This study evaluated and compared student self-reflections and peer feedback on academic writing tasks with respect to both content and language. Twenty-nine undergraduate students were recruited from a university in Hong Kong. Guided by self-efficacy theory, the study provided three main findings. First, students tended to give feedback based on…

Increased specialisation of disciplinary cultures creates barriers for students who may not understand the genre, style and conventions of disciplinary writing. Academic literacies research recognises that literacy is a social practice where writing is inextricably linked to knowledge construction. Learning to write, therefore, requires…

Engagement is a core issue in language teaching and learning. Without the students' active involvement in the teaching--learning process, educational objectives could not be achieved. Accordingly, the concept of engagement has been the focus of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. This research examined the effects of corpus-based…

Students are expected to interpret the complexities and nuances of literary texts yet might struggle with interpreting texts in ways that are valued in literary studies. Examining students' language choices can support instructors and students with developing concrete, explicit understandings of the ways language creates meanings in discourse.…

This article examines Higher Education students' experiences of academic reading as a grudging act: something that is performed reluctantly or half-heartedly, because it has to be done. Drawing on group interviews with 30 social science undergraduates, registered at a research-intensive UK university, we offer a reflexive thematic analysis of…

This study investigates the impact of the language of instruction on assessment outcomes by comparing students' test performance in English (EMI) and Japanese Medium Instruction (JMI) courses. Data were collected from a university in Japan offering parallel Chemistry courses in Japanese and English as part of the same undergraduate curriculum. A…

This study employs Douglas Biber's Multi-Dimensional analysis (1988) in order to estimate the degree of similarity and difference between expert and novice academic writing in different disciplines. The Multi-Dimensional analysis was applied to two kinds of corpora: an approximately 700,000-word corpus of L2 students' writing and a 3,700,000-word…

Informed by basic psychological needs theory, this multi-case study explored four supervisors' feedback practices and their effects on Chinese English-major students' engagement with feedback on their undergraduate dissertations written in English. Data comprised interviews with students and supervisors, stimulated recalls with students, audio…

Dynamic assessment (DA) integrates assessment and instruction between the instructor and learners. It emphasizes the learning process. DA was introduced to 24 undergraduates and 9 graduate students in two academic writing courses in Taiwan. The analysis of the pre- and post-tests, writing portfolios, observations, and interviews reached the…

Despite its critical importance in academic writing, effective feedback strategies in undergraduate thesis supervision remains under-researched. This case study aims to address this gap by examining the experiences of five English department students who completed their theses and the strategies their supervisors employed to facilitate timely…

Writing ability is an essential skill for college students to improve their school performance and complete their academic writing tasks. Proficient English writing skills are also highly advantageous for their future career prospects and personal growth. However, many English learners face difficulties in various aspects of English writing. The…

This study investigated the impact of Google Docs on the academic writing improvement of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Conducted over a 13-week period during the 2022/23 academic year at an Ethiopian university, the research examined how this digital tool affects writing quality and student perceptions. Utilizing a sequential…

Students seem to encounter various challenges when writing bachelor's and master's theses, indicating a need to support them in their writing processes. In this study, academic writing workshops for students writing bachelor's and master's theses were developed and investigated during three years of a participatory action research project. The…

A theoretical understanding is offered to help explore how students attempt to reconcile divergent narratives around the purposes of Higher Education in relation to their own writing. Drawing from the twin notions of centripetal and centrifugal forces, the paper discusses the ways that students both follow and resist convention in their own…

Self-assessment is believed to complement peer assessment in the classroom. However, whether, how and why this is done remains unclear. This study, by investigating the combined use of self and peer assessment for an academic writing task among a group of undergraduate students in Hong Kong, aims to shed light on how self-assessment complements…