Classroom interactions, instructional activities and learning affordances of an undergraduate technical writing classroom: a sociocultural study

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Date
2014-08
Authors
Cheah, Swi Ee
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Abstract
This thesis is the result of an academic venture to explore writing practices in the Malaysian higher education. The study assumes a sociocultural view and approaches writing practices as the teaching, learning, and doing of writing. Classroom interactions, instructional activities in class, participants’ interpretations of an acceptable technical report, and language learning affordances are investigated as aspects contributing to writing practices. This study is a qualitative case study, exploratory and interpretive in nature. This case study was conducted for ten weeks in a technical writing class of undergraduates as they learnt to accomplish the technical report. The participants were 28 students from the technical discipline and their English language lecturer. Data sources were mainly formal classroom observations, interviews and informal discussions with the teacher and the students, institutional documents related to the course, and the students’ written products. Data analysis followed the research procedure that included consistent use of research instruments, multiple readings, constant comparison, thematic analysis, triangulation, and member checking of the data. The main finding of the study indicates that writing in the sociocultural context is neither static nor unilateral. The sociocultural context plays an important role in shaping the students’ writing practices in class. Collectively, the students’ writing practices can become a norm that gives shape to the sociocultural context where writing takes place. Four dominant talk features that characterized the classroom interactions, four common themes that arose from the instructional activities, the teacher and students’ agreement on the criteria of acceptable technical reports but differing interpretations on each criterion, and language learning affordances pointed to the importance of integrating affordances outside the classroom as a resource of teaching writing in the classroom. Beneath the surface of observable classroom activities and interactions, there are underlying factors that affect writing practices in class. To unravel the complexities of these hidden domains, Activity Theory was used as a tool to provide explanations and insights. The findings implicate the importance of considering L2 writing as a sociocultural practice that requires more than language skills and linguistics competence. This study has contributed to existing works on second language writing and classroom talk. Specifically, this study has attempted to bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners through cross-modality research between classroom talk and writing. It is hoped that the research methodology comprising intense data collection and analysis can be replicated in other settings.
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Keywords
Learning Affordances , Instructional Activities , Classroom Interactions
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