A case study of international students' goals for academic writing

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the nature of international students' experiences with academic writing in English when they came to the United States to pursue academic studies in college. With a focus on the goals for academic writing improvement among a sample of students from diverse countries, this study explores these students' authentic writing experience, emerging writing goals, and relevant aspects. It provides an important descriptive framework for the interpretation of students' writing goals in academic writing, and it also offers a range of insights on goal-setting for L2 writers, as well as writing in university settings more generally. This study makes some recommendations in terms of classroom writing instruction for non-English-native students, and suggests pedagogical policies for colleges and universities with culturally diverse students as well.