English academic writing activity in tertiary education institutions in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Academic writing is a major concern for tertiary education institutions in Papua New Guinea (PNG), in which students and educators have to overcome sociocultural, linguistic and educational challenges. This comparative case study of a public and a private (mission) university in PNG examined the concerns and challenges that they encounter to support their academic writing practices. The study employed the theoretical perspective of the activity system as a conceptual framework to analyse multiple data collected through semi-structured interviews, non-participatory observations and documentation searches. A total of twelve students, eight educators, and five academic administrators were engaged in the interviews. For the observations, four tutorial groups of which, two from each participating university were involved. Policy documents which relate to the academic writing practices of the two universities were also collected for analysis. Informed by the activity theory, interactive analyses were conducted through thematic analysis using the NVivo computer-based research tool. The findings suggest that the public university struggles more to meet its academic needs compared to the private university. The academic writing practices of these universities vary depending on the availability of their educational resources like multimedia, databases, wi-fi, Moodle and other supports such as expertise and facilities. Despite some supports are provided, students at higher education institutions in PNG are still writing below expectations, especially within disciplines, which needs to be critically and adequately addressed. The findings also imply that the theoretical framework of the activity system can be applied to explore and understand students’ English academic writing practices, so that they can successfully achieve their expected outcomes. The findings suggest that all the actors in the activity systems of the respective higher education institutions should effectively execute their roles and responsibilities with support from other elements within their systems to facilitate PNG university students’ academic writing development.