ABSTRACT
Higher education institutions across the world have increasingly recognised the need to help build students’ writing skills. While formal instruction in scientific writing has traditionally been prioritised at the postgraduate level, some undergraduate programmes worldwide are increasing the training they offer in scientific writing skills through a range of learning opportunities. One example is the expansion of undergraduate programmes in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and discipline-specific language courses in some countries. This chapter reports on insights into one such undergraduate discipline-specific programme in a Hong Kong university. This study uses an exploratory and emic approach to obtain a rich student perspective on the reader–writer relationship and to explore student beliefs about scientific writing styles. Focusing on broad concepts of readability, reader engagement and authorial voice, pedagogical applications are discussed, with implications for a range of educators across the curriculum. The discussion highlights that learning opportunities can engage student perceptions, emphasise an audience/reader-focused approach to writing, and unpack students’ contradictory beliefs around this topic. In doing so, educators can help equip students with transferable writing skills that can help them develop their authorial identities and writing styles as emerging scientists of the future.
