Este formulario se destina únicamente a la inscripción a la conferencia que dictará la Dra. Natascha Artemeva en ocasión de su participación en el X SIGET (Simposio Internacional sobre Estudios de Géneros Textuales) a realizarse el 18 de setiembre de 2019 en el Claustrorum (Auditorios de baterías D del Rectorado de la UNC, ciudad universitaria), de las 14 a las 15 horas.


Title: Diagnostic assessment and genre awareness in a Canadian engineering program: Undergraduate students writing in response to multiple nested contexts


Abstract:
This presentation discusses the issues of engineering student disciplinary and professional genre awareness as assessed through a tailored diagnostic assessment, developed for the purpose of identifying students’ needs for academic support in a professional accredited engineering university program (Fox & Artemeva, 2017; Fox, Haggerty & Artemeva, 2016). Two disciplinary writing tasks, designed by drawing on input obtained from the Faculty of Engineering, were administered as part of the diagnostic assessment. One task, embedded in the first lecture of a mandatory introductory engineering course (Fox & Artemeva, 2017), required students to interpret graphs which displayed theoretical and actual data on an engineering innovation.  The other task asked students to write an email situated in a simulated work placement (such workplace integrated learning experiences are a part of the engineering program). 1,500 student responses (i.e., all responses of the cohort of entering engineering students) were assessed using an analytic rubric, which included disciplinary engineering criteria. The written responses that are the focus of the present study were then selectively sampled from two groups: 10 from a group of students who had been identified through the diagnostic procedure as being in need of academic support; and 10 from a group who were not identified as such. Subsequently, student written responses to both tasks were analyzed by using genre analysis, and the outcomes were compared with diagnostic results obtained through the use of the analytic criteria on the diagnostic rubric. The findings suggest that genre analysis further expands useful information on students’ disciplinary cultural and genre awareness in complex “nested” contexts (Maguire, 1994) of engineering communication, and their use (or misuse) of rhetorical strategies. Greater detail in what works or does not work in student writing allows for the development of more targeted feedback and pedagogical support, which in turn may contribute to the students’ writing development in both academic and professional contexts.
Bio:
Natasha Artemeva is Professor in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies,
Carleton University, Canada. In addition to a doctoral degree in Education from McGill University, her background includes an engineering degree and professional experience in engineering in Russia and Canada, which have informed her research on disciplinary and professional genres in engineering and mathematics.