ABSTRACT
This chapter brings together views from three sets of participants in the study: discipline lecturers, writing tutors, and Chinese and British students. First, points are uncovered through a thematic analysis of the lecturer interviews from the three disciplines in the previous chapter: Biology, Economics and Engineering (n=21). Second, a questionnaire issued to writing tutors (n=219) is discussed, particularly in relation to the disparity between tutors’ first degree disciplines and those of their students. Finally, a student questionnaire (n=202) with responses from Chinese and British students at varying levels of study provides some insights into students’ attitudes towards academic writing. Details of these datasets and all questions are given in Appendix B. Towards the end of the chapter, I offer some recommendations as to how writing tutors and discipline lecturers can help all undergraduate students to become more effective writers in their disciplines. Note that throughout the chapter, for ease of reference I distinguish between teaching staff within the disciplines, referring to them as ‘discipline lecturers’, and teaching staff within English Language Teaching centres, writing centres or similar, calling this group ‘writing tutors’. This last group include teachers who, in the UK, are often referred to as English for Academic Purposes lecturers.
