Writing is an important cultural tool that mediates learning. The acquisition and use of writing is important in the development of scientific thinking (Olson, 1994; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991). A tradition of studies from Vygotsky to Olson argues that the acquisition and use of writing are powerful factors in the development of thinking (Tynjälä, Mason, & Lonka, 2001). The act of writing forces us to articulate and understand what we actually mean. Further, writing is also a form of participating in and becoming a member of a scientific community and culture (Dysthe, 1993; Lea & Street, 1998). Unfortunately, writing is not in general seen as a form of learning and thinking in itself, but rather, instruction often focuses on the written products.

The art of academic writing calls for various skills, such as domain expertise and literate expertise (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991). The teaching of academic writing is not simple, because it involves tacit knowledge, which is silent and procedural in nature (Boice, 1993). Tacit knowledge is, by definition, hard to teach and difficult to find in written and substantive form.  Accordingly, problems in writing are often left unguided. Seeing the skill of writing as a process is important in order to develop instruction. The key to supporting the creative process of writing is to understand the very essence of this process (Lonka, 2003). The writing process is affected by motivational and emotional factors as well as beliefs and ideas about writing.

In this presentation, I am first presenting theoretical ideas about writing as a learning tool as well as looking at writing as a creative process. The empirical data is about PhD students’ ideas and practices of writing (Pyhältö & Lonka, 2007). The participants were 602 medical, educational, arts and psychology major doctoral candidates who responded in a survey questionnaire. The writing scale (Lonka, 1996) embodied statements about different aspects of writing: blocks, negative thoughts, productivity, procrastination, perfectionism, creativity and innate ability. Preliminary results suggested that some problems in scientific writing, such as blocks and procrastination, perfectionism and seeing writing as the result of innate ability and repetition were all negatively related to experienced productivity and were positively related to prolongation in PhD studies. It was also found that sense of isolation and lack of feedback and social support were related to prolongation. Such forms of instruction as process writing and constructive feedback strategies, could possibly prevent prolongation and dropouts from PhD studies (Lonka, 2003). More attention should be paid on developing PhD training as a meaningful entity, also including training on academic writing.

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Bio

Kirsti Lonka is professor of educational psychology and Director of the Research Centre for Educational Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. She is also J.H. Bijtel Visiting Professor, University of Groningen, The Netherlands and Foreign Adjunct Professor at the Department of LIME, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Previously she was working as professor of medical education at the Department of LIME, Karolinska Institutet in 2001-2005.

Kirsti Lonka finished her Master of Arts Degree in psychology and started her research career as a Junior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki in 1986. She did her PhD course work at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE, University of Toronto, Canada) in 1988-1989. Her two daughters were born 1991 and 1995. Kirsti Lonka finished her Licentiate Thesis in 1994 and her PhD at the Department of Psychology, University of Psychology, in 1997. In 1996-2001 she worked as the Director of Development and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland. She has published numerous refereed articles, conference papers and book chapters. She also has published plenty of text books and popular writings. The languages of her publications are Finnish, English, Swedish and Estonian (translated). In the area of academic writing, her work has focused around note taking, process writing, portfolios and writing across curriculum (writing as a learning tool). Her specialties are higher education, medical education and postgraduate education (PhD students).

Some writings about writing (in English)

Lonka, K (2003) Helping Doctoral Students To Finish Their Theses. In: L. Björk, G. Bräuer, L. Rienecker, G. Ruhmann, & P. Stray Jørgensen, (eds.) Teaching Academic Writing Across Europe. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer University Press. (pages 113-131)

P.Tynjälä, L. Mason, & K. Lonka (Eds., 2001) Writing as a Learning Tool: Integrating theory and practice. Studies in Writing, Vol. 7.  Dordrecth, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (2001) Notetaking and essay-writing. In: P.Tynjälä, L. Mason, & K. Lonka (Eds.) Writing as a Learning Tool: Integrating theory and practice. Studies in Writing, Vol. 7.  Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Lonka, K. Slotte, V., Halttunen, M., Kurki, T., Tiitinen, A. Vaara, L. & Paavonen, J. (2001) Portfolios as a learning tool in obstetrics and gynaecology undergraduate training. Medical Education, 35, 1125-1130.

Slotte, V. & Lonka, K. (2001) Study-strategy use in learning from text. Does gender make any difference?  Instructional Science, 29, 255-272.

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