Academic Literacy Acquisition Beyond Cultural Boundaries: Taking Academic English Writing as a Case

Abstract

From the western point of view, language, literacy and culture are interrelated and cannot be separated from one another when minority students’ learning behaviors are studied. This study is designed to discuss the issue from another point of view of the minority students themselves. It is aimed at depicting, by the emic approach, how those students go beyond the cultural boundaries and achieve academic literacy despite the discrepancies. The author conducted this quasi-experimental research study in a Chinese university classroom of teaching academic English writing to see the possibility and extent of the Chinese students’ acculturation into English academic field.