Lessons for onshore ESL from offshore scientific writing workshops

Abstract

This paper aims to draw out the implications for teaching practice in Australia of evaluative findings from three workshops, delivered offshore but designed in Australia, to help Vietnamese and Chinese scientists develop skills for publishing their work in the international scientific literature, which is dominated by English-language journals. All used an integrated, task-based approach which has proved highly successful in Australia. Issues raised included: to what extent can participants’ needs be predicted in advance from a distance? how do the goals of employing or facilitating institutions intersect or conflict with the needs and goals of participants and presenters? and, what is the relationship of these issues to a range of onshore ESL contexts? An earlier version of this paper was published in Cadman, K. (Ed.) 2002. Learners from Diverse Cultures: Advancing Australia’s Potential. Proceedings of the ACTA/ESLE National Conference, Adelaide, SA. It is published here with permission of the Editor.