Spreading the Word:

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Spreading the Word

• The challenge of the corpus as an agent of change
• Hilary Nesi
• Coventry University, UK

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A talk about connecting theory and practice
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The original research questions of the BAWE corpus
What are the characteristics of proficient student writing produced for degree programmes in British universities?
How can this writing be categorised in terms of genres and sub-genres?
What are the characteristics of genres produced at different stages of university study?
What are the characteristics of genres produced in different disciplines, and for different degree programmes?
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Its aim

• to develop descriptors for all the genres of
  British university student assignment
  identifying assignment types according to their
  social purposes.

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• 6,506,995 words
• 2,896 texts
• 2,761 assignments
• 1,953 written by L1 speakers of English
• 1,251 distinction and 1,402 merit
• 1000 modules 300 degree courses

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Arts Humanities 200 200 200 200
Life Science 200 200 200 200
Physical Science 200 200 200 200
Social Science 200 200 200 200
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30 disciplines represented
Arts Humanities Archaeology, Applied Linguistics, Classics, Comparative American Studies, English, History, Philosophy
Life Sciences Agriculture, Biological Sciences, Food Sciences, Health, Psychology, Medical Science
Physical Sciences Architecture, Chemistry, Computer Science, Cybernetics Electronics, Engineering, Mathematics, Meteorology, Physics, Planning
Social Sciences Anthropology, Business, Economics, HLTM (Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management), Law, Politics, Publishing, Sociology
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Contextual and Textual Information

• Files marked for
• writer (age,L1,gender,schooling, course)
• module (title, department, disc. group)
• assignment (title, level, date, grade gt60)
• number of words, s-units, p-units, tables,
  figures, block quotes, formulae, lists, abstract,
  w/s, s/p,
• and genre family

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The Genre Families

1. Case Study
2. Critique
3. Design Specification
4. Empathy Writing
5. Essay
6. Exercise
7. Explanation
8. Literature Survey
9. Methodology Recount
10. Narrative Recount
11. Problem Question
12. Proposal
13. Research Report

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Also tagged for 67 linguistic features
Tense and aspect markers Prepositional phrases, adjectives and adverbs
Place and time adverbials Lexical specificity (type token ratio, mean word length)
Pronouns and pro-verbs Downtoners, hedges, amplifiers, emphatics etc.
Modals Questions
Specialized verb classes such as 'public', 'private' and 'suasive' verbs Nominal forms
Reduced forms and dispreferred structures such as split infinitives Passives
Coordination Stative forms
Negation Subordination features
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Plenty of data here!

• For comparisons across
• Disciplines
• Disciplinary groupings
• Levels
• Genre families
• And possibly between
• Writers with different L1s

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Some findings across levels
Level Average 1 2 3 4
Words per assignment 1782 2323 2637 2903
Sentences per assignment 75 95 108 122
Words per sentence 24.8 25.6 25.5 24.6
Involved Narrative Elaborated Persuasive Abstract / Impersonal
1 -12.8 -2.7 5.1 -1.4 5.9
2 -13.9 -2.8 5.6 -1.5 6.2
3 -14.8 -3.0 5.7 -1.4 6.4
4 -17.3 -3.2 6.4 -2.0 5.4
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Across levels, L1-English students show

• Increase in nouns slight decrease in verbs
• Increase in the use of phrasal post-modifiers of
  nouns
• Strong increase in the use of phrasal
  pre-modifiers of nouns
• Decrease in the use of complement clauses, finite
  relative clauses

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Some findings across genres
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Some findings across genres
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BUT....wheres the connection?
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Recent publications on the BAWE website
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An ESRC-funded follow-on project

• March 2012 - April 2013
• Intended to apply findings from An Investigation
  of Genres of Assessed Writing in British Higher
  Education 2004-2007

For the British Council Learn English website
http//learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/
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Beneficiaries

• student writers who are not yet fully familiar
  with departmental writing conventions.
• tutors - the materials will be suitable for use
  in class, in one-to-one writing tutorials, or on
  a self-access basis, according to local
  requirements.
• subject lecturers, by providing insights into the
  specific language features that characterise
  writing in their disciplines.

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Project objectives

• To raise teachers' and learners' awareness of the
  types of writing produced by students in specific
  disciplines
• To create motivating and attractive academic
  writing materials
• To improve the quality of student writing,
  especially the writing produced by users of
  English as a second or a foreign language.

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The exercises on the Learn English site
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The five purposes of student writing
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Demonstrating knowledge understanding
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Building Research Skills
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Developing powers of independent reasoning
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Writing for oneself and others
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Preparing for professional practice
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Archaeology, Applied Linguistics, Classics,
American Studies, English, History,
Philosophy Agriculture, Biological Sciences,
Food Sciences, Health, Psychology,
Medicine Architecture, Chemistry, Computer
Science, Electronics, Engineering, Mathematics,
Meteorology, Physics, Planning Anthropology,
Business, Economics, HLTM , Law, Politics,
Publishing, Sociology
Genre families
Disciplines
Problem Question
Exercise
Narrative Recount
Explanation
Proposal
Essay
Design Specification
Critique
Methodology Recount
Empathy Writing
Research Report
Literature Survey
Case Study
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The British Council site

• http//learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

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The Wordtree

• Word Tree
• http//wordtree.coventry.ac.uk/?BAWE

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From Case Study clusters to the Sketch Engine
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Some examples
Methodology Recount (the) aim of this experiment/report is/was
Case Study it is important / recommended / suggested / vital that
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The Writing for a Purpose team

• Hilary Nesi and Sheena Gardner - from the
  original ESRC project
• Andy Gillett materials developer
• Tim Kelly video and multimedia
• Alex Woolner consultant from Coventry Serious
  Games Institute
• Elly Hutchins art work
• Martin Peacock and Melissa Cudmore British
  Council
• Adam Kightley British Council website
• Stakeholders representing EAP practitioners in
  universities and language schools
• A wider group of EAP practitioners to pilot
  materials

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The end - thanks for listening!