The Midwest Research to Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing and Community Education is a two day meeting held each fall at a major university in the Midwest United States
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Browsing Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference by Subject "Academic Discourse"
(Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Wang, Min-fen; Bakken, Lori L.
The purpose of this project was to assess ESL clinical investigators’ learning needs for
academic writing for English scholarly publication. We used a qualitative evaluation approach to examine the gap between the current and desired proficiency level for academic writing of seven ESL clinical investigators. We considered the perspectives of these seven ESL clinical investigators and those of three
mentors’ and three writing instructors’ in this assessment. The findings suggest that ESL clinical
investigators do not accurately perceive their writing deficiencies, have little knowledge of criteria for academic writing, and their prior experiences create passive attitudes toward seeking appropriate writing resources. Adequate time is especially needed to develop successful writing skills. We provide suggestions for program planners to develop academic writing services and present useful information for
pedagogical practice by adult educators in higher and continuing professional education regarding ESL academic writing.