Supporting Non-Native-English Speaking Graduate Students with Academic Writing Skills: A Case Study of the Explicit Instructional Use of Paraphrasing Guidelines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2023.14.03.01Keywords:
paraphrasing, guidelines, explicit instruction, academic writing, NNES, graduate studentsAbstract
In this study, we examined how the explicit instructional use of paraphrasing guidelines can help international graduate students who are non-native English speakers to paraphrase information in text sources. This case study involved 14 graduate students enrolled in an academic writing class at a university in the northwest United States. Data were collected through seven sources: a background questionnaire, video of instruction, pretest, posttest, student task documents, stimulated recall interviews, and teacher interviews, which together addressed the three research questions. The data show that the participants’ perceptions of using the guidelines were positive and that their paraphrases in the posttest had improved according to the guidelines. The study concludes that the use of the guidelines should be accompanied by meaningful support through explicit instruction and sufficient practice over time. The implications of this study include recommendations for paraphrasing instruction and future research.
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