Reader-Friendliness and Feedback: German-L1 Scholars’ Perceptions of Writing for Publication in English

Thomas Armstrong

doi:10.18552/joaw.v1i1.4

Journal of Academic Writing Sep 2011 OA PDF

Reader-Friendliness and Feedback: German-L1 Scholars’ Perceptions of Writing for Publication in English

Thomas Armstrong University of Zurich

Abstract

Failure to publish articles in the dominant Anglophone scientific journals has implications for multilingual scholars’ future careers and for the global dissemination of scientific knowledge. Despite the importance of this topic, there have been few studies of the perceptions of multilingual scholars engaged in this process. In an effort to close this gap, an online questionnaire was emailed to 153 German-L1 scholars at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. The 46 respondents ranked 'writing reader-friendly texts' as their number one problem in writing scientific publications in English, followed by 'using correct grammar'. Reader-friendliness was defined by the majority of the respondents as 'writing in a clear and simple style'. The questionnaire also revealed some interesting differences between the views of novice and more experienced scholars regarding the role of different sources of feedback in helping them overcome these problems. The results from the questionnaire will be explored in more detail in follow-up interviews.

Journal: Journal of Academic Writing
Published: 2011-09-01
DOI: 10.18552/joaw.v1i1.4
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Topics: grammar and mechanics
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Reader-Friendliness and Feedback: German-L1 Scholars’ Perceptions of Writing for Publication in English

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