialized) text, students are asked to look specifically at the ways in
which writing is depersonalized. The teachers may refer to different techniques such as:
- The use of the passive voice (The participants were given a questionnaire…).
- The use of “one” or “it” as the subject (One might question whether…).
- The placing of processes instead of active participants at the beginning of the sentence
(Observation of the rats over a three month period allowed…).
The teacher then discusses with the students the function of each technique and how it influences the entire
meaning of an academic text.
 Another technique advocated by Broughton et. al. (1980) makes use of a variety of sources to
stimulate students to write. For instance, students are given a reading passage for a limited amount of time.
Then, the passage is taken away and the teacher prepares a set of questions about it. These
questions/prompts are asked one by one and students are required to respond in written statements.
Through their responses, students will be able to use analytical techniques in order to reflect on the text
and its content.

Conclusion

In summary, the teaching of academic writing has become an essential component of every
university’s programme. Different approaches and techniques have been introduced with the purpose of
making the task of teaching academic writing manageable for both teachers and learners. Although the
teaching of writing is seen as the transfer of skills concerning the language norms and conventions,
academic writing adds another dimension of content knowledge and focuses more on collaborative work
with the use of group work, peer reviewing and classroom discussion. These multiple objectives are, thus,
what makes of the teaching of academic writing a strenuous endeavor.
Bibliography

Broughton, G., Brumfit, C., Flavell, R., Hill, P., & Pincas, A. (1980). Teaching English as a
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Mary M., K. (1998). Learning to Teach Writing : Does Teacher Education Make a Difference?
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Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Writing. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Zamel, V. (1982). Writing: The Process of Discovering Meaning. TESOL Quarterly, XVI(2),
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