ERIC ED463557: Writing and Learning in Cross-National Perspective: Transitions from Secondary to Higher Education.

364 Pages·2002·3.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
CS 510 985
ED 463 557
Foster, David, Ed.; Russell, David R., Ed.
AUTHOR
Writing and Learning in Cross-National Perspective:
TITLE
Transitions from Secondary to Higher Education.
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
INSTITUTION
British Council, London (England).
SPONS AGENCY
ISBN-0-8058-4485-6
REPORT NO
ISBN-0-8141-5919-2
ISBN
2002-00-00
PUB DATE
363p.; Also published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
NOTE
Also supported by Drake University Research Fund, Drake
University Center for the Humanities, Dean of Drake
University College of Arts and Sciences, German American
Fulbright Commission, British Institute, John S. Knight
Institute for Writing in the Disciplines at Cornell
University, and Iowa State University Science, Technology,
and Society Program.
National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon
AVAILABLE FROM
Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 59192-1659: $36.95
members, $49.95 nonmembers). Tel: [phone] (Toll Free);
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Books (010)
PUB TYPE
MF01/PC15 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Academic Discourse; Comparative Analysis; Cross Cultural
DESCRIPTORS
Studies; Cultural Context; Foreign Countries; Postsecondary
Education; Secondary Education; *Writing (Composition);
Writing Research
China; England; France; Germany; Kenya; South Africa
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
Noting that composition studies in the United States has
devoted little attention to cross-national perspectives on student writing
and its roles in wider cultural contexts, this book presents research studies
from six nations (China, England, France, Germany, Kenya, and South Africa)
on academic writing development in the dominant language of schooling. In
discussions that bookend these studies of different educational structures,
the editors compare United States postsecondary writing practices and
pedagogies with those in other national systems, and suggest new perspectives
for cross-national studies. After an Introduction: "Rearticulating
Articulation" (David R. Russell and David Foster), essays in the book are:
"'Track (Dis)Connecting': Chinese High School and University Writing in a
(1)
"Cracking the Codes Anew: Writing about
Time of Change" (Xiao-ming Li);
(2)
"The Lycee-to-University Progressing
Literature in England" (Mary Scott);
(3)
in French Students' Development as Writers" (Christiane Donahue);
"Making
(4)
the Transition to University: Student Writers in Germany" (David Foster);
(5)
"An Academic Writer in Kenya: The Transition from Secondary School to the
"Roles under Construction: The
University" (Mary Nyambura Muchiri); and (6)
Intersection of Writer Agency and Task Design in South Africa" (Suellen Shay
and Rob Moore with Antoinette Cloete). The book concludes with an essay by
the editors.
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WRITING AND LEARNING IN
CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
NCTE EDITORIAL BOARD: Willie Mae Crews, Colleen Fairbanks,
Cora Lee Five, Andrea Lunsford, Jaime Armin Mejia, Kyoko Sato,
Jackie Swensson, Gail Wood, Zarina M. Hock, Chair, ex officio,
Kent Williamson, ex officio, Kurt Austin, ex officio
Writing and Learning in
Cross-National Perspective
Transitions from Secondary to Higher Education
Edited by
DAVID FOSTER
Drake University
DAVID R. RUSSELL
Iowa State University
MMENational Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
m
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
5
The seven figures depicting structures of the educational systems discussed in
this book have been reprinted from T. Neville Postlethwaite, editor, Interna-
tional Encyclopedia of National Systems of Education, Copyright 1995, pp.
207, 333, 347, 498, 893, 1026, 1035, with permission from Elsevier Science.
Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf
Cover Design: Pat Mayer
NCTE Stock Number: 59192-3050
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. ISBN 0-8058-4485-6
©2002 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-
mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho-
tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a
forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teach-
ing of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular
point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the
Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements
of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Writing and learning in cross-national perspective : transitions from
secondary to higher education / edited by David Foster, David R. Russell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8141-5919-2 (pbk.)
1. Rhetoric. I. Foster, David, 1938 Aug. 17 II. Russell, David R.,
1951
P301 .W737 2002
808 .042dc21
2002001023
6
To Suzy and Joyce
and to the memories of Gene Russell
and Irving and Dorothy Foster
7
411
CONTENTS
IX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: REARTICULATING ARTICULATION
David R. Russell and David Foster
1
"Track (Dis)Connecting": Chinese High School
1
and University Writing in a Time of Change
49
Xiao-ming Li
Cracking the Codes Anew: Writing about Literature
2
in England
88
Mary Scott
The Lycée-to-University Progression in French
3
Students' Development as Writers
134
Christiane Donahue
Making the Transition to University: Student
4
Writers in Germany
192
David Foster
An Academic Writer in Kenya: The Transition from
5
Secondary School to the University
242
Mary Nyambura Muchiri
Roles under Construction: The Intersection of Writer
6
Agency and Task Design in South Africa
272
Suellen Shay and Rob Moore with Antoinette Cloete
Conclusion
319
David Foster and David R. Russell
341
INDEX
351
EDITORS
353
CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Work on this book was supported by grants from the British
Council, the Drake University Research Fund, the Drake
University Center for the Humanities, the dean of the Drake
University College of Arts and Sciences, the German-American
Fulbright Commission, the British Institute, the John S. Knight
Institute for Writing in the Disciplines at Cornell University, and
the Iowa State University Science, Technology, and Society Pro-
gram.
We want to thank Michael Greer, formerly with the National
Council of Teachers of English, for his support of the project in
its early stages, Zarina Hock for her support in its later stage, the
panel of anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, and
and
Kurt Austin and Bonny Graham for their expertise, patience,
good spirits in seeing the project through to completion.
We received support and encouragement for this project from
and other countries. It is im-
many people in the United States
possible to name them all, but we would especially like to thank
Gerhard Bach, Deborah Brandt, Batong Gu, Bruce Homer, Otto
Kruse, Lienhard Legenhausen, Joseph Lenz, Min-Zhan Lu,
Winfried Marotzki, Gary Olson, the late Alan Purves, Julius
Redding, Goodman Shezi, and the Group for Research in Ap-
plied English Studies, Iowa State University.
We are also grateful to the faculty and students of Drake
University and Iowa State University for stimulation and encour-
agement as this project developed.
INTRODUCTION
Rearticulating Articulation
DAVID R. RUSSELL AND DAVID FOSTER
students' writing develop-
In most national education systems,
unacknowledged
ment plays an importantthough often
role in the crucial transition from secondary school to university.
There is a great deal at stake, for both individual students and
the societies involved, in how and how well students write. In
and remain in higher
most nations, whether students can enter
educationand thus move into positions of greater responsibil-
and
ity and status in societydepends in large part on whether
how they have developed their writing. Thus, writing develop-
in access to higher
ment is bound up with questions of equity
education and to powerful roles in society. And in a larger sense,
written communication is essential to the successful continua-
tion and future development of important institutionsprofes-
sional, governmental, industrial, commercial, and nonprofitthat
increasingly depend on specialized written communication in a
global environment.
Writing and Learning in Cross-National Perspective presents
research studies from six nations on academic writing develop-
rather, in the dominant lan-
ment in the "mother tongue," or,
has significant numbers
guage of schooling (each of these nations
of studentsa majority in South Africa and Kenyawho do not
speak the dominant language of schooling as their mother tongue).
The chapters focus on:
China. Xiao-ming Li analyzes the writing of secondary students
ancient
in Chinese classrooms in terms of the struggle between
traditions of exam writing and the demands of modernization.
She then presents results of a survey of university students that
of their secondary school
was designed to reveal their perceptions
experience in light of university writing demands.
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