Aligning Academic Writing Practices with Learners’ Needs through Content-based Instruction

Abstract

The last four decades have witnessed considerable scholarly efforts devoted to formulating instructional techniques that help to equip learners with academic language skills. As part of these effort, this study investigated the combined role of content-based instruction (CBI) and the socialization model of genre theory in aligning writing practice to the academic needs of Computer Engineering students drawn from a population of second-year university students. The study employed a quasi-experimental design and quantitative tools of data collection and analysis. The results of the study showed that this pedagogical approach is far better than the conventional approaches to target and develop writing skills relevant to the learning needs of students in their academic disciplines. Also, the operationalization of the investigation process has important pedagogical implications in (1) revealing the social foundation of acquiring discursive academic writing, and (2) the distributed role of actors in developing such skills.