EXPLORING ACADEMIC WRITING WITH GRICE

Abstract

While the organization of most academic writing courses around the introduction and practice of discrete linguistic elements might suit those learners who adopt a more atomistic approach to language learning, this approach might not be so appropriate for those learners searching for a more holistic understanding. For the latter group, a course centered on a pragmatic view of discourse, and drawing on Gricean maxims, which can provide a framework within which features of genre-specific academic writing can be explored, might be appropriate. Such courses remain rare. Where they are provided, they might be evaluated with the help of students’ reflections on their learning, which can provide insights that facilitate subsequent course development. Set in a largely curriculum-free Middle Eastern university context in which Gricean maxims had been previously employed in the teaching of academic writing, this study reports on one such course developed through negotiation with students. It analyses students’ reflections on which aspects of the input they had found most salient and why. Benefits of the course, in terms of students’ awareness of how their conceptions of academic writing had developed through critically evaluating a chosen text using Gricean maxims as a framework, are highlighted.