Academic Writing in a Global Context: The Politics and Practices of Publishing in English

by Theresa Lillis, Mary Jane Curry

Overview

Academic Writing in a Global Context addresses the issue of the pressure on academics worldwide to produce their work in English in scholarly publishing, and why the growth of the use of academic English matters.

Drawing on an eight year ‘text-ethnographic’ study of the experiences of fifty scholars working in Europe, this book discusses these questions at both a macro and micro level – through discussions of knowledge evaluation systems on all levels, and analysis of the progress of a text towards publication. In addition to this, case studies of individual scholars in their local institutions and countries are used to illustrate experiences of using English in the academic world.

Academic Writing in a Global Context examines the impact of the growing dominance of English on academic writing for publication globally. The authors explore the ways in which the global status attributed to English is impacting on the lives and practices of multilingual scholars working in contexts where English is not the official language of communication and throws into relief the politics surrounding academic publishing.

This book will be of interest to postgraduates and professionals in the fields of World Englishes, language and globalization and English Language Teaching.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415468831
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/26/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Theresa Lillis is a senior lecturer in language and communication in the Centre for Language and Communications at The Open University, UK.

Mary Jane Curry is Assistant Professor of Foreign Language/TESOL Education at the Warner Graduate School of Education at University of Rochester, New York, and founding director of the Warner School’s Writing Support Services. They are both well known and respected by academics in the fields of Academic Literacy, English for Academic Purposes and New Literacy Studies. Their work is also known by practitioners, including teachers, journal editors and editors/translators. They have collaborated on research projects and joint publications. They would build on this successful collaboration, including their familiarity with current policy and publishing debates in both US and UK contexts in writing this book.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations xi

Acknowledgements xiii

1 English and the politics of academic knowledge production 1

Why academic writing 'in a global context'? 1

The politics of location in academic text production 5

The global position of English in journal publications 8

A social practice approach to academic text production in a global context 19

How this book is organized 27

Ethics and anonymity 28

Note to the reader 29

Suggestions for further reading 30

2 Writing for publication in a globalized world: interests, regulations and rewards 31

Introduction 31

Writing for different communities 33

The communities that multilingual scholars are writing for 42

Situated systems of regulations and rewards 48

Conclusion 59

Suggestions for further reading 60

3 Mobilizing resources for text production: academic research networks 61

Introduction 61

'Competence' as individual expertise or networks of activity? 62

Multilingual scholars' networks 65

Characterizing local-transnational network activity in academic text production 71

Conclusion 85

Suggestions for further reading 86

4 Texts and literacy brokers 87

Introduction 87

'Polishing the text': literacy brokering in academic text production 87

Types of literacy brokers in academic text production 93

The impact of language brokers on texts 93

The impact of academic brokers on texts 100

Academic literacy brokers and the construction of knowledge in English-medium 'international' journals 102

Conclusion 112

Suggestions for further reading 114

5 Staying 'local', going 'global'?: working at Enlightenment Science 115

Introduction 115

The importance of the 'local' in scholars' writing lives 115

Everything in its place in the global academic utopia 120

Working toward equivalence 131

Conclusion 134

Suggestions for further reading 134

6 Boundaries and stratification in the global academic dystopia 135

Introduction 135

Science as local: 'global' is a place called the 'US' 135

Crossing boundaries (or attempts at 'scale-jumping') 137

What counts as 'new'? Locality, parochialism and exoticization 141

How locality gets valued in global knowledge making 145

Textual ideologies in gatekeeping the boundaries between local and global 149

Conclusion 153

Suggestions for further reading 154

7 Decentring academic text production and evaluation practices 155

Introduction 155

Academic text production within the current marketplace 156

Making visible ideologies of text production and evaluation systems 161

Sustaining local research languages and publications 164

Internationality rather than 'international' 170

Concluding comments: from knowledge economy to knowledge as a gift economy 170

Suggestions for further reading 176

Notes 177

References 184

Index 199

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book takes the exploration of academic writing and publishing in new directions, not least in the array of methodological and theoretical constructs developed in the book. Through their research Lillis and Curry have provided rich perspectives into the ways texts are shaped, who is involved in this process and where this happens."

Suresh Canagarajah, Pennsylvania State University, USA

'...this book provides a fascinating glimpse below the water line of academic writing, bringing into focus the powerful currents operating beneath the surface of the published journal article.' - Journal of Second Language Writing

'Academic Writing in a Global Context represents a ground-breaking approach to analysing the politics and practices of academic writing for publication. The book makes an invaluable contribution to the fields of applied linguistics, teaching and researching writing in general and academic literacies in particular, and teaching English as a second and foreign language. It will no doubt be of interest to researchers an teachers in these fields and become part of the lists of highly recommended readings in postgraduate programmes in these areas.' - Journal of English for Academic Purposes

'... persuasive, exhaustively detailed, and lucid.' - World Englishes

'[A] formidable work... This book is a must-read for all who are engaged in preparing students and scholars in non-Anglophone contexts for academic writing and publication for the global research community.' - LINGUIST List

Editorial Reviews

"This book takes the exploration of academic writing and publishing in new directions, not least in the array of methodological and theoretical constructs developed in the book. Through their research Lillis and Curry have provided rich perspectives into the ways texts are shaped, who is involved in this process and where this happens." - Suresh Canagarajah, Pennsylvania State University, USA

"The readers will be amazed by the amount of data the authors have scrutinized and included into this book. The terminologies used in the book are well explained and easy to read. All in all, this book is considered to be a milestone in the issue of nonnative English writing for publication." – English for Specific Purposes

'... a formidable work... This book is a must-read for all who are engaged in preparing students and scholars in non-Anglophone contexts for academic writing and publication for the global research community. On the whole, the findings and conclusions enrich our current knowledge of academic text production in various contexts and it will surely transform understandings about English as a lingua franca in academic contexts.' - Linguist List

'This volume fills a gap in the literature by looking at the issue using multiple data sources, including texts, talk around texts, interviews, email discussions, field notes, and documentary data.' - Nur Yigitoglu, TESOL Quarterly

'I appreciate the authors’ contribution, argument, and dual perspectives of examining EALF through the lens of macrogeopolitics and of individual scholars. I particularly liked their emphasis on ‘‘text ethnography’’ and sample textual changes because they lend credence to their arguments. I also like the diversity of the participants: The 50 scholars range from junior scholars to established senior researchers.' - Tosh Tachino, Journal of Business and Technical Communication

"This book takes the exploration of academic writing and publishing in new directions, not least in the array of methodological and theoretical constructs developed in the book. Through their research Lillis and Curry have provided rich perspectives into the ways texts are shaped, who is involved in this process and where this happens."

Suresh Canagarajah, Pennsylvania State University, USA

'...this book provides a fascinating glimpse below the water line of academic writing, bringing into focus the powerful currents operating beneath the surface of the published journal article.' - Journal of Second Language Writing

'Academic Writing in a Global Context represents a ground-breaking approach to analysing the politics and practices of academic writing for publication. The book makes an invaluable contribution to the fields of applied linguistics, teaching and researching writing in general and academic literacies in particular, and teaching English as a second and foreign language. It will no doubt be of interest to researchers an teachers in these fields and become part of the lists of highly recommended readings in postgraduate programmes in these areas.' - Journal of English for Academic Purposes

'... persuasive, exhaustively detailed, and lucid.' - World Englishes

'[A] formidable work... This book is a must-read for all who are engaged in preparing students and scholars in non-Anglophone contexts for academic writing and publication for the global research community.' - LINGUIST List

'Academic Writing in a Global Context is a thorough exploration of the consequences of the dominance of English in academic publishing. It offers a good insight into the different aspects of academic text and knowledge production and how these are influenced by the current publishing practices. All in all, this volume is highly recommendable for researchers and teachers whose interests lie in language and globalization and academic writing.' - Špela Mežek, Ibérica

From the Publisher