Reading for academic writing: a case study of English majors in Bangladesh [EMBARGOED]

Abstract

This study explored the integration of genre-based reading into teaching academic writing in a low-proficiency English major class in Bangladesh. Writing is one of the most fearsome and difficult language tasks for L1 and L2 learners, and most students do not hold a positive attitude towards it. Students feel anxious and pressured when it comes to academic writing because they lack knowledge of the linguistic features, mechanics, and conventions of academic writing. One of the main reasons behind these problems is that writing is taught separately in most universities around the world, including Bangladesh, where it is still taught separately at all levels. Consequently, most students face difficulties with academic writing, even in their final semester. To address the problems, this research used a qualitative case study as a research design to investigate students’ feelings and understanding about academic writing, their responses to the integration of genre-based reading into academic writing, and the benefits of this integration in an English major class. Using the English major students and teacher-researcher as research participants, this study collected data via recordings of classroom instruction, pre-and post-writing tasks of the learners, the reflective journals of the teacher-researcher and learners, and semi-structured interviews. The findings were presented thematically and in a narrative style. The results of the study showed that students had mixed feelings about academic writing. They often felt anxious and distressed because they were worried about making grammatical mistakes, using the wrong words, or creating sentences that didn't make sense. They also found academic writing challenging and felt that it was too difficult to meet the high standards required. However, they recognised the importance of academic writing for their future careers and wanted to improve. The findings also revealed that many students didn't fully understand what academic writing meant. They thought it was mainly about using complex sentences and fancy words rather than its core elements, like expressing ideas clearly, organising them logically, providing evidence, and making coherent arguments. Some students even believed academic writing was just about getting the grammar right without realising it also involved critical thinking and analysis. Furthermore, the findings disclosed that the learners did not initially welcome the reading-for-writing approach and showed their disinterest. They reported it to be challenging and struggled to understand the texts as they were not familiar with the writing styles of the genres. They were also found to be less engaged with complex text. However, they showed positive attitudes towards the reading-for-writing approach, as time progressed. They found the approach helpful, interactive, and interesting. It was observed that the reading-for-writing approach enhanced their comprehension of content, critical thinking abilities, and overall engagement and motivation in learning. The findings further indicated that implementing this approach increased the learners' understanding of different writing genres, their unique structures, characteristics, and accepted practices. Additionally, their ability to generate ideas for writing was improved, along with their skills in writing mechanics such as spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, ellipsis and substitution, sentence structure, and connectors. Furthermore, the approach enhanced their skills in organising ideas clearly and logically.