Chapter Two: Academic Writing in Europe: Texts, Contexts, Cultures

This chapter sets out to define the role of in English in the context of universities across Europe, in order to help teachers working in those contexts understand what type of texts their students need to write and what problems they may have. Just for the sake of clarity, it is necessary to state at the outset that in English for purposes is not the same everywhere, and that the model of current in US, British or Australian universities is not necessarily applicable in their European counterparts. Moreover, even if some British or American model were the undisputed goal of courses, language issues and cultural factors would mean that the way in which such a model could be taught in Europe would be different from the way in which it might best be taught in Britain or the USA.So let us look first at the question as to what students need to write in English in European universities. The answer is by no means straightforward. There is no such thing as in general, and there are many rival definitions, of what is and how it should be done. All is discipline-specific, and is also influenced by the educational and culture of the country in which it is being written. Psychology students do not write the same kind of papers as literature students, and Gemian students of literature do not write the same type of paper as English students of literature. Moreover, even in the same country and subject area, there are different expectations according to the educational level. Undergraduates are usually expected to write in one way, whereas graduate students are supposed to write in another. To add to the confusion, virtually none of the real assignments set in real universities bears a veiy strong resemblance to the kind of essay or report that is often billed as academic writing in textbooks.This chapter will look first at the kind of that is often presented in textbooks for the international market which are heavily influenced by US and UK examination practices. It will then consider the range of teaching material on that is focused more broadly to prepare students to cope with real tasks in US or British universities. The merits of these two types of teaching material will be assessed, and some criticisms made. This will be followed by a discussion of the practice of in English at universities in Europe, and the role of the teacher in this complex scenario. Issues such as the national educational culture and the rhetorical tradition within different curricular areas will be discussed in this context. The final part of the chapter will set out a framework for genre analysis that will enable teachers to define what kind of text students should learn to write in different situations.Academic textbooksA considerable number of textbooks and teaching methods exist which purport to provide material for teaching writing. Many of these are designed for international students preparing to take examinations such as IELTS or TOEFL, which are often used as entrance criteria for universities in English-speaking countries. These books focus heavily on the tasks for these exams, which are designed to encapsulate some essential features of writing, but which are heavily constrained by the examination format. To take one example, TOEFL requires students to complete two pieces of which represent different aspects of the type of assignment that students may need to produce across the curriculum in US universities. The first of these is an integrated task, which consists of a text to be read, a sound file on a related topic, and then a prompt which usually asks the student to compare some aspect of what he/she has heard with what he/she has read. This task is designed to incorporate some essential skills (synthesis, making comparisons, arguing on the basis of evidence). …