“It's Not That I Am Researching It, It's Just That I Am Interested in It”: Writing a Research Proposal in English as a Social Practice

In the study, the authors address the problem of how to study socially bound aspects of a written text production and make an attempt to explore non-discursive aspects of research proposal genre production. They explore how Russian students produce an English-medium research proposal text in social sciences and humanities and raise the following empirical research questions: (1) What resources are important for research proposal production and do students have access to them? (2) What literacy brokers influence text production and why? (3) How do students perceive the research proposal genre and what values influence their writing practices? The authors' key methodological orientation is that academic writing is a type of social practice and is rooted in critical discourse and academic literacies theories. Literacy is local, and exploration of writing practices in a particular context brings insights into key aspects of a written text production as well as advances our understanding of the social nature of writing. The authors draw on the idea that any research text production is significantly influenced by contextual aspects and is not produced individually. They employed semi-structured interviews with senior students (in two fields of knowledge, Management and Eastern Studies) to learn about how and why they produced the research proposals and who took part in that process. In the study, interview is “a narrative of a lived identity” as it renders beliefs and values of the writer, who becomes an equal participant of the research as the process of meaning-making. The key findings of the study are the following. Writing as a social practice is linked to access to resources. The authors found out that the English language proficiency is important for the research proposal production but is not the primary resource. Access to research data is crucial for producing a research proposal text. Students compensate this resource by “reinventing the university” or by seeking employment when there is a lack of access to data. Lack of time also significantly impedes writing practices of students. The main literacy brokers are the scientific supervisor, academic English instructor and groupmates of students and their roles vary significantly in the process of research proposal production. Students see the research proposal genre as a descriptive one and misinterpret its function in the given educational context. Finally, writers' values significantly influence English-medium text production of the particular genre.

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