Reading in English for academic purposes outside the language class: a social and situated academic literacy

Abstract

This thesis investigates a variant of reading in English as performed in some academic communities where it is not spoken or taught but significantly used. To analyse the practice, a sample of ten Spanish-speaking students in Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry with minimal or null English language instruction was followed. The observation was focused on the way students organised themselves to read academic texts in English as part of their training due to a lack of bibliography in their native language. The research analyses three key issues in its literature: the leading role English has reached as a medium of communication in worldwide academia, the essentials of reading in English for academic purposes, and the prevalent processes framing reading for an overarching purpose of information acquisition and use.
This research is a longitudinal multiple case study under the qualitative approach. Findings are presented through four complementary perspectives: research tools, exemplary cases, categories and themes and research questions. Discussion of findings gives detailed accounts of meaningful episodes and ideologies that shape this type of academic literacy, including reading in English.
Findings show two critical elements of this academic literacy in English as a social and situated practice. First, instead of the individual process from a reader, the core mechanism of this literacy type is cooperation among readers, allowing the acquisition and use of information in English by sharing knowledge and supporting one another. Second, community members share specific characteristics that set literacy paths. They commonly consult similar texts, perform repeated drills that involve using English and developing familiarity as well as growing specialist knowledge and expertise in their field. Such particulars of the readers explain this type of academic literacy as a situated practice.

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ORCID for Glyn Hicks: orcid.org/0000-0003-4126-8655

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