Pedagogical Strategies

Keeping the Flowerdew and Miller’s four-dimensional culture framework in mind, I now embark upon discussing pedagogical strategies that may help inculcate a cultural understanding of the notion of ownership of written texts among students. As I discuss these strategies, I will have undergraduate student populations as the target audience. However, the strategies can be adapted as instructors see fit to cater to other student groups (e.g., graduate students, working professional students) as well. The strategies themselves have not been organized in any particular order; it is my belief that incorporating them into the instructional practices will help integrate the four-dimensional cultural understanding into writing practices among students.

Helping students understand the ownership of written texts. Given the diverse social and psychological characteristics that students bring in, it is important for the instructor to create a common reference point with regard to the concept of ownership of texts for all students in the classroom. This can begin with a quick survey to get a sense of what the class thinks about the term. The survey can incorporate the sample questions in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Sample questions for the instructor to survey student understanding of the ownership of written texts

Such a survey has been discussed in Bhowmik and Kim (2018) in the context of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classrooms. A survey with these questions will inform the instructor about the social and psychological traits of the students and, more importantly, will help the students understand how their backgrounds shape their current writing practices. The survey can be followed by a deconstruction of the notion of ownership of texts as it is practiced in the situational context (e.g., social, cultural, institutional) in which the pedagogy is taking place. It is important to note that the deconstruction process should avoid imposing the dominant beliefs and ideologies around the notion of ownership of written texts; instead, it should help students understand what this notion entails for academic integrity.

Incorporating local examples. Incorporating local (cultural) examples, that is, local writing literacy practices, into the writing classroom is aimed at creating the necessary foundation for student writers to internalize the significance of ownership of written texts. The instructor can begin the process by first familiarizing themselves with common writing practices in the immediate context of the classroom. This may involve evaluating  the extent, types, and conventions of writing, e.g., creative versus transactional writing, analytical writing, report writing, writing from sources, citation conventions, the students have done before and/or are currently doing, and how the notion of ownership of texts plays out in their current writing activities and the kind of writing practices they are likely to engage in in the immediate future. This information is useful for the instructor to contextualize the writing activities that they will have their students engage in. At the same time, the students’ awareness about the writing activities and conventions that they have already practiced will facilitate their incorporation of writing standards in the post-secondary context.

The instructor can use such information regarding local writing practices to design assignments that include, but are not limited to, writing activities such as critiquing, analytical writing, and using sources to write. These writing activities can act as springboards to gradually introduce ownership of written texts to students. It must be noted, however, that the students may or may not be familiar with the significance of citing sources in text construction. The instructor can use such activities to introduce the notion of acknowledging sources and have the students reflect on the importance of it. The classes that have L2 writers, this process is likely to require more time as the students may have diverging local writing practices. Once the instructor has a grasp of the kind of local writing practices these students used to engage in prior to the start of the course, only then can they determine what writing activities would be appropriate for their current level. The most important point to remember when using this pedagogical strategy is that it is easier for students to build on what they already know than something completely unknown to them. For L2 writers, the points of entry may look vastly different from those for native English-speaking writers, and the instructor has the responsibility of creating multiple entry points for such learners.

Apprenticing students into academic writing. In alignment with the previous step of building on local writing practices, apprenticing the students into academic writing requires the instructor to get a sense of the academic “values,” “roles,” “assumptions,” “patterns” and “behaviors” that the students bring in. The instructor can run a focused whole class discussion to identify the types of writing activities the students used to take part in, the aspects of writing (e.g., revising, using sources for writing, citing and acknowledging sources) that were valued the most in their previous academic endeavors, the role writing played in the students’ academic performance, the assumptions each student has about academic writing, and the ways in which the ownership of texts played out in their previous academic writing endeavors. As noted earlier, for L2 writers, this process is likely to be different as many L2 writers may not share the same values and assumptions ascribed to academic writing as it is usual in the Western world, for example. Consequently, the instructor has to deconstruct academic writing by providing the students with individual feedback, answering their questions, checking in with them on a regular basis, and introducing additional targeted resources such as books and materials which they can consult at home.

The whole class discussion can be followed by an academic writing task – e.g., a position paper or an argumentative essay. The goal is for the students to apply what they have learned through the class discussion and ask questions while completing the actual writing task. The instructor can have the students write using sources as a way of integrating academic integrity and text ownership into the pedagogy. As the students partake in academic writing by acknowledging sources appropriately, the instructor can draw their attention to why the process of acknowledging sources is an essential writing skill that is required for writing various types of assignment in the post-secondary context. This kind of activity will prepare students for the kind of academic writing they will experience at the university level.

Writing for the disciplines. To acquire disciplinary writing “theories, concepts, norms, [and] terms” (Flowerdew & Miller, 1995, p. 366), the best option for students is to immerse themselves in disciplinary writing experiences. The instructor can help the students achieve this goal incrementally. First, the writing instructor can collaborate and coordinate with their colleagues in different academic disciplines to identify a broad range of writing assignments that are commonly used in the courses that they teach. Alternatively, as suggested by Bhowmik and Kim (2018), the instructor can have students of different disciplines (e.g., sciences, business, humanities and social sciences, education) form groups and collect data – by speaking to upper-level students or professors, for instance – to identify the types of writing assignments that are commonly used in the courses they are likely to take in the future. The instructor can use this task as part of a course assignment to help students “acquire a broad range of academic knowledge that they can use in their university education, regardless of their discipline and/or context of study” (Bhowmik & Kim, p. 503).

Identifying common types of writing assignments helps students become familiar with the “small cultures” (Holliday, 1999) and acquire the pertinent knowledge of ownership of written texts in their academic fields. The instructor can further probe the students’ knowledge about the disciplinary cultures of ownership of written texts by asking them to prepare a list of salient expectations in source-based writing assignments and maintain academic integrity in completing their written works. Flowerdew (2015), for example, notes that writing in scientific fields is typically formulaic and, as such, there is a propensity among writers for producing texts with similar language structures. Students with different disciplinary backgrounds can similarly explore the “norms” of academic texts and form their own “theories” of academic writing in their respective disciplines to develop a cultural understanding about the ownership of written texts.