Changes to English as an Additional Language writers’ research articles: From spoken to written register

The process of writing journal articles is increasingly being seen as a collaborative process, especially where the authors are English as an Additional Language (EAL) academics. This study examines the changes made in terms of register to EAL writers’ journal articles by a native-speaker writing centre advisor at a private university in Turkey. An innovative five category framework focusing specifically on nouns and associated elements is described and used to classify the advisor’s changes to a sample of nine research articles in the field of social science. An analysis of these changes concludes that non-finite clauses are especially underused by the writers in this study. The implications of EAL writers’ underuse of this structure and other academic written register forms are considered, and suggestions are made for raising awareness of register, both for EAL writers and the language professionals who help them.

Research highlights► Analysis of EAL academic writing finds use of spoken register. ► A major area of difficulty for EAL writers is non-finite clauses. ► Results highlight relationship between register and intelligibility. ► Increased register awareness is recommended.