Abstract

NANWANI, Sanjay. Linguistic Challenges Lived by University Students in Bogotá in the Development of Academic Literacy. Colomb. Appl. Linguist. J. [online]. 2009, n.11, pp.136-148. ISSN 0123-4641.

The focus of this paper is on the challenges that Colombian university students live when developing academic writing in English as a foreign language. At the macro level, it points to the importance of a theoretically informed understanding of teaching practices in ELT; at the micro level it intends to sensitize ELT practitioners, and particularly academic writing instructors, on the diverse challenges students - particularly non-native learners - experience when appropriating a largely unknown discourse upon entry to the university. Excerpts from participants in a two-year study intertwine with a theoretical discussion on academic writing are presented.

Keywords : academic writing; context-specific instruction; culturally sensitive instruction; linear rhetorical structure.

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