Chances and Challenges: Teaching Academic Writing to University Students

Abstract

English academic writing skills are crucial for all university students, locally and worldwide. Students who are keen on academic writing are more likely to perform well in their studies and become high achievers in higher education. In Hong Kong, most tertiary institutions run mandatory English academic writing courses for Year 1 undergraduate students. Unfortunately, English academic writing is often mistakenly viewed as a 'transparent medium' (Lillis, 2006), or a set of core skills transferable to all contexts and all disciplines. Academic writing, which should have been introduced as social and cultural practices, is unwittingly taught in freshman English courses as generic study skills which are detached from authentic writing practices within different academic discipline. Consequently, English enhancement courses that employ the simplistic study-skills approach fail to enhance university students' competency in English academic literacy. In this talk, we will examine 1) the major difficulties faced by students in academic writing; 2) the key challenges teachers encounter in academic writing classes; and 3) ways to improve the teaching and learning of academic writing at university.