Page 160 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

146 CHAPTER 7
For example, the use of the present tense is appropriate in citations and paraphrases of information, as well as a presentation of general facts, opin- ions, or research findings. For example,
Bobson (2001) points to the recent increases in employment rates among high school students.
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Becausefew occupations areperformed in social isolation, work links individuals to others with whom they interact bothon and off thejob. (Citations from Thompson & Hickey, 2002, p. 444)
As mentioned, with the exception of references to specific actions and events that occurred in the past, for L2 writers the task of constructing aca- demic text can be greatly simplified when large portions of their assign- ments and papers (if not entire assignments and papers) can be written in the simple present tense.
L2 writers should be encouraged to use the present simple tense whenever possible in their writing provided that they are also taught how to establish subject-verb agreement and can do so correctly in most occurrences of the simple present.
For example, the excerpt in (1) is extracted from a student's paper on gender and reasoning skills:
(1) Women are a minority in school science classes and in the scientific society in the U.S., which are well-known phenomena. Research on gender and science shows us that gender differences in science education come from achievement, attitude, and motiva- tion, or science course selection. The purpose of the study by Michael Shemesh, a profes- sor in the Department of Education, is to investigate gender-related differences between gender-related reasoning skills and learning interests during the early adolescence stage. His study hopes that the result can help figure out explanations to the differences
that exist in school courses participation.
In this research, a videotaped group test is_used to measure students development. This test contains 12 videotaped simple experiments and demonstrations. At the end of each demonstration, students answer questions and justify their solutions. Students with correct answers receive two points. Then students are categorized by their points into concrete, transitional, orformal reasoners.
Studentsalsohavetowritedowntwosubjectfields whichtheyaremostinterestedin....
In excerpt (1),which begins with general introductions and then pro- ceeds to discuss a specific experiment, the writer employs the simple pres- ent tense throughout. McCarthy and Carter (1994) referred to what they
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