From the editor:

This special issue is dedicated to literacy issues in higher education. Literacy in English in higher education research in Mexico initiated almost four decades ago in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (da Silva y Gilbón, 1995). Most of these first research projects focused on reading comprehension. Almost 20 years later in the mid-1990s the first studies, mostly MA theses, on writing in English emerged (Encinas, Keranen, & Salazar, 2010).

Most of the research on reading comprehension using a more cognitive perspective has been developed and consolidated in the UNAM. This research trend emerged mostly due to an institutional policy which first promoted the teaching of reading comprehension and later established a certain reading comprehension level in foreign languages as a requirement in most graduate and doctorate programs (Gilbon, 2008, 2012). Furthermore, the results of these studies have permeated significantly its pedagogical proposal (Garcí­a, 2009).

Writing studies, however, were not the result an institutional policy, and therefore, most of the writing researchers worked in isolation and in different Mexican universities. Most of these researchers' interests emerged from the theses or trabajo recepcionales students had to write as a graduation requirement in undergraduate English language teaching (ELT) programs.

Nevertheless, literacy research has continued and has generated collaborative efforts in the last decade. In 2001 the MEXTESOL Journal published a special issue on writing which was edited by Nancy Hayward from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Seven years later, in 2008, there was a conference in Puebla, La Investigación de la Lectoescritura en la Educación Superior en México. In 2009, a number of researchers who participated in the previous event were invited to a meeting with officials from the Conference on College Communication and Composition (CCCC). This last meeting initiated collaboration between Mexican and American researchers.

Some of the results of a few of these studies on literacy in English as a foreign language have been published in two books. The first edited by Saul Santos from the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit in 2010 with chapters written by researchers from five Mexican universities. The second was edited by Moises Perales-Escudero in 2010 with most of the chapters written by professors from the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla and the Universidad Veracruzana.

The articles in this Special Issue on Literacy in Higher education are then the result of this emerging interest. Nevertheless, interest in literacy in higher education transcends the national boundary. To represent the wider concerns, this special issue includes national and international articles on the topic. Six articles come from Mexico. Three of these are research articles which were conducted in ELT undergraduate programs in Mexico, and three are reviews of the literature on three different literacy issues. The international submissions report on higher education literacy studies from United States (2) and Turkey (1).

Of the national articles, two of these focus on issues related to students' writing of the thesis or the trabajo recepcional and their initiation processes into the disciplinary community. The first, written by Ruth Roux is based on a view of literacy as a set of social practices. It presents a longitudinal individual case study that examines a Mexican undergraduate student's academic literacy practices. The aim of this study was to explore how this undergraduate student's writing of different academic genres raised her awareness about her disciplinary community and facilitated her initiation into that community.
Paula Busseniers and Daisy Giles, in the second article, use evaluative language, specifically 'appreciation' (White, 2001), to analyse eight ELT undergraduate students' introductions of a final research report (tesis or trabajo recepcional) written in English by undergraduate ELT students in a Mexican University. The results of this study illustrate these students' limited understanding of the wider ELT community audience.

In the third article, Michael Witten reports an ethnographic study which examines teachers and learners use of distinct literacies in diverse situations in an EFL classroom class. Interactional patterns, the different roles, identities and use of classroom artifacts, especially the EFL textbook, are explored though a detailed multimodal analysis in this specific classroom culture. The findings reinforce the notion that the classroom is an asymmetrical cultural context where power struggles are continually being played out and negotiated.

The last three national articles are literature reviews. The first, written by Rosa Sandoval and Moises Perales-Escudero evaluates reading models and practices to present informed pedagogical recommendations for EFL reading teachers. In order to achieve this aim, the authors extensively discuss reading comprehension theoretical models and their pedagogical practices as well as present empirical evidence related to each model-pedagogy pair. The second, written by Jesse Owens, presents a thorough historical literature review which starts in colonial times. This literature review addresses a broad discussion on literacy issues related to social justice and indigenous communities in Mexico. And the final review of the literature provides an overview of factors associated with higher education research productivity as associated with L1 and L2 academic literacy (Keranen & Encinas).

The three international contributions investigate higher education literacy issues from three different perspectives. The first case study (Christiansen) explores ESL students' conceptions of 'good' academic writing in English. The findings indicate the students' conceptions were based on a complex set of personal and social factors. The study also provides a theoretical and methodological framework for investigating students' academic writing perceptions. In the same vein the second study (Wandermurem) investigated academic writing issues, however focused specifically on Hispanic students. The study addressed these questions: (1) What are the study participant Hispanic students' perspectives on academic language? (2) Based on their understanding of academic language, how do the students negotiate self-representation in writing within the constraints posed by academic language conventions? The results were categorized into three emergent categories: Students' perspectives on academic language, academic discourse socialization and reward, and struggling to socialize as discussed in the article.

Finally, offering a very interesting study on higher education academic writing in Turkey, Erkaya reports on a study which looked at L1 language interference and vocabulary issues. Analyzing errors based on local or global classification, the author found that most of the global errors (which interfere with understanding) were based on lexical issues. The study presents a very interesting comparative discussion of the possible interference reasons for the lexical errors made by the students.

Thus, furthering the investigation and discussion of literacy issues specifically those in higher education, this issue aimed to provide a range of thought provoking studies. We hope that these will inspire and provide directions for further research in this important field of language investigation.

Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to JoAnn Miller and Martha Lengeling for this opportunity to be special edition editors.

This was a joint effort of our Cuerpo Academico: Investigación, Literacidad y Desarrollo Docente. We thank our CA members, Guadalupe Salazar and Veronica Sanchez and our CA collaboradores: Gicela Cuatlapantzi and Amelia Hernandez with their help as reviewers. We are very grateful for their valuable participation in this CA project.

References
Encinas, F., Keranen, N. & Salazar, G. (2010). An Overview of writing research in Mexico: What is investigated and how (pp. 8-24). En S. Santos (Ed.), EFL writing in Mexican Universities. Mexico: Universidad de Nayarit.

Garcí­a Jurado Velarde, R. G. (2009). Una propuesta para la enseñanza de la comprensión de lectura en inglés. Perfiles Educativos, 31(123), 60-78.

Gilbón, D. M. (2008). Alfabetización ciberdidáctica para formadores. (Tesis de doctorado no publicada). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.

Gilbón, D. M. (2012). Tipos de investigaciones reportadas y género textual utilizado para su difusión en publicaciones sobre lenguas extranjeras de UNAM, UAM y UAEM (2000 a 2007). Investigación sobre Lenguas Extranjeras. México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.

Perales-Escudero, M. (Ed). (2011). Literacy in Mexican higher education: Texts and contexts. México: Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.

Santos, S. (2010). (Ed.), EFL writing in Mexican universities: Research and experience. México: Universidad de Nayarit

White, P.R.R. (2001). The language of attitude, arguability and interpersonal positioning.
Retrieved June, 2009, from http://www.grammatics.com/...   [+ read more]


    Vol. 36 No. 2, 2012



    Editors:

    Fatima Encinas Prudencio

    Nancy Keranen

    Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla

    Special issue: Literacy Issues in Higher Education

    Published: December, 2012

    ISSN: 2395-9908

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MEXTESOL Journal, vol 36, núm. 2, 2012, es una Publicación cuadrimestral editada por la Asociación Mexicana de Maestros de Inglés, MEXTESOL, A.C., Versalles 15, Int. 301, Col. Juárez, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06600 Mexico, D.F., Mexico, Tel. (55) 55 66 87 49, journal@mextesol.org.mx. Editor responsable: M. Martha Lengeling. Reserva de Derechos al uso Exclusivo No. 04-2015-092112295900-203, ISSN: 2395-9908, ambos otorgados por el Instituto Nacional de Derecho del Autor. Responsable de la última actualización de este número: Asociación Mexicana de Maestros de Inglés, MEXTESOL, A.C. JoAnn Miller, Versalles 15, Int. 301, Col. Juárez, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06600 Mexico, D.F., Mexico. Fecha de última modificación: 31/08/2015. Las opiniones expresadas por los autores no necesariamente reflejan la postura del editor de la publicación. Se autoriza la reproducción total o parcial de los textos aquí­ publicados siempre y cuando se cite la fuente completa y la dirección electrónica de la publicación.

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