Natalia Petersen

Read about research being undertaken by Natalia Petersen, a PhD student in Applied Linguistics.

Thesis title

Supporting emerging academic writers: a study to analyse, highlight and support stages of source-based writing skill development

Supervisors

Rachael Ruegg and Stephen Skalicky

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that academic writing skills required at university are challenging yet fundamental to student success. Despite recent advances with generative AI, most writing experts and educators agree that developing the ability to write in an academic context enhances critical thinking and promotes academic integrity. Through this process, writers also learn to function within discourse communities and contribute their own voice to those communities.

Currently, advice on source-based writing for students tends to overlook the bigger picture regarding how writers develop these skills from novice to proficient levels. While trajectories of source-based writing skill development exist for undergraduate writers (Wette, 2017, 2020) they are underutilised in academic writing classrooms. Moreover, no such trajectories are available for pre-degree level students. In my study, I compare the source-based writing skills of L1 undergraduate and L2 pre-sessional writers. With insights gained from corpus analysis of student essays, I will create a trajectory of source-based writing skill development for emerging writers preparing for university study. The overarching aim of my research is to make this range of source-based writing skills more transparent and accessible for learners and educators.

See Natalia's staff page for bibliography, publications and presentations.