Academic Writing in Second Language: an

outlook of Spanish Higher Education

practices and challenges

Francisco Nuñez-Román
Coral I. Hunt-Gómez
Alejandro Gómez-Camacho
Miguel Ángel Ballesteros-Moscosioª

University of Seville (Spain)

fnroman@us.es
 A brief presentation

• Associate Professor.
• Faculty of Education Sciences. University of Seville
• Department of Language and Literature Teaching and
Integrated Philologies

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 Academic Writing in Second Language: an outlook of
Spanish Higher Education practices and challenges

• In Higher Education contexts, students are presented

with (and have to elaborate) academic genres.
• This study describes second language writing practices
in modern languages degrees in several Spanish
universities, teachers’ practice in second language
writing and the challenges we have to face up to
improve students’ academic writing in second
language.
Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)
 Index
1. L2 Academic Writing
2. Research Questions
3. Method
4. Results
5. Conclusions
6. Challenges
7. References

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 1. L2 Academic Writing

• In Higher Education contexts, L2 writing becomes a key

competence: From Learning to write to Writing to
Learn
• “writing is a tool they [college students] need in order to
participate in their disciplines and to demonstrate their learning
to readers in those disciplines” (Hyland, 2013, p. 241)
• Academic writing in Higher Education is a social practice

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 1. L2 Academic Writing. Cognitive Implications

• Slower activity: allow to focus on the writing process.

• Allow to formulate hypothesis on linguistic forms and their
functions.
• Facilitate the verification of these hypothesis through the own
text production and the feedback.
• Allow to evaluate several linguistics options through implicit
and explicit knwoledge and interlinguistic comparison.
• Encourage metalinguistic reflection about L2 learning process.

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 1. L2 Academic Writing
Elements

• L1 writing skills (Guasch, 2001).

• L2 linguistic competence (Silva, 1997).
• Transfer of writing skills from L1 to L2.
• Intercultural elements (Hyland, 2003): textual
convention, author’s voice, communicative contexts,
etc.

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 2. Research questions

RQ1. Which are the Academic writing practices in L2?

RQ2. Which are the difficulties found to develop

academic writing in L2?

RQ3. Which are the teachers’ beliefs about academic

writing in L2?
Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)
 3. Method

• Quantitative methodology of exploratory scopes

• Sample (aleatory sampling for conglomerate): 125 teachers
• Instrument: “Perception and Practices in L2 Academic Writing”. Adapted
from European Writing Survey (EUWRIT).
• Dimensions:
– Practices in L2 Academic Writing (items 1-10)
– Difficulties in L2 Academic Writing (items 11-20)
– Beliefs in L2 Academic Writing (items 21-25)
• Procedure: IBM SPSS Statistics 24

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 3. Results
L2 Academic Practices Highlights

• Teachers of this study carry out practices to improve L2

Academic Writing frequently.
• More frequent practices:
– Oral instructions > easiest way to transmit information in classroom
contexts.
– Plagiarism > Great concern about copyrights (¿fear to open access?)
• Less frequent practices:
– Writing practices in the classroom > Writing as an individual activity.
– Information about addressees > Adressee = Teacher
Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)
 3. Results
L2 Academic Practices. Universities Differences

Writing Textual
Bibliography
process models

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 3. Results L2 Academic Practices
Perceived Student Difficulties Highlights

• Almost all the items are important or very important.

• Teachers consider the smallest difficulties:

– Fear of evaluation > Evaluation is a part of any educational
process.
– Intercultural elements > ¿Ethnocentrism?

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 3. Results. Perceived Student Difficulties.
University differences

Writing Textual
Bibliography
process models
Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)
 3. Results L2 Academic Writing
Teachers’ Beliefs Highlights
• Academic writing is a fundamental tool to develop critical thinking and
reach a significant learning
• My University considers academic writing as a mater of importance.
• Importance of the knowledge of academic genre.
• Importance of the knowledge of L2.

WATCH OUT!
You only have to transfer your writing skills from L1 (85,1%)
Academic writing goes beyond my subject (43,3%)
Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)
 5. Conclusions

• University teachers seem sensitive to L2 academic writing and

its function as a learning tool, but:
– They consider that L2 academic writing goes beyond their subjects: usual problem
(nobody wants to be responsible) > conception of writing as a already-known skill,
unchanging to use contexts and which we don’t have to teach.
– Practice based on oral and writing instructions, with a lack of analysis of textual
models and writing process monitoring (drafts).
– The knowledge of writing process is not important: preference for traditional
methodology, based on language knowledge (important but just one more element).
– Poor attention to intercultural elements and the influence on L2 textual conventions.
Related to the belief that it’s just enough to transfer L1 writing skills to L2.

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 6. Challenges

• Evaluate the effect of linguistic, cultural and educational elements of L1 in L2 writing process:
– Use L1 to break the deadlocks.
– Transfer of cultural schemes from L1.
– Different conception of teaching-learning process.
• Assess the transfer of writing skills from L1 to L2:
– Lack of writing competence in L2 reveals a lack of writing competence in L1: a good proficiency in L1 writing leads to a good proficiency in L2
writing (Guasch, 2001).
• Know the linguistic, cultural and educational elements of L2:
– Improving L2 linguistic competence.
– Knowing the L2 cultural context.
– Identifying L2 social practices in academic writing: educational needs or plagiarism (Keck, 2014)
• Know discursive practices in L2:
• Domains, discursive communities, roles, values and use of writing.
• Offer strategies for the self-regulation of writing process:
– Cooperative working, co-assessment, drafts and feedback.
– Task adaptation: progress and self-confident.

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 6. Challenges

The fact that our students may be operating from

fundamentally different positions about texts and authorship
means that we should be aware of the effects these can have
on their writing, be flexible in our judgements, and be explicit
about our expectations and the reasons for our teaching
methods

Hyland, 2003, p. 40

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 7. Bibliography

(2015) “Appendix 2. European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) / Apéndice 2. Encuesta Europea sobre la escritura Académica (EEEA). Versión profesores”,
Cultura y Educación, 27/3, 660-668. doi: 10.1080/11356405.2015.1089069
Castelló, M. 2014. “Los retos actuales de la alfabetización académica: estado de la cuestión y últimas investigaciones”, Enunciación, 19/2: 346-365.
Gallardo-Saborido, E. J. & Núñez-Román, F. 2016. “La escritura académica en la Universidad: reflexiones y propuestas para alumnos y docentes”. La
alfabetización multimodal: nuevas formas de leer y de escribir en el entorno digital. Coord. A. Gómez Camacho. Madrid: Síntesis. 69-84.
Guasch, O. 2001. L’escriptura en segones llengües. Barcelona: Graó.
Guzmán-Simón, F. & García-Jiménez, E. 2014. “Los hábitos lectoescritores en los alumnos
universitarios”, Revista Electrónica Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 17/3: 79-92. Hyland, K. 2003. Second language writing.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kruse, O. 2013. “Perspective on academic writing in european higher education: genres, practices, and
competences”, Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 11/1: 37-58.
Manchón, R.M. 2011. “Writing to learn the language. Issues in theory and research”. Learning-to-Write
and Writing-to-Learn in an Additional Language. Ed. R.M. Manchón. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:
John Benjamins Publishing. 61-82.
Silva, T. 1993. “Toward an understanding of the distinct nature of L2 writing: the ESL research and its
implications”. TESOL Quarterly, 27: 665-77.
Silva, T. 1997. “Differences in ESL and Native-English-Speaker writing: the research and its
implications”. Writing in multicultural settings. Eds. C. Severino, J. Guena & J. Butler. New York: Modern Language Association of America. 209-19.

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)

 Academic Writing in Second Language: an outlook of
Spanish Higher Education practices and challenges

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Francisco Núñez-Román
fnroman@us.es

Francisco Núñez-Román (fnroman@us.es)