Credibility and Accountability in Academic Discourse: Increasing the Awareness of Ghanaian Graduate Students. Practice and Theory in Systems of Education
Abstract
Drawing from a social constructionist perspective to written
scholarly communication, this paper argues that training in academic
writing for students in higher education especially in second language
contexts should go beyond emphasis on grammatical correctness and
paragraphing strategies, and also focus on the rhetorical character of
academic discourse together with the mastery of its communicative
protocols. Using the University of Ghana as a reference point, the paper
reviews a selection of Ghanaian graduate students’ awareness of the
protocols that govern academic discourses in scholarly writing, and in
consideration of their unique educational and socio-cultural
circumstances, the paper proposes strategies, from the pedagogical and
institutional standpoints, aimed at increasing students’ awareness of the
relevant communicative practices that engender credibility and
accountability
Description
Keywords
scholarly writing, discourse community, literature review, research niche, plagiarism, reporting verbs