Writing in academic Slovene: state and origins of students’ knowledge and skills

Abstract

In the article, a study on academic Slovene is presented. By using two research methods, i.e. a survey and semi-structured interviewing, two topics were considered: (a) the kind of knowledge and skills needed for academic writing in Slovene among PhD students in different fields of study; and (b) the origins of such knowledge. The survey was responded to by 464 Slovene PhD students and interviews were conducted with 15 interviewees (10 PhD students and 5 supervisors, all from the University of Ljubljana). The results show that the majority of PhD students regard their academic writing skills in Slovene as very good or excellent, but at the same time believe they.could improve, for example with regard to academic vocabulary and collocations. As for the origins of the skills in question, one answer stood out: the most important way of learning how to write academic Slovene is by reading and writing the genre itself. Here, a crucial role is played by supervisors’ feedback.

Keywords

• academic writing
• phd students
• supervisors
• survey
• interview