Academic Writing: Perceptions and Evaluation of Students at a Chilean University
Abstract
Writing is considered a complex activity as it involves cognitive, social, psychological and emotional processes. The aim of this study is to establish a characterization of first-year students of three careers in a Chilean public university by identifying their initial writing skills and their perception of this process in the context of an initial academic literacy course. The methodology is of a mixed, exploratory, descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional, non-experimental type, through two instruments: a questionnaire of perception on writing practices and a diagnostic test. One of the main findings of the questionnaire revealed a low knowledge of written production, focused on form, poor mastery of the phases of writing and incipient experience in these practices of students in the last years of school. The test showed a low performance in written texts (basic initial and basic intermediate writer). This made it possible to characterize them as novice writers, with basic performance in terms of writing stages, textual dimensions and writing experience. This information is projected as an opportunity for the configuration of a pedagogical-didactic strategy proposal suitable for a literacy course in the first year of university.Downloads
References
Aguirre, M. (2023). Some accompaniment and support devices to address the writing of specialized academic texts in Latin American higher education institutions. Cuaderno de Pedagogía Universitaria, 20(39), 72-83. https://doi.org/10.29197/cpu.v20i39.483
Bazerman, Ch. (1988). Shaping written knowledge. University of Wisconsin Press.
Bazerman, C., Little, J., Bethel, L., Chavkin, T., Fouquette, D., & Garufis, J. (2005). Writing across the curriculum.
Reference guides to rhetoric and composition. West Lafayette, USA: Parlor Press/WAC Clearinghouse.
Bazerman, C., Little, J., Bethel, L., Chavkin, T., Fouquette, D., & Garufis, J. (2016). Writing across the Curriculum.
A reference guide. National University of Córdoba.
Bazerman, Charles (2012). Writing with concepts: communal, internalized, and externalized. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 19 (3): 259-272.
Bereiter, C. and Scardamalia, M. (2013). The psychology of written composition. LEA.
Bitran, M., Zúñiga, D., Flotts, P., Padilla, O., & Moreno, R. (2009). Improvement in the written communication skills of medical students: Impact of a writing workshop. Revista médica de Chile, 137(5), 617-624. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0034-98872009000500004.
Camps, A. (2003). Text, process, context and discursive activity: different points of view on the activity of learning and teaching writing. In J. Ramos (Coord.), Enseñar a escribir sin prisa... pero con sentido (pp. 13-32). Seville: MCEP.
Carlino, P. (2003). Academic literacy. A necessary change, some possible alternatives. Educere, Revista Venezolana de Educación, 6(20), 409-420. ISSN 1316-4910
Carlino, P. (2004). The academic writing process: four difficulties in university teaching. Educere Journal, 8 (26), 321-327. ISSN: 1316-4910
Carlino, P. (2005a). Writing and reading in college. An introduction to academic literacy. Fondo de Cultura Económica. ISSN: 0716-0488
Carlino, P. (2005b). Representations about writing and ways of teaching it in North American universities. Journal of Education, 336, 143-168.
Carlino, P. (2013) Academic literacy ten years later. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 8(57), 355-38. http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1405-66662013000200003&l- ng=en&tlng=en
Carrasco, A., Encinas, M., Castro, M., & López, G. (2013). Academic reading and writing in upper secondary and higher education. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 18(57), 349-354.
Cassany, D. (1988). Describing writing. Paidós. Cassany, D. (2006). Taller de textos. Paidós.
Cassany, D. (2009). Repairing writing. Graó.
Castelló, M. (2007a). The process of composing academic texts. In M. Castelló (coord.), Escribir y
Communicating in scientific and academic contexts (pp. 47-81). Graó.
Castelló, M. (2007b). The effects of affect on scholarly communication. In M. Castelló (Coord.), Escribir.
and communicate in scientific and academic contexts (pp. 137-159). Graó.
Castelló, M. (2009). Aprender a escribir textos académicos ¿Copistas, escribas, compiladores o escritores? In
J.J. Pozo and M., Pérez Echeverría (Coords.), La Psicología del aprendizaje universitario: de la adquisición de conocimiento a la formación en competencias (pp. 120-133). Madrid: Morata.
Castelló, M., Mateos, M., Castells Gómez, N., Iñesta, A., Cuevas, I., & Solé, I. (2012). Academic writing practices in Spanish universities. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, vol. 10, no. 27, p. 569-590.
Castelló, M. (2014). The current challenges of academic literacy: state of the art and latest.
research. Enunciation, 19(2), 346-365.
Castro, M., & Sánchez, M. (2013). The expression of opinion in academic texts written by university students. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 18(57).
Chois-Lenis, P. M., Casas-Bustillo, A. C., López-Higuera, A., Prado-Mosquera, D. M., & Cajas-Paz, E. Y. (2017). Perceptions of peer tutoring in academic writing. Magis. International Journal of Research in Education, 9(19), 165-184. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=281052678009 https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.m9-19.ptpe
Chois-Lenis, P. M., Casas-Bustillo, A. C., López-Higuera, A., Prado-Mosquera, D. M., & Cajas-Paz, E. Y. (2017). Perceptions of peer tutoring in academic writing. Magis. International Journal of Research in Education, 9(19), 165-184.
Creme, Phyllis and Lea, Mary (2000). Escribir en la universidad. Barcelona: Gedisa.
Cube de Severino, L., Puiatti, H., & Lacon, N. (2014). Writing a thesis: Handbook of production strategies.
Communicate.
Cuevas-Solar, D. D., & Arancibia, B. M. (2020). Perceptions and expectations of engineering and education teachers around feedback on writing assignments. Formación universitaria, 13(4), 31-44. http://dx.doi. org/10.4067/S0718-50062020000400031
Didactext, G. (2003). A sociocognitive pragmalinguistic and didactic model for the production of written texts.
Didactics, XIV, 165-189.
Didactext, G. (2015). New framework for academic text production. Didactext. Language and Literature, 27,
-254. https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_DIDA.2015.v27.50871
Emig, J. (1971). The composing processes of twelfth graders. National Council of Teachers of English.
Escobar, J. and Cuervo, Á. (2008). Content validity and expert judgment: an approach to their use.
Advances in Measurement, 6, 27-36.
Ezcurra, A. M. (2011). Student dropout in higher education. Hypotheses and concepts. In N. Gluz (Ed.), University admission and social selectivity. When democratization is more than a problem of "income" (pp. 23-62). Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento.
Errázuriz, M., Arriagada, L., Contreras, M., & López, C. (2015). Diagnosis of essay writing by novice Pedagogy students at the Villarrica UC campus, Chile. Perfiles Educativos, 37(150), 76-90. https://doi. org/10.22201/iisue.24486167e.2015.150.53163.
Errázuriz, M. C. (2017). Implicit theories about academic writing in students of initial teacher education programs: do they influence written performance? Signo y pensamiento, 36(71), 36-52. https://doi. org/10.11144/javeriana.syp36-71.tiea.
Finocchio, A. (2009). Conquering writing. Saberes y prácticas escolares. Paidós.
Flotts, M. P., Manzi, J., Lobato, P., Durán, M. I., Díaz, M. P., & Abarzúa, A. (2016). Contributions to the teaching of writing. http://repositorio.minedu.gob.pe/handle/20.500.12799/4477
Flower, L. (1979). Writer- Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing. College English, 41 (1): 19-37. Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College composition and communication,
(4), 365-387.
Galicia Alarcón, L., Balderrama Trápaga, J., & Edel Navarro, R. (2017). Content validity by expert judgment: proposal of a virtual tool. Apertura (Guadalajara, Jal.), 9(2), 42-53. https://doi.org/10.32870/ ap.v9n2.993
Giraldo Gaviria, D. (2021). Production of argumentative advertising texts on reading promotion. Proposal in initial teacher training. Sophia, 17(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.18634/sophiaj.17v.1i.1103
Gevehr, D. L., Fetter, S. A., & Karpinski, R. L. (2019). Produção do conhecimento na universidade: reflexões e incumbências em torno do trabalho de conclusão de curso. Educ. Form., 4(10), 131-147. https://doi. org/10.25053/redufor.v4i10.851.
Jara Holliday, O. (2018). The systematization of experiences: practice and theory for other possible worlds. Cinde. Jiménez-Fontana, R., García-González, E., Azcárate, P., Navarrete, A. and Cardeñoso, J. M. (2016). The Theory
Grounded as a data analysis strategy: process characterization. IARCQ2016, 1.
Herrera, C., Castillo, P., Figueroa, L., Gallego, C. and Leiva (2020). Competencies for an inclusive pedagogy in Chilean initial teacher education. Sophia Austral, 27, 1|-24. https://doi.org/10.22352/ SAUSTRAL202127002.
Klein, P. D., & Boscolo, P. (2016). Trends in research on writing as a learning activity. Journal of Writing Research,
(3), 311-350. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2016.07.03.01.
Marinkovich, J. (2002). Process approaches in the production of written texts. Signos Journal, 35(51 52), 217.
https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09342002005100014
MINEDUC. (February 21, 2023a). Curricular Prioritization. Ayuda Mineduc atención ciudadana. https://www. ayudamineduc.cl/ficha/priorizacion-curricular.
MINEDUC. (2023b). Curricular prioritization update. Retrieved from https://www.curriculumnacional.cl/ portal/Educacion-General/Lenguaje-y-comunicacion-Lengua-y-literatura/332017:Actualizacion-de-la-Pri- orizacion-Curricular-Lenguaje.
Miras, M., and Solé, I. (2007). The elaboration of scientific and academic knowledge. In Writing and communicating in
scientific and academic contexts: knowledge and strategies (pp. 83-112). Graó.
Navarro, F. (2017). Latin American studies of writing in higher education and professional contexts: Towards the configuration of a disciplinary field of its own. Modern Languages, 50, pp. 8-14. https://revistas. uchile.cl/index.php/LM/article/view/49247/53097.
Navarro, F. (2018). Didactics based on discursive genres for academic reading, writing and orality, in Navarro, F. and Aparicio, G. (Eds.), Manual de lectura, escritura y oralidad académicas para ingresantes a la universidad, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.
Navarro, F. (2021). Beyond academic literacy: the functions of writing in higher education.
Electronic Journal Reading, Writing and Discovering, 1(9), 4. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/led/vol1/iss9/4
Natale, L. (2013a). Integrating approaches in an institutional program for the development of academic and professional writing. Revista mexicana de investigación educativa, 18(58), 685-707. http://www. scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1405-66662013000300002&lng=en&tlng=en.
Natale, L. (2013b). The writing hotbed. Writing assignments across three UNGS majors. http://www.ungs.edu.ar/cm/uploaded_files/publicaciones/582_EDU14 El semillero de la escritura_web. pdf.
Núñez, J. and Moreno, A. (2017). Ibero-American university students' perceptions of communicative competence and academic literacy. Zona próxima, (6), 44-60. https://doi.org/10.14482/ zp.26.10212
Padilla, J. and , C., & López, E. (2019). Feedback practices in university humanities classrooms: Digital teacher feedback and student writer profiles. Revista signos, 52(100), 330-356. https://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-09342019000200330
Padilla, C. (2020). Scientific-academic argumentation in graduate careers: Challenges and tensions in the construction of expert identities. Reading and writing to learn, grow and transform
Rodríguez, B., & García, L. (2015). Writing academic texts: difficulties experienced by novice writers and suggestions for support. Revista de Investigación Educativa, (20), 249-265. https://doi. org/10.25009/cpue.v0i20.1332
Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1987). 4 Knowledge telling and knowledge transforming. Advances in Applied Psycholinguistics: Volume 2, Reading, Writing, and Language Learning, 2, 142.
Rose, D., Chivizhe, L. L., McKnight, A., & Smith, A. (2003). Scaffolding academic reading and writing at the Koori Centre. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 32, 41-50.
Scardamalia, M. and Bereiter, C. (1992). Two explanatory models of written composition processes. Childhood and Learning, 58, 43-64.
Sologuren, E., Bonifaz, C., & Núñez, C. G. (2019). The basal course of communicative competences in Law: Teaching academic writing from a blended and interdisciplinary approach. Revista Pedagogía Universitaria y Didáctica del Derecho, 6(1), 131-154. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-5885.2019.53748
Tarullo, R., & Martino, B. (2019). Perceptions and reflections on student writing in today's university. Educational Proposal, (51), 108-118. http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttex- t&pid=S1995-77852019000100010&lng=en&tlng=.
Vargas, L. M. (1994). On the concept of perception. Alteridades, (8), 47-53.
Teberosky, A. (2007). The academic text. In M. Castelló (coord). Writing and communicating in scientific and academic contexts.
(pp. 17-46). Graó.
Vieiro, P., Peralbo, M., & García, J. (1997). Processes of acquisition and production of reading and writing. Visor.
Vine-Jara, A. E. (2020). Academic writing: perceptions of Human Sciences and Engineering Sciences students at a Chilean university. Íkala, Journal of Language and Culture, 25(2), 475-491. https://doi. org/10.17533/udea.ikala.v25n02a02.
White, M. and Bruning, R. (2005). Implicit writing beliefs and their relation to writing quality. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(2), 166-189. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.07.00.
Creative Commosn Licence 4.0
