Undergraduate writing support – a Hong Kong case study

My PhD research investigates the academic and disciplinary writing support provision at an English as a medium of instruction (EMI) university in Hong Kong. The main focus is to examine different stakeholders’ perceptions on what constitutes academic and disciplinary writing at undergraduate level (namely students, writing instructors, and subject lecturers) in order to identify discrepancies in their understanding of the practice. In addition, the study also aims to examine whether the current writing support provision adequately prepares graduates for the workplace. Using qualitative methods, I focus on the nursing and IT disciplines in particular because both fields are relatively new in higher education and that they are vocational. As well, both fields require its practitioners to use written English in the workplace while all other forms of communication happen in Cantonese, which is a phenomenon unique to Hong Kong. It is hoped that the findings will inform future decision making of writing support at EMI universities.

Supervisory Team: Dr. Victoria de Rijke, Professor Paul Gibbs and Dr Gillian Lazar