ERIC Number: EJ1078373
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Oct
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1539-0578
EISSN: N/A
Undergraduate ESL Students' Engagement in Academic Reading and Writing in Learning to Write a Synthesis Paper
Zhao, Ruilan; Hirvela, Alan
Reading in a Foreign Language, v27 n2 p219-241 Oct 2015
As an important and a challenging source-based writing task, synthesizing offers rich opportunities to explore the connections between reading and writing. In this article, we report findings from a qualitative study of two Chinese students' learning experiences with academic synthesis writing in a university ESL composition course. Specifically, we discuss how the two students' understanding of synthesis and sources influenced their synthesis writing practices and how they perceived the connections between their reading strategies and synthesis writing processes. Our results reveal that the students' understanding of synthesis and the functions of sources played a crucial role in learning to synthesize, as did their ability to use rhetorical reading strategies to complete this new literacy task. We argue that whether second language (L2) students understand the complex reading-writing relationships underlying synthesizing is crucial for their successful textual production. These findings carry valuable implications for understanding reading and writing connections and teaching L2 source-based writing.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Qualitative Research, Learning Experience, Reading Writing Relationship, Asians, Second Language Instruction, Academic Discourse, Reading Strategies, Task Analysis, Writing (Composition), Foreign Students, Language Teachers, College Faculty, Teaching Methods, Writing Instruction, Recall (Psychology), Semi Structured Interviews, Observation
Reading in a Foreign Language. National Foreign Language Resource Center, 1859 East-West Road #106, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822. e-mail: readfl@hawaii.edu; Web site: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A