Data-driven learning in the academic writing classroom: Citation and stance

Abstract

Acquiring academic writing skills in English may be a true challenge, especially for undergraduate students for whom English is not their first language, but still have to accomplish writing tasks in a more or less successful way as a requirement to pass certain subjects and eventually qualify in higher education. Citation is perhaps the most distinctive property of academic writing and, at the same time, a feature which requires learners to understand how citation structures and reporting verbs can express the writer’s stance towards the imported information and the source authors themselves. This paper seeks to explore the use of a corpus of research papers written by native speakers of English in an English for Academic Purposes classroom with non-native speakers of the language. The proposal aims at boosting the students’ academic writing skills by providing them with a set of data-driven learning activities which promote both reflection and practice on a range of citation strategies. Teaching them how to use citation structures and reporting verbs effectively will ultimately allow them to take an adequate stance in their academic papers by shaping their claims in an appropriate way within a given disciplinary discourse community.