Written Communication Jan 2000

Interactional Conflicts among Audience, Purpose, and Content Knowledge in the Acquisition of Academic Literacy in an EAP Course

JETTE G. HANSEN

Abstract

The issues of authentic context and authoritative ethos are explored through a study of a graduate student learning to write for mathematics within the context of an English for academic purposes (EAP) course. The student faced conflicts about audience, purpose, and content knowledge as she was required to write math texts within what she perceived was an inauthentic context, an English as a second language (ESL) course. She questioned the purpose of the writing tasks as well as why an ESL instructor was teaching her to write for math, and she addressed the conflicts by writing for the instructor's discourse community and expectations, rather than her own, to earn a grade for the course. The text the student created was thus inauthentic within her own discourse community and lacked her voice of authority. These findings question the validity of EAP courses and raise several issues, especially in terms of the transferability of skills from EAP to content courses.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2000-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088300017001002
Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis literacy studies multilingual writers voice and style argument

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. James (2008)
    The Influence of Perceptions of Task Similarity/Difference on Learning Transfer…
    Written Communication
  2. Taylor (2006)
    Assessment in Client-Based Technical Writing Classes: Evolution of Teacher and …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Smith (2003)
    The Role of Technical Expertise in Engineering and Writing Teachers’ Evaluation…
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (2)

  1. SPACK (1997)
    The Acquisition of Academic Literacy in a Second Language
    Written Communication
  2. JOHNS (1991)
    Interpreting an English Competency Examination
    Written Communication
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. Bridgeman, B.
    Survey of academic writing tasks required of graduate and undergraduate foreign students
     ↗
  2. 10.1016/S0889-4906(96)00029-4
     ↗
  3. Johns, A.
    Text, role, and context: Developing academic literacies
     ↗
  4. 10.2307/3587624
     ↗
  5. 10.2307/3587199
     ↗
  6. 10.2307/3587974
     ↗
  7. 10.1016/S1060-3743(97)90030-8
     ↗
  8. 10.1093/elt/48.3.197
     ↗
  9. 10.2307/3587060
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 31 View in citation network →

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