An exploratory study of academic writing literacy and research skills of graduate business students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14297/jpaap.v8i1.410Keywords:
academic writing, research skills, business management curriculum, higher education managementAbstract
The paper investigates the state of academic writing literacy and research skills of graduate business program students based on an evaluation of assessment rubric evaluations. Results indicate that graduate business program students have sufficient general writing skills, but struggle when applying these to academic writing for a specific discipline. Results also show that students have significant deficiencies when it comes to research skills. This paper discusses the implications of these outcomes and proposes a number of recommendations for program managers
References
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Lillis, T. (2001). Student writing. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203186268
Samraj, B. (2002). ‘Texts and contextual layers: academic writing in content courses’. In Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives. ed. by Johns, A. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum, 163-176.
Swales, J. & Feak, C. (2004). ‘Academic writing for graduate students: essential tasks and skills’. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Thonus, T. (2002). ‘Tutor and student assessments of academic writing tutorials: What is “suc-cess?’. Assessing Writing 8 (2), 110-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1075-2935(03)00002-3
Wingate, U., Andon, N., & Cogo, A. (2011). ‘Embedding academic writing instruction into subject teaching: A case study’. Active Learning in Higher Education 12 (1), 69-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787410387814
World Economic Forum (WEF) (2016, January). The future of jobs: Employment, skills and work-force strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. In World Economic Forum. [online] available from <http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf>[16 October 2018]
Zhu, W. (2004). ‘Faculty views on the importance of writing, the nature of academic writing, and teaching and responding to writing in the disciplines’. Journal of Second Language Writ-ing 13 (1), 29-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2004.04.004
Baruch, Y., & Peiperl, M. (2000). ‘The impact of an MBA on graduate careers’. Human Resource Management Journal 10 (2), 69-90. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2000.tb00021.x
Berkenkotter, C & Huckin, T. N. (1995). Genre knowledge in disciplinary communication: cogni-tion/culture/power. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. https://doi.org/10.2307/358302
Berkenkotter, C., Huckin, T. N., & Ackerman, J. (1991). ‘Social contexts and socially constructed texts: The initiation of a graduate student into a writing research community’. In Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in academic and other professional communities. ed. by Bazerman, C & Paradis, J. Madison: Univer-sity of Wisconsin Press, 191-215
Bitchener, J., & Basturkmen, H. (2006). ‘Perceptions of the difficulties of postgraduate L2 thesis students writing the discussion section’. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 5 (1), 4-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2005.10.002
Borg, E. (2000). ‘Citation practices in academic writing. In Patterns and perspectives: Insights into EAP writing practice’. ed. by Thompson, P. Reading, UK: Centre for Applied Language Studies, 26-42.
Canseco, G., & Byrd, P. (1989). Writing required in graduate courses in business administration. TESOL quarterly 23 (2), 305-316. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587338
Canagarajah, A. (2002). Critical academic writing and multilingual students. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8903
Carter, C. R. (2008). ‘Knowledge production and knowledge transfer: closing the research-practice gap’. Journal of Supply Chain Management 44 (2), 78-82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-493X.2008.00059.x
Coffin, C., Curry, M. J., Goodman, S., Hewings, A., Lillis, T., & Swann, J. (2005). Teaching aca-demic writing: A toolkit for higher education. London: Routledge.
Ganobscik-Williams, L. (2006). Teaching Academic Writing in UK Higher Education: Theories, Practices and Models. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-20858-2
Gimbel, P., & Mills, D. (2013). The value of rewriting in graduate educator preparatory programs. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 25 (2), 189-199.
Gopee, N., & Deane, M. (2013). ‘Strategies for successful academic writing—Institutional and non-institutional support for students.’ Nurse education today 33 (12), 1624-1631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2013.02.004
Griffiths, R. (2004). ‘Knowledge production and the research–teaching nexus: The case of the built environment disciplines’. Studies in Higher Education 29, 709–726. https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507042000287212
Healey, M., Jordan, J., Pell, B., & Short, C. (2010). ‘The research–teaching nexus: a case study of students' awareness, experiences and perceptions of research’. Innovations in Education and Teaching International 47 (2), 235-246. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703291003718968
Paltridge, B. (2004). ‘Academic writing’. Language teaching 37 (2), 87-105. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444804002216
Herrington, A. (1981). ‘Writing to learn: Writing across the disciplines’. College English 43 (4), 379-387. https://doi.org/10.2307/377126
Hyland, K. (2002). ‘Specificity revisited: how far should we go now? English for specific purposes’. In Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives. ed. by Johns, A. Mahwah NJ: Law-rence Earlbaum, 385–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(01)00028-X
Hyland, K. (2003). Second language writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667251
Jais, I., Ismail, O., Jais, I., & Basri, N. (2011). ‘Academic Writing Genres: General versus Content Based Writing’. Journal of Language Studies 7 (2), 45-64.
Johns, A. (1991). ‘Faculty assessment of ESL student literacy skills: Implications for writing as-sessment’. In Hamp-Lyons (Ed.), Assessing second language writing in academic con-texts. ed. by Hamp-Lyons, L. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 167-179.
Kellogg, R., & Raulerson, B. (2007). ‘Improving the writing skills of college students’. Psychonom-ic Bulletin & Review 14, 237-242. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194058
Lea, M., & Street, B. (1998). ‘Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies ap-proach’. Studies in Higher Education 23 (2), 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079812331380364
Lillis, T. (2001). Student writing. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203186268
Samraj, B. (2002). ‘Texts and contextual layers: academic writing in content courses’. In Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives. ed. by Johns, A. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum, 163-176.
Swales, J. & Feak, C. (2004). ‘Academic writing for graduate students: essential tasks and skills’. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Thonus, T. (2002). ‘Tutor and student assessments of academic writing tutorials: What is “suc-cess?’. Assessing Writing 8 (2), 110-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1075-2935(03)00002-3
Wingate, U., Andon, N., & Cogo, A. (2011). ‘Embedding academic writing instruction into subject teaching: A case study’. Active Learning in Higher Education 12 (1), 69-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787410387814
World Economic Forum (WEF) (2016, January). The future of jobs: Employment, skills and work-force strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. In World Economic Forum. [online] available from <http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf>[16 October 2018]
Zhu, W. (2004). ‘Faculty views on the importance of writing, the nature of academic writing, and teaching and responding to writing in the disciplines’. Journal of Second Language Writ-ing 13 (1), 29-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2004.04.004
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