Profiles of self-perceived competencies and conceptions of academic writing in university students

Abstract

This study analyses Spanish undergraduates' perceptions of their competency in academic writing, as well as their perception of the criteria that define its quality. We identified student profiles and examined their relationship with (1) certain sample characteristics, such as years of university experience, area of study and students' gender, and (2) variables related to the process of writing, namely the students' perception of the writing process and the importance they attribute to its characteristics. The data obtained came from the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) which was administered to 1,044 students from nine Spanish universities. Profiles were identified by means of k-means cluster analysis. The relationship between these profiles and the variables studied was examined by means of chi-squared analyses and univariate ANOVAs. Two profiles were identified: students who are confident about their writing skills and who acknowledge the importance of writing in their field of knowledge; and students who are relatively confident about their writing ability and who consider writing to be relatively important in their subject area. ResumenEste estudio analiza la percepcion de estudiantes universitarios espanoles sobre su competencia en escritura academica y sobre el criterio que define la calidad de dicha escritura. Se identificaron los perfiles de estudiantes y se examino su relacion con (1) algunas caracteristicas de la muestra anos de experiencia universitaria, ambito de estudio de los estudiantes y su genero; y (2) variables relacionadas con el proceso de escritura las percepciones que los estudiantes tienen sobre el proceso de escritura y la importancia que atribuyen a las caracteristicas de dicho proceso. Los datos obtenidos proceden de la Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Academica (EEEA), que fue administrada a 1,044 estudiantes de nueve universidades espanolas. La relacion entre estos perfiles y las variables estudiadas fue examinada mediante analisis de chi-cuadrado y ANOVAS univariados. Se identificaron dos perfiles distintos: estudiantes que confian en sus habilidades de escritura y que reconocen la importancia de la escritura en su ambito de conocimiento; y los estudiantes que confian relativamente en sus habilidades de escritura y que consideran que la escritura es relativamente importante en su ambito de conocimiento.