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Introduction to academic articles

A. Academic language
Below is a list of words and phrases that frequently appear in academic articles. Check
the meanings of the ones you dont know.

peer review methods


methodology ethnography
empirical study correlation
the literature case study
literature review to be grounded in
theory longitudinal
results implications
findings participants
discussion research question
qualitative seminal work
abstract rigour
quantitative generalisable
research instruments/tools theoretical framework

B. Academic language
Complete the table below with appropriate information.

Noun Adjective Verb


analysis / analyst to analyse
implication(s) implicated
ethnography / ethnographer ------------
theory to theorise
introduction
correlation correlational
participant / participation to participate

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C. Academic Articles: Abstracts

Murray & Hughes (2009, p. 139) suggest that an abstract should be a concise account
of the essential elements of [a] research project. It should serve as an overview,
providing the reader with a good indication of what he or she will find in the pages that
follow. They go on to state that it usually includes the following features:

The purpose of the research


The method(s)
An explanation of the results
The conclusions reached

Look at the abstract below from Morita (2004) and identify these features

Abstract
This article reports on a qualitative multiple case study that explored the academic
discourse socialization experiences of L2 learners in a Canadian university. Grounded in
the notion of community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 89), the study examined
how L2 learners negotiated their participation and membership in their new L2
classroom communities, particularly in open-ended class discussions. The participants
included 6 female graduate students from Japan and 10 of their course instructors.
Student self-reports, interviews, and classroom observations were collected over an
entire academic year to provide an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the students
perspectives about their class participation across the curriculum. Three case studies
illustrate that students faced a major challenge in negotiating competence, identities,
and power relations, which was necessary for them to participate and be recognized as
legitimate and competent members of their classroom communities. The students also
attempted to shape their own learning and participation by exercising their personal
agency and actively negotiating their positionalities, which were locally constructed in a
given classroom. Implications for classroom practices and future research are also
discussed.

The purpose of the research

The method(s)

An explanation of the results

The conclusions reached

Adapted from: Writing up Your Research: Principles, Tips & Strategies for Thesis and
Dissertation Writing Murray & Hughes (2009)

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D. Academic Articles: Introduction

Now read the introduction section from the same article by Morita (2004) and answer the
following questions:

Introduction
Given the growing population of linguistically and culturally diverse students in North
American colleges and universities, understanding how these students participate in
their new academic communities and acquire academic discourses in their second
language (L2) has become critical. Thus, this study closely examines L2 learners
perspectives about their participation in primarily oral activities in university content
courses. As I demonstrate in this article, the issue of L2 participation and socialization is
closely related to important issues such as identity, competence, power, access, and
agency (Duff, 2002; Norton & Toohey, 2002). By drawing on various sociocultural
theories, particularly a community-of-practice (COP) perspective (Lave & Wenger, 1991;
Wenger, 1998), I analyzed how a group of L2 students from Japan negotiated their
participation and membership in their new academic communities in a Canadian
university. A longitudinal and in-depth investigation of the students inner voices
revealed how they negotiated their identities and exercised their personal agency to take
ownership of their learning.

1. What do the following words and phrases mean?


a. academic discourse
b. L2
c. academic communities
d. inner voices
e. personal agency

2. Find examples of the following features in the text:


a. An acronym
b. US spelling
c. A non-integral source
d. Language that links ideas
e. The use of / the avoidance of the personal I
f. Thesis statement
g. Justification for the study

3. By drawing on various sociocultural theories, particularly a community-of-practice


(COP) perspective (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998)

a. What does the phrase drawing on mean here?


b. Why does Morita include sources?

4. Based on the abstract and the introduction write one or two sentences that
summarise the main points of this study (do not forget to include a source).

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

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E. Post-reading discussion
In small groups use your notes to discuss the following points from Moritas article:
What is the overall purpose of the article?

What did you find interesting in the article? Why were these things interesting to
you?

What types of evidence/data does the article make use of?

What questions do you have of the text/author/ideas?

CRITIQUING

Below is a critical review of the Morita article. Read the review and discuss in pairs:

What is the purpose of each paragraph?

What are the strengths and limitations provided?

Does it give an overall opinion about the contribution to the field?

Does it identify the purpose of the article and who this article would be useful
for (the audience)?

What suggestions would you make for improvement?

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Naoko Morita: 'Negotiating participation and identity in second language academic
communities'. TESOL Quarterly 38/4:573-603. 2004.

This research paper is based on a study conducted by Morita that sought to gain a
better understanding of how L2 students participate and negotiate membership in their
new L2 classroom communities' (p. 577), a topic that is likely to be of interest to many
NALDIC Quarterly readers. Morita's paper is a detailed, ethnographic-style, longitudinal
account of the experiences of a group of female Japanese students undertaking
postgraduate studies as international students at a Canadian university. The paper uses
data from participants' learning diaries, classroom observations and interviews to
explore the variety of ways in which the students negotiated the complex social and
linguistic practices of their new classroom contexts, knowing for example how and when
to speak in class and what to say. Underpinning the work is the view that 'academic
socialization is not simply a matter of acquiring pre-given knowledge and sets of skills
but involves a complex process of negotiating identities, cultures, or power relations'
(p.574-5).

The main focus of the paper is how students interacted orally in their classes-an area
which Morita highlights as being generally under-represented in both process and
product oriented research alike - and how this was directly related to the notion of
identity. Morita uses data to explore the ways in which the students' participation,
interaction and engagement in their classes were directly related to their notion of self
and the ways in which they were and felt they were identified in classes. One of the key
things the paper highlights is that the participants did not think, feel, behave and
respond in the same way in all of their classes. The participants speak through the data
about the different identities and roles they assumed in classes, their reasons for this
and the impact that this had upon their oral contributions to and participation in classes.
The following quote taken from one of Morita's participants is a powerful example of the
insight that the student voice can provide: 'in course E, the instructor made me feel that I
was there even though I was quiet. In the other courses my presence or absence did not
seem to make any difference ...I just sat there like an ornament' (p. 587).

The paper explores some of the ways in which access to talk in the form of personal
agency; shared experience and cultural capital are not distributed evenly within
classrooms. An example taken from an email written by one of the students to her
teacher is a clear example of these concerns:' I, from the opposite half of the earth, am
not so familiar with such western issues' (p.593). The data presented provides an
interesting insight into the ways in which these factors impact upon and shape student
identities which in turn shape their patterns of interaction and participation. An example
of this is the role of silence. The data challenges the idea that students' silence in
classrooms is solely a developmental stage and that it can, and often is, more than this,
Moritas data shows how students may actively select silence and that silence is a tool
that is strategically deployed by students in different ways, for different purposes at
different times.

The paper reminds us, as practitioners, to ask ourselves how often and to what level we
take the time to see what students are actually doing in our classrooms and what sort of
mechanisms and strategies they are using and developing. Equally the findings highlight
the need for us to build an understanding of our students outside our own classrooms.
Students may not be utilising the same strategies or negotiating the same identities
across subjects which have, as Morita's paper suggests, implications for the types of
participation students may engage in and the role that the classroom plays in shaping
these identities and practices. As practitioners we may benefit greatly from
understanding how our students perceive themselves and are perceived in other
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classrooms, in different subjects with different teachers. Morita highlights how labels
such as 'female', 'Japanese', and indeed 'EAL student', are homogenising terms that
potentially obscure individual identities; as such we are asked to think about the types of
identities we may ascribe to our students and how well these may or may not fit with
those that they ascribe to themselves.

Whilst set in a higher education context, the paper speaks to issues that are likely to be
salient to practitioners and researchers in a variety of educational contexts. Morita's
paper won the 2004/2005 TESOL Research Interest Section/Thomson Heinle
Distinguished Research Award. The purpose of which is to 'recognize excellence in any
area of research on language teaching and learning'. Morita's paper is insightful, thought
provoking and very accessible-it quickly becomes apparent why it was selected for the
award. The paper is open and engaging and the students' voices provide an interesting
insight into processes that may go unnoticed and untapped in our day-to-day
engagement with students. The nature of the paper is such that it is likely to be of
interest to practitioners wishing to explore similar issues in their own educational
contexts as well as for individuals engaged in academic study at postgraduate level. The
paper provides researchers with an articulate account of the research process as well as
an elegant model for using and presenting data. The points that I have highlighted here
represent an overview of those most salient to my own experience and interest yet the
depth and quality of Morita's paper is such that it can offer something to the broadest
range of readers and interests.

Costley, T. (2007). A review of: 'Negotiating participation and identity in second


language academic communities'. TESOL Quarterly 38/4:573-603. 2004. In Naldic
Quarterly Vol 5 (1) Autumn 2007 pp.41-42.

Now read a critique of the critique (!) in order to check your ideas.

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Costley, T. (2007). A review of: 'Negotiating participation and identity in second
language academic communities'. TESOL Quarterly 38/4:573-603. 2004. In Naldic
Quarterly Vol 5 (1) Autumn 2007 pp.41-42.

Costleys critical review of the article published in 2004 by Naoko Morita clearly identifies
the contribution of the paper to its field of academic literacies and language education.
Her positive review highlights the focus of the article and the applications to a variety of
fields, even those outside of Moritas intended audience. She clearly sets out the
theoretical framework of academic socialisation and how the findings from Moritas study
contribute to the literature in this area. The conclusions and implications of the article,
for example, that silence can be used for a range of purposes and is often an expression
of agency in addition to an impediment to it, are clear and a range of quotations from the
data are provided to support these.

In adding to the hype surrounding this undeniably thought-provoking and insightful


article however, Costley has overlooked some salient limitations. In terms of Moritas
theoretical framework of academic socialisation, I am surprised to see an article written
after 1998 not making reference to the seminal work in this area by Lea and Street on
academic literacies. Lea and Street (1998) problematize the academic deficit and
academic socialisation approaches to teaching EAL students in higher education
contexts and touch on many of the issues explored by Morita around participation,
identity and power. In this same area, indeed, Costley fails to mention a positive aspect
of Moritas paper in that Morita explicitly claims that the literature in this area has largely
focussed on student writing, and by focusing on the dearth of research on oral
interactions, she has positioned herself well within the field.

Another area which Costley does not consider is the methodology of the study. The data
has been triangulated, providing a rigourous method of analysis, and the longitudinal
nature of the research can provide insights into the changing patterns of identity and
interactions over time as students progress within the academy. However, Morita fails to
justify her choice of participants, all of whom are female and Japanese, in terms other
than the relationship between the researcher and her participants. The issue of gender
and culture and its impacts on academic identity is utterly glossed over. If Morita had
chosen only Japanese female subjects for consistency of results or convenience
sampling, it would have been wise to point this out to her readers, who are left
wondering whether these findings would have been the same for male students or
students from countries other than Japan. Moritas lack of caution in generalising her
findings to the whole L2 community within her implications section is a serious flaw,
which Costley neglects in her glowing review.

A review by Jayne Pearson (2015) University of Westminster

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Answers

B. Academic language
Complete the table below with appropriate information.

Noun Adjective Verb


analysis / analyst analytical to analyse
implication(s) implicated to imply
ethnography / ethnographer ethnographical -
theory theoretical to theorise
introduction introductory to introduce
correlation correlational to correlate
participant / participation participatory to participate

C. Academic Articles: Abstracts


Murray & Hughes (2009, p. 139) suggest that an abstract should be a concise account
of the essential elements of [a] research project. It should serve as an overview,
providing the reader with a good indication of what he or she will find in the pages that
follow. They go on to state that it usually includes the following features:

The purpose of the research


The method(s)
An explanation of the results
The conclusions reached

The purpose of the research


explored the academic discourse socialization experiences of L2
learners in a Canadian university
The method(s)
a qualitative multiple case study
Student self-reports, interviews, and classroom observations were
collected over an entire academic year to provide an in-depth,
longitudinal analysis of the students perspectives about their class
participation across the curriculum
participants included 6 female graduate students from Japan and 10
of their course instructors
An explanation of the results
Three case studies illustrate that students faced a major challenge in
negotiating competence, identities, and power relations, which was
necessary for them to participate and be recognized as legitimate and
competent members of their classroom communities.
The conclusions reached
Implications for classroom practices and future research are also
discussed

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D. Academic Articles: Introduction
Now read the introduction section from the same article by Morita (2004) and answer the
following questions:
What do the following words and phrases mean?
a. academic discourse
Language used in the academic field
b. L2
Second language
c. academic communities
Groups involved in academic field (classes, teachers, etc)
d. inner voices
Thoughts, beliefs, views
e. personal agency
having control over decisions

2. Find examples of the following features in the text:


a. An acronym
COP
b. US spelling
socialization / analyzed
c. A non-integral source
(Duff, 2002; Norton & Toohey, 2002)
d. Language that links ideas
Thus / As I demonstrate in this article/ such as/ By drawing on
e. The use of / the avoidance of the personal I
As I demonstrate in this article / I analyzed how a group
This article demonstrates / Groups were analysed
f. Thesis statement
Not so clearly stated here?
revealed how they negotiated their identities and exercised their
personal agency to take ownership of their learning.
g. Justification for the study
the growing population of linguistically and culturally diverse students in
North American colleges and universities has become critical

3. By drawing on various sociocultural theories, particularly a community-of-practice


(COP) perspective (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998)

a. What does the phrase drawing on mean here?


Using / adopting (good for theories, frameworks, studies, etc)
b. Why does Morita include sources?
Introduce key authors on the subject / aligning herself with these writers
(position)

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