Chemistry Departments Should Facilitate Graduate-Level Second-Language Writing Instruction

Though writing is an important part of chemists’ careers inside and outside of academia, graduate-level chemistry programs often do not teach academic writing systematically. Responding to this gap, this commentary argues that writing instruction should be a priority in graduate-level chemistry prog...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical education 2020-12, Vol.97 (12), p.4220-4224
Main Authors: Shufflebarger, Amanda M, Scott, Kevin A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Language
Academic writing
Chemistry
Chemists
College students
English (Second Language)
English as a second language
English as a second language instruction
Graduate Students
Organic Chemistry
Second language learning
Second language writing
Second language writing instruction
Students
Teaching methods
Workshops
Writing
Writing instruction
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Summary:Though writing is an important part of chemists’ careers inside and outside of academia, graduate-level chemistry programs often do not teach academic writing systematically. Responding to this gap, this commentary argues that writing instruction should be a priority in graduate-level chemistry programs, and that some English as a Second Language (L2) writers could especially benefit from this support. We are not arguing that L2 writers as a whole are weaker writers than L1 writers, nor are we suggesting that all L2 learners need this instruction. However, we propose that chemistry programs can provide valuable support for some graduate students by offering explicit writing instruction. We suggest that one way to integrate writing instruction is through a series of writing workshops for L2 graduate students in chemistry. As we outline what this might look like in an established program, we draw upon our experience developing and implementing such workshops within our own department from January–June, 2019. After summarizing the state of chemistry writing instruction, describing our institutional context, and outlining our instructional approach, this manuscript presents brief examples of student writing and revisions. The Supporting Information includes an outline of the workshops, pre- and post-workshop survey questions, and additional writing samples.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00896