Academic writing serves as communication tool for conveying acquired knowledge in a specific field of study. It therefore features a serious tone and is often demonstrative of particular theories and facts related to a given argument. Academic writing is studied to enhance learning development or for use in assessing course comprehension. It is the mode of presentation of academic papers.
Academic writing however faces many hindrances. The complexity of the writing process often leads to learner dissatisfaction, especially following a tedious routine or doing a dull revision. To execute the production of a quality academic paper requires skills for the craft.
The dynamic nature of higher education is nurturing a major hitch in the support and development of academic writing. Citing the rising number students, the system has drifted from a slim team to a crowd; there is an evident failure in the funding agencies to keep abreast with the swelling need for resources. The government yet plans to expand the number of higher education students substantially in the coming years.
This expansion has led to proliferation of the diversity of students, with higher education institutions receiving entrants with varied academic standing and variegated cultural backgrounds. The ensuing resource deficiency in many institutions overstretches both the learning facilities and the academic staff. What follows is a dire need for a radical transformation in teacher performance attitudes in order to cope with these new challenges facing the higher education sector.
The highlighted problem adversely affects the arena of academic writing, both in the teaching process and practical implementation. The big challenge is how to be effective under the difficulties of diversity and numbers. You can picture a handful writing teachers handling the problems of hundreds of second language students of multicultural backgrounds with varying academic potential.
Academic writing remains a major role player in higher education, both in course retention and the consequent assessment of student knowledge. Its significance therefore cannot be underscored. A study reveals that up to 90% of staff agrees it is essential to teach academic writing to university students.
Academic writing fosters the students’ ability to express themselves by understanding of the language used and the ability to communicate; this is the essence of education and a requirement to serve in the area of discipline.
Teachers’ viewpoint stands that when the work is well written and arguments displayed concisely and precisely, marking becomes a lot easier. There is therefore no gainsaying the development of effective academic writing support is reciprocally beneficial to both students and staff.
In a nutshell, academic writing holds great significance and therefore needs much attention and support from the academic fraternity. By leveraging multiples practical approaches to enhance quality practical writing, academic institutions have the opportunity to harness effective frameworks to assist students in the academic advancement. Inherent in every writing theory is the ability to improve any students’ writing finesse by applying practical initiatives. It is therefore of great essence to implement and evaluate practical writing methods at all levels within entire institutions in order to capture a range of resources. This is guaranteed to assure student engagement, participation, retention and overall course satisfaction.
