Sociocultural influence on engineering students’ collaborative design project
An Activity Theory perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21196591 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter I De Costa (0000-0003-0389-1163, Michigan State University), Jongbong Lee (0000-0001-5109-3217, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, corresponding author), Wendy Li (0000-0001-6306-1482, Duke Kunshan University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 955-981 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-27 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Applied Linguistics Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1868-6303 • E-ISSN: 1868-6311 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/applirev-2022-0009 |
| OpenAlex | W4306176378 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 20 |
In keeping with discipline-specific genre expectations for writing in scientific and technological fields, students enrolled in English writing classes for future engineers are often required to produce collaborative reports on team projects. For freshman engineering students, such collaborative report writing, which constitutes a cornerstone in their academic literacy, is an entirely new genre. Drawing on Engeström’s (Engeström, Yrjö. 1987. Learning by expanding: An activity theoretical approach to developmental research . Orienta-Konsultit Oy) activity system and Storch’s (Storch, Neomy. 2002. Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language and Learning 52(1). 119–158) interaction model, this paper explores two engineering freshmen’s experiences of working collaboratively in separate groups in the same writing class. Our focal students were both native-English-speaking women at a U.S. midwestern university. Over the course of one semester, they provided their class notes and project report drafts, and they and the course teaching assistant participated in interviews. Our findings demonstrate that while both students had similar levels of commitment to the collaborative project, their writing experiences differed depending on their respective group members and their own attitudes and experiences. Our case study has implications for engineering freshman writing education as we illustrate how the ESP class we examined can help students prepare for academic and professional communication. We also discuss ways to help apprentice future engineers overcome discipline-specific communication difficulties as they enter a new discourse community
Cornerstone · Group work · Literacy · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociocultural evolution · Sociocultural perspective · Sociology · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods · Psychology
Collaborative Writing in L2 Contexts
Case Study Research on Language Learning and Use
Engineering Design Thinking, Teaching, and Learning
Rethinking Genre in School and Society
Translanguaging practices of Chinese/English bilingual engineers’ communications in the workplace
Activity theory and individual and social transformation
Patterns of Interaction in ESL Pair Work
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |