Writing within the disciplines: an exploratory study of writing in graduate pathway programs and the shifting role of the English for Academic Purposes curriculum

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research explored the nature of writing assignments within disciplinary graduate courses taken by international students while they are in a graduate pathway program. This research also examined how writing tasks in these courses vary across disciplines and looked at how the pathway EAP curriculum supports graduate students’ writing needs. The analysis of 102 syllabi from 89 courses in 12 graduate pathway programs yielded a total of 14 categories of writing assignments. Findings demonstrated that exercises, reports, and course projects/research papers are commonly assigned tasks within physical science pathways such as engineering, whereas critiques and reflections were common in human science pathways such as education. More variations in writing assignments were found in the human science disciplinary group. The analysis of six pathway EAP curricula suggests that graduate pathway students gain vital academic skills that are imperative in academic settings regardless of discipline. However, specialized written tasks that are discipline-specific, in particular to physical sciences, were absent from the EAP curriculum. This study offers implications for the design and revision of pathway EAP.