This brief report presents the preliminary results of the textual data analysis within a qualitative longitudinal study that examines ESL adolescent writers' voice in their academic writing as they transition from a High School Preparation (HSP) intensive English program to mainstream high schools (HS) in Sydney, Australia.

In multilingual Australian classrooms, one of the biggest challenges for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) learners is mastering the academic language they need to succeed at school. Unlike everyday language, academic language refers to the abstract, complex and challenging language that students need to understand, evaluate, synthesise…

Though research has established a relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic success and identified features to guide the L2 word learner through academic tasks (see Nation, 2013), less is known regarding student perceptions of academic vocabulary and the conscious decision-making process of these learners while they are writing. In…