Academic writing in second languages: A comparative study

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to make a comparative study on scholars’ perceptions and practices regarding academic writing in second language among the main Andalusian public universities (University of Granada, University of Seville and University of Malaga), from a social practice approach of academic writing. The research aims at answering the following questions: which are the second language writing practices in modern languages degrees in the Andalusian universities? Which difficulties do students face in academic writing in L2, according to teachers? Which are the differences in teaching academic writing in second language among the main Andalusian public universities? And finally, what is the influence of the teaching experience in teaching academic writing in second language? For this purpose, we have created a 25-item survey titled “Perceptions and practices of academic writing in L2”, with a response modality according to a five-degree Likert scale. The data allow us to affirm that, although scholars often perform practices addressed to improve academic writing in second language and consider linguistic proficiency as the most relevant aspect in academic writing, there are significant gaps concerning the intercultural and emotional components of writing as well as a different perception on teaching approaches.

Keywords: academic writing, second languages, higher education, teaching practice, teacher qualifications.