University Writing In Central And Eastern Europe Tradition Transition And Innovation

This book explores specific issues related to academic writing provision in the post-communist countries in Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. Although they have different cultures and writing traditions, these countries share common features in what regards the development of higher education and research and encounter challenges different from Western European countries. Since academic writing as a discipline is relatively new in Eastern Europe, but currently plays an essential part in the development of higher education and the process of European integration, the volume aims to open discussion on academic writing in the region by addressing several issues such as the specific challenges in providing academic writing support at tertiary level in post-communist countries, the limitations and possibilities in implementing Western models of academic writing provision, or the complex interactions between writing in national languages and writing in a second language. Additionally, the book presents several recent initiatives and possible models for providing academic writing support in universities in the area. The important role of academic writing in English, a common feature in post-communist countries, is reflected in the sections which focus on writing in English as a foreign language, as well as on the impact of English upon national languages. The volume will be of interest to academic writing researchers and teachers and those involved in teaching academic writing at the tertiary level.

As Languages for Specific Purposes have always been defined as student-oriented, the rationale behind this volume is to use the rather neglected niche of the other necessary agent of language instruction and thus focus on the LSP practitioner. This turn towards the instructor has been motivated by the fact that a great number of LSP practitioners enter their jobs without previous expertise. They lack LSP education, or they may not even have a background in applied linguistics. This motivation has proven valid as many of the volume’s contributors have faced this particular situation in their professional lives. For insights into the LSP field and guidelines on the best practices, they must rely on their colleagues who offer to share their experience through workshops, conferences, or papers, which is what this volume provides. The primary goal of this volume is to present considerations of what challenges LSP practitioners face and should be prepared for in their jobs and to provide practice-tested methodological guidelines on such demanding teaching techniques as blended and flipped learning or tandem learning. All papers have been written by LSP practitioners and researchers in higher education. Thus, this volume provides both guidance and self-reflection. In other words, it is written by experienced LSP practitioners for aspiring LSP practitioners about how they see themselves and what effort they make to meet the challenges of their jobs. As proof that LSP practice is a global challenge, papers have been collected from many European countries, the USA, Uruguay. Even though most papers are naturally concerned with English, being the lingua franca of today, the collection also features guidelines for teaching Spanish, French and Dutch for specific purposes. Moreover, the target disciplines these languages are taught for encompass business, engineering, sociology or medicine, thus supporting the assumption of the universal character of problems LSP practitioners deal with.

This first volume of the ISATT Conference Series looks for a common path to a better vision on the future of education. It focuses on themes of educational policies, curriculum reforms, and teaching in a multicultural world.

Transnational composition is a site for engaging with difference across populations, economies, languages, and borders and for asking how cultures, languages, and national imaginaries interanimate one another. Organized in three parts, the book addresses the transnational in composition in scholarship, teaching, and administration. It brings together contributions from institutional, geopolitical, and cultural contexts ranging across North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean and covers writing in English, Chinese, multiple European languages, Latin American Spanish, African and West Indian Creoles, and Guianan French. Exploring the relationship among transnational, international, global, and translingual approaches to composition--while complicating the term composition itself--essays draw on theories of border work, mobility, liminality, cross-border interaction, center-periphery contours, superdiversity, and transnational rhetoric and address, among other topics, models of cognitive processing, principles of universal design, and frames of critical literacy awareness.

This edited book presents a selection of new empirical studies in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP), showcasing the best practices of educators in their particular contexts. The chapters cover settings grouped into three main categories: L2 abilities and English as a medium of instruction in English/Spanish bilingual contexts; ESP in international contexts; and EAP and academic writing. The authors examine topics and contexts that have been under-explored in the literature to date, contributing to wider discussions of English-language mediation in educational settings and also touching on areas such as international mobility, migration, and social integration in multicultural environments. This book will be of interest to academics and practitioners in an interdisciplinary range of fields, including applied linguistics, language education policy, multilingualism, migration policy, and positive psychology and motivation.

This book explores how EFL writing teacher education is theoretically, pedagogically, methodologically and sociopolitically shaped, given teachers’ unique local contexts and circumstances. It showcases practitioners and researchers teaching in, or studying, geographic areas that have as yet been under-represented in international publications, and it focuses on ways that specific contexts create unique opportunities and constraints on what developing teachers know and do in their work. The chapters prioritize local voices and materials to build a more inclusive and comprehensive picture of L2 writing globally, enabling the book as a whole to both document and further shape pedagogical approaches to L2 writing. Readers will be able to use the unique insights contained in this book in their own classrooms and professional development activities.

This edited volume explores mentorship in knowledge production and dissemination and examines its implications for academic lives and careers of novice scholarly writers. By bringing together experts in a variety of areas in applied linguistics, the book addresses the complex topic of mentorship in scholarly publication practices of junior scholars. Drawing on the perspectives and experiences of novice scholars, supervisors, practitioners, and researchers, it intends to demystify the socialization process of junior academics and help paint a richer and more nuanced picture of the practices, experiences, and challenges of mentorship in writing for publication. An important aspect of the book is a serious attempt to explore the experiences of different stakeholders both through empirical research and personal (hi)stories and accounts. The book acts as a valuable resource for graduate students and both novice and established scholars looking to build a more holistic understanding of mentorship in scholarly publication today, in such fields as English for research publication purposes, applied linguistics, and TESOL.