This chapter discusses textography as a strategy for researching academic writing in higher education. Textography is an approach to the analysis of written texts which combines text analysis with ethnographic techniques, such as surveys, interviews and other data sources, in order to examine what texts are like, and why. It aims to provide a more…

The study described in this article sets out to understand the barriers and affordances to successful completion of the short research thesis required in many advanced undergraduate courses or Honours programmes. In the study, the genre features of students' research projects and the criteria used to assess them were analysed and both students and…

Applied Linguistics is a diverse field, comprising a substantial number of sub-fields, sub-specialisations and related fields. To see that this is the case one need only examine the various handbooks and encyclopaedic references that have been published in the last ten years to see the wide range of topics that have been covered. As with many…

In this paper, I speculate on the work "usefulness" does to regulate the research and writing of the scholarship of academic development project. My argument is not that academic developers ought to repudiate a fidelity to usefulness; rather, I want to expand our ideas for the possibilities of research and writing beyond purposes of…

There is a burgeoning interest in how best to support and facilitate the development of writing and writing output of research students. One pedagogy is the use of writing groups for and beyond the period of the doctorate; however, there is relatively little empirical research that helps explain "how" the pedagogies of research writing…

Building on the increasing interest within English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in postgraduate literacy development, this article examines the complexities of writing research at the academic/professional interface. It analyses two literature reviews by professional doctorate students at an Australian university who were writing research in their…

Four research models used by schools to study writing across the curriculum are compared and discussed briefly, reasons for conducting such research are considered, and recommendations are provided for those interested in conducting similar research. The models cited were used in New Jersey, Toronto (Canada), and Perth (Australia). (PGD)

Reports on a survey of 245 Australian high school students, who wrote about what they liked and disliked about their writing experiences. Notes the implications these results have for teaching writing. (RL)

Examines a number of written texts from a longitudinal case study that compared the writing development of a young girl and a young boy learning to write in writing process classrooms in Australia. Finds that the children took up strongly gendered positions in their writing. (RS)

This collection presents 15 articles on writing, three of them new and 12 of them representing the best of the 500 articles published since 1974 in "SET: Research Information for Teachers," a twice-yearly publication by the New Zealand and Australian Councils for Educational Research aimed at teachers, students, board members, and…

Describes a study of four Year 10 students' writing produced over a five-week period. Finds the need for (1) more time for teaching English, and (2) a whole-school approach to literacy. Points out that education policymakers should provide funding, resources, professional development, and guidance in the area of literacy. (NH)

Finds that, overall, a group of the lowest-achieving Year 7 boys benefited from using computers, and that this benefit derived from the support it provided them in their writing and its motivating appeal. Finds also that being in "the computer literacy class" also helped to overcome some of the stigma associated with being in the lowest…

This position paper is a product of Australia's Primary English Teaching Association. The paper looks at the capabilities of Australian children upon their entry into kindergarten. It argues that a new breed of learners needs a new set of practices to support their literacy learning. The paper focuses on a study in which writing samples were…

A study of student perceptions of the goals of composition classes and essential rules for successful academic compositions was conducted as a pilot for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) writing project, which will collect data on instructional practices and other aspects of written composition.…

Reviews current research in Australia in the areas of writing, reading, spelling, and using the microcomputer in the English classroom. (EL)