Dialogic Awareness in English Academic Writing Course for Chinese Graduate Learners

WANG Hai-yan,HE Hua

Genre analysis has been a very effective pedagogy in English Academic Writing course， while how it is applied in real classroom setting， little has been done to examine its effectiveness in English Academic Writing course. Using dialogue from Bakhtins polyphony theory， the present study investigates significance of dialogic awareness and how it serves in teaching-learning process in English Academic Writing course. The findings show that with awareness of equal dialogue applied in seven stages， it is possible to enable students to understand basic organization and corresponding moves in English Academic Writing. The study calls for greater attention to the implementation of real dialogue in the writing classroom.

Keywords： genre analysis， dialogic awareness， seven stages

Introduction

According to Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture， genre is originally referred to a class of works of art， literature， or music marked by a particular style， form or subject. And in English Academic Writing filed， it means different types of research articles， i.e. research articles （abbreviated as RA hereafter） those present empirical or theoretical work within an academic field， and usually to be published in academic journals； Course papers， i.e. papers written according to supervisors requirements at the end of a semester； Academic report means papers that are made with exact emphasis of representing certain information； Thesis/Dissertation， a paper that is submitted for the sake of a candidate for a degree （Hu， 2014， pp. 2-3）. Among the four basic academic writing genres， RAs become the most essential one these days.

John M. Swales advocated genre analysis in 1990s， and he believes that it is a necessity to apply genre analysis in academic writing process. John views academic writing as a way of communicative activities among scholars. Genres are the properties of discourse communities （Swales， 2008， p. 9）. That is to say， only equipped with the right understanding and common recognition in academic writing， it is possible to realize communication among scholars worldwide. According to Swales， the acquisition of genre skills depends on peoples previous knowledge of the world. Thus， the teaching of genre skills essentially involves the development of acquisition-promoting text-task activities （Swales， 2008， p. 10）.

However， specific task activities in classrooms have not been discussed to help teachers to implement dialogue or communications in real teaching process so far. How students involved as equal counterparts with equal dialogues has not been studied. And how certain tasks are carried specifically in each teaching unit is not clear， neither.

Accordingly， in order to fill this gap， the present study endeavors to record particular tasks the author has implemented in the past five years in English Academic Writing course.

The Study

The study is composed of two parts： theoretical foundation， and embodiment of dialogic awareness in seven stages. In the first part， theoretical foundation is put forward. To be specific， Bakhtins dialogue in Polyphony theory is discussed and presented step by step， to give a full analysis of its significance in English Academic Writing course. The second part investigates how dialogic awareness is embodied and achieved throughout the entire process of Academic Writing course.

Theoretical Foundation： Dialogue

In essence， dialogue is the core component of Bakhtins polyphony theory i.e. confrontation of people， or that of “me” and “others”. There are two categories of this dialogue： dialogue among people； dialogue inside the depicted characters. In his opinion， “The polyphonic novel is dialogic through and through. Dialogic relationship exist among all elements of novelistic structure； that is， they are juxtaposed contrapuntally”（Bakhtin， 2014， p. 40）. Just as Bakhtin contended in Problems of Dostoevskys Poetics： a person enters into dialogue as an integral voice. He participates in it not only with his eyes， lips， hands， soul， spirit， but also with his entire self （Bakhtin， 2014， p. 293）.

Whats more， dialogue is the very foundation in terms of Bakhtins philosophy and aesthetics. In his opinion， the essence of life， thoughts， art and language all contributed to dialogue. It was based on his reflections on dialogue that he explored essence of men and ways of mens existence （Cheng， 2017， p. 6）.

That is to say， dialogue is a key factor for everyone in daily communication， whether with their peers or even themselves. Dialogue serves as the means to achieve self-realization for human being. Therefore， dialogue makes a difference in life and shapes their true identities.

Accordingly， in real classroom setting， a lot of dialogues and corresponding communications need to be noticed in the teaching-learning process. Say， dialogue between the students and teacher， dialogue among students when involved in discussion， the one between students and writers of the RAs they read as samples.

Embodiment of Dialogic Awareness： Seven stages

The teacher applies a genre analysis task-based teaching method. After eight cycles of teaching practice， the final applicable framework of the task is uncovered. Five genre analysis tasks are carried out during one semester concerning the five sections of RAs， i.e. Introduction， Methodology， Results and Discussion， Conclusion and Abstract. Each task is composed and accomplished in seven stages （He， 2019， p. 1348）. To put it specifically， in the beginning of each semester， students are asked to search online and download 3 English research articles within 3 years in their field. When the teachers meet students each time in the classroom， the whole learning process is divided into seven stages： In the first stage， students are asked to discover very moves and linguistic features in a certain section， within which， there is a communication between students and the writers of the RAs； then， in the second stage， students analyze and summarize together the very features of certain section， and dialogue occurs spontaneously among students when involved in discussion； the third stage， students report to the teacher what they have discovered in certain section of RAs， thus a dialogue between students and teacher comes into being； after that， the fourth stage， teacher explains to the whole class norms and very characteristics of the target section to the students； then， the fifth stage， students mark moves and other features embodied in the section； the sixth stage， with what they have just learned， students are asked to write several paragraphs of certain section of RAs， with typical moves and language features covered； then once the assigned section is marked and written， it is handed to the teacher online， and it goes to the seventh stage， the teacher will read carefully the assignments and give feedback in class， which constitutes another round of dialogue between teacher and students.

The whole process can be seen in the table below.

Results and Discussion

Two teachers have applied this dialogic awareness practice since 2017. After Eight semesters of teaching practice with dialogic awareness， the author and her coworker achieved efficiency apparently in English Academic Writing course. Over 90 percent of students admit the effectiveness of this dialogic awareness practice in this course （He， 2019， p. 1349）.

On one hand， the teachers are much more competent in English Academic Writing course in terms of its nature， essence. The structure of RA is seen as an entity with life， or a symphony orchestra， or even cooking process， drama， etc.， within which， abstract， introduction is the preparation part， methodology and results is compared to be the main character under spotlight， and discussion section is the climax. Additionally， the teachers view the structure of RAs via moves， or in other words， layers. This is quite helpful and vivid in explaining to the students the feasibility to write academically.

On the other hand， for the students， during interviews in class and after class， it could be seen that they did have a clear idea about the basic moves in each section. In addition， they are much more sensitive and keen into English language， especially the signal words as we called in class： transitions and some predicates. Finally， the dialogic awareness in RAs does enable them to understand the very organization and classification of the paper， thus， offering an overall reflection of the RAs as samples. All these insights and skills will definitely help students to think and to write as a real scholar in their future career.

Conclusion

Via seven stages of dialogues， it can be seen that dialogic awareness lays theoretical foundation of equal communication between the teacher and students， in a way that students are truly respected and able to discover the very features of each section in RAs. Whats more， it serves a very open and free atmosphere for the students： teachers are not the only authorities any more； students self-awareness therefore has been provoked. Thus it emphasizes the individual personality inside every cultural group instead of searching for unanimous agreement （Nesari， 2015， p. 643）.

Then， it provides a new perspective in learning teaching setting in which teachers are asked to analyze and try their best to figure out the very essence of the course they are teaching， and they are able to make the assignments specific and precise in a way that students could understand the course not only as a whole， but also know the essential elements， i.e. organization， moves， and language features in each section.

To sum up， reading and writing RAs involves a lot of dialogues， those between students and writers of RAs， students and teachers， teacher and writers of RAs. There is always communication going on. With help of dialogic awareness and seven stages practice in each section， it is possible that one can analyze RAs in certain ways： the discovery and discussion helps students understand the writers organization of certain section and that of even each section due to the certain moves discovered by the students and then basic moves explained by the teacher. Furthermore， students are more aware of the sections， moves， and language features when they write academically. What more important is that with dialogues in the seven stages， students are able to have a better understanding concerning ways of thinking and organization of the writers， and accordingly specific expressions to fulfill certain moves. Hence， they become more and more sensitive and keen on reading and writing with the help of moves， and are more capable of being a readerly writer and a writerly reader.

References

Bakhtin， M. （2014）. Problems of Dostoevskys poetics. Minneapolis： University of Minnesota Press.

Cheng， Z. M. （2017）. Study on Bakhtins poetics. Beijing： China Social Science Press.

He， H. （2019）. A survey on Chinese EFL graduate learners responses to English academic writing course. Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Culture Education and Economic Development of Modern Society， （310）， 1347-1352

He， H.， Wang， H. Y. （2020）. Integration of social and cognitive genre in syllabus design of English academic writing course for Chinese graduate learners. Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Education， Language and Inter-cultural Communication（ELIC 2020）， Advances in Social Science， Education and Humanities Research， （490）， 254-259.

Hu， G. S. （2014）. Paper writing and international publication. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Nesari， A. J. （2015）. Dialogism versus Monologism： A Bakhtinian approach to teaching. Procedia： Social and Behavioral Sciences， 164（205）， 642-647.

Swales， J. M. （2008）. Genre analysis-English in academic and research settings. New York： Cambridge University Press.