Is It Significant for International Students to Change Their Thinking and Writing in the Academic English Writing Style

Introduction

Since the beginning of the 21st century, studying overseas has increased. For example, the number of the Saudi's students in the UK now is roughly 25 thousand compared to 10 years ago there was about 2000 students. It is a good opportunity to learn many different skills when students study abroad such as IT, research skills and language. International students who are studying in the UK may change their thinking and writing in the English academic style because their writing in their own language is likely to be different from English language. The writing trend for foreign students is not rational when it is read by native speakers due to their dissimilar thinking (Linn, 2009, p1). This essay will discuss if it is significant for international students to change their thinking and writing in the academic English writing style.

Different Cultural Writing Patterns

It is clear that understanding the differences of academic cultural writing in many countries may help teachers to find out the obstructions which have to be passed over by international students (Linn, 2009, p1). The obstructions may be patterns, aligned, culture, or grammar and these have to be considered when they are taught to students. For instance, Arabic aligned is writing from right to left so it is different from English aligned. Furthermore, English rhetorical patterns are linear which means writing moves from the main idea to descriptions and instances. In contrast, Semitic patterns are parallel which means repeating the discussion in another style (Kaplan, 1966 cited in Linn, 2009, p 2). As a result, foreign students should learn the English writing style to avoid misunderstanding writing.

As White (2001, cited in Linn, 2009, p 2) indicat...

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...earch (2008, cited in Linn, 2009, p5) included small number of students who did the survey. It can be assumed that this kind of surveys should involve a large number of students because it is not about one country.

Conclusion

It is suggested that international students should change their thinking and writing in academic English style despite may they find some barriers in the beginning of writing such as structure, culture and organisation. Generally, they can be taught the UK-type academic environment to improve their writing skills and thinking because of the differences between languages. On the other hand, Linn did not mention to some important features such as grammar. He also did not consider personal skills in his study as standards which may affect positively or negatively on students thinking and writing skills.

Works Cited

linn (2009)