Disciplinary epistemologies,generic attributes and undergraduate academic writing in nursing and midwifery |
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| Authors: | Julio Gimenez |
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| Institution: | (1) Centre for English Language Education, School of Education, University of Nottingham, Dearing Building, Jubilee, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK |
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| Abstract: | Generic attributes such as ‘holding a critical stance’, ‘using evidence to support claims’, and ‘projecting an impersonal
voice’ are central to disciplinary academic writing in higher education. These attributes, also referred to as ‘skills’, have
for a long time been conceptualised as transferable in that once learnt students are able to use them in a variety of contexts
and for a range of needs. Over the past few years, however, the conceptualisation of these attributes as transferable has
come under close scrutiny as they have been identified to be highly context-sensitive rather than context-flexible as they
were once thought to be. Drawing on data from a 2-year study on undergraduate academic writing in nursing and midwifery at
a university in the UK, this paper critically examines the role of disciplinary epistemologies in the conceptualisation of
these attributes in the two disciplines, and demonstrates how these beliefs help to shape academic writing at undergraduate
level, thus contributing to debates on generic skills and attributes and specificity in disciplinary discourses. The paper
concludes by highlighting the importance for writers to examine how knowledge is displayed, constructed and communicated in
their disciplines, and the significance of analysing the relationship between disciplinary epistemologies, generic attributes
and academic writing as a way of gaining access to and producing central discourses in their professional community. |
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