Academic acculturation: the case of writing in an EFL teaching and learning environment

Abstract

The transition from secondary to tertiary education is not just a change of physical environment, but it is also a change of culture. It has been shown that first year students' academic performance and their motivation to stay in school partly depend on how well they integrate into the university environment. In other words, students have to interact with their community through the reigning academic discourse, i.e., they must learn this community's communicative currency: the norms, standards, procedures and linguistic forms that constitute academic discourse. This article eclectically summarizes five studies which try to contribute to a better understanding of academic acculturation by first year students of English language and literature studying English as a foreign language. We hope to contribute to the discussion of well-being and well-feeling of freshmen in their process of acculturation on the basis of their own introspections.