Schedule: 2009-09-10 (15:00 - 15:45)
Parallel Session 4 (Room A-2)

Title: Tools for Strengthening Scientific Writing: a new approach to autonomous learning
Authors: Marta Conejero, Asunción Jaime, Debra Westall
Abstract: In the adaptation process for the European Higher Education Area, instructors for Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) are working to adapt their programs, methodologies and materials so as to prepare learners for the international labor market where scientific writing is an essential form of communication. For those of us working in the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), one of our aims is to strengthen the written communication skills of both students and researchers, since many are weak in terms of writing proficiency. This objective involves collaboration with the writers, strategic planning for autonomous writing and the advancement of English language learning.

To this end, we have taken advantage of our research into discourse analysis which involves a unique corpus of scientific articles, written directly in English by UPV faculty and fully revised by a skilled native speaker (one of the present authors) for publication in high impact specialist journals. This research focuses, in the line of Flowerdew (2008), on how non-native English speaking researchers write for publication in English and Davies (2007), on general aspects of non-native communication versus native production. Upon reviewing the changes made in the original manuscripts, we realized the potential of using the published versions in classroom and online learning activities. These activities are designed to enable members of the university community to improve their writing skills in English, while providing them with opportunities to read and understand authentic discourse, produced by experts in fields such as thermodynamics, civil engineering, agricultural machinery, economics, animal production, food science and biotechnology.

Based on a specially-developed typology of the changes introduced in the original manuscripts during the revision process, we shall describe activities which may be incorporated into autonomous learning tasks. These tasks are designed to draw learners' attention not so much to the most common pitfalls in technical writing, which in itself is basic to polishing their writing skills, but rather to the different stylistic and expressive features of published scientific English discourse, which must be taken into consideration when writing for communication purposes. The fact that the publications, available online, are written by non-native users of English, engineers and authors, namely UPV faculty and researchers, adds value to the content of the specialized tasks.
Keywords: scientific writing, discourse analysis, collaborative learning, autonomous activities

Main topic: New role of writing as a tool for communication

Biodata: The three authors are specialists in Languages for Specific Purposes and researchers in Applied Linguistics at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.
Type of presentation Paper presentation

Paper category Reflective Practice

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-10 (15:00 - 15:45) Parallel Session 4 (Room A-2)
Title:	Tools for Strengthening Scientific Writing: a new approach to autonomous learning
Authors:	Marta Conejero, Asunción Jaime, Debra Westall
Abstract:	In the adaptation process for the European Higher Education Area, instructors for Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) are working to adapt their programs, methodologies and materials so as to prepare learners for the international labor market where scientific writing is an essential form of communication. For those of us working in the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), one of our aims is to strengthen the written communication skills of both students and researchers, since many are weak in terms of writing proficiency. This objective involves collaboration with the writers, strategic planning for autonomous writing and the advancement of English language learning. To this end, we have taken advantage of our research into discourse analysis which involves a unique corpus of scientific articles, written directly in English by UPV faculty and fully revised by a skilled native speaker (one of the present authors) for publication in high impact specialist journals. This research focuses, in the line of Flowerdew (2008), on how non-native English speaking researchers write for publication in English and Davies (2007), on general aspects of non-native communication versus native production. Upon reviewing the changes made in the original manuscripts, we realized the potential of using the published versions in classroom and online learning activities. These activities are designed to enable members of the university community to improve their writing skills in English, while providing them with opportunities to read and understand authentic discourse, produced by experts in fields such as thermodynamics, civil engineering, agricultural machinery, economics, animal production, food science and biotechnology. Based on a specially-developed typology of the changes introduced in the original manuscripts during the revision process, we shall describe activities which may be incorporated into autonomous learning tasks. These tasks are designed to draw learners' attention not so much to the most common pitfalls in technical writing, which in itself is basic to polishing their writing skills, but rather to the different stylistic and expressive features of published scientific English discourse, which must be taken into consideration when writing for communication purposes. The fact that the publications, available online, are written by non-native users of English, engineers and authors, namely UPV faculty and researchers, adds value to the content of the specialized tasks.
Keywords:	scientific writing, discourse analysis, collaborative learning, autonomous activities
Main topic:	New role of writing as a tool for communication
Biodata:	The three authors are specialists in Languages for Specific Purposes and researchers in Applied Linguistics at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia.
Type of presentation	Paper presentation
Paper category	Reflective Practice
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No