385 Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz SSLLT 10 (2). 2020. 385-389 http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2020.10.2.8 http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/ssllt Book Review Non-natives writing for Anglo-American journals: Challenges and urgent needs Author: Katarzyna Hryniuk Publisher: Warsaw University Press, 2019 ISBN: 978-83-235-3677-2 Pages: 172 I was looking forward to a publication of a scholarly text on academic writing and on the publishing process, which both have such an important impact on the professional experience of Polish scholars. The book by Katarzyna Hryniuk, entitled Non-Natives Writing for Anglo-American Journals: Challenges and Ur- gent Needs, fulfils this need. The monograph, 172 pages in length, includes an introductory section, six chapters, an appendix, an extensive list of references, topic and author indexes, and a short summary in Polish. It offers a fairly com- plete picture of issues in academic publication with a unique focus on Poland. The “Introduction” presents the content of the book in some detail and the research focus of the study on the use of Anglo-American conventions in the writing of research articles by Polish scholars as well as their own experiential assessment of this process. This introductory section promises the reader an interesting discussion both in relation to theoretical issues and empirical find- ings on academic writing in one’s non-native language. It brings to the fore the need for a discussion of the possible challenges and dangers of this endeavour. 386 Chapter 1, titled “English as the Leading Language in Academic Commu- nication,” discusses the position of English as a world-dominant language, also in academic publications such as those in linguistics and applied linguistics. The author describes and compares different models of the role English plays across the world and presents different attitudes to English as a lingua franca (ELF). The reader will also find here an explanation of the concepts and terminology used throughout the book. The chapter presents a thorough and well-docu- mented discussion on ELF with special emphasis put on the academic side of using English for publishing purposes. In Chapter 2, “Written Academic Discourse and its Composition,” Hryniuk defines the concept of academic discourse as a genre, presents its characteris- tics together with criteria for its description and also touches upon the didactic aspect of her discussion of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) courses. The academic genre as presented here refers to texts written on linguistics as a re- search discipline. The chapter also includes a brief description of the writing process and, in more detail, a presentation of different models of academic writ- ing seen from various perspectives, that is, cognitive, socio-cognitive and socio- cultural, emphasizing that the latter offers a particular challenge for scholars from different cultural backgrounds. This part of the chapter seems most inter- esting because Hryniuk quotes comparative studies in this area and discusses conventions of writing which are unique to different cultural contexts and thus may pose a problem when intending to publish in English. Chapter 3, titled “Writing for Publishing in International and Local Jour- nals,” makes for interesting reading not only for writers but also for editors working for academic journals in linguistics and applied lingusitics, as the author shares her critical views (and those of other researchers) on the ways of assess- ment of journals in Poland and abroad. She also emphasizes the role of the edi- tor-in-chief and referees of articles as mentors and facilitators in the process of publication of submitted manuscripts. I would also add here a comment on the injustice of the present system in regard to newly created journals, which may never have a chance of successful promotion if this system of assessment con- tinues to function. One limitation is that the author has failed to highlight the growing importance of open access systems in publishing academic research. Chapter 4, “Research on English as a Foreign Language Academic Writing by Polish Scholars: The Main Problems Explored,” shows the author as well-in- formed not only on theory of publishing issues and academic writing (as shown in chapters 1-3) but also demonstrates her familiarity with comparative research on the use of academic writing conventions. The chapter is a thorough overview of studies devoted to developing academic writing skills, demonstrating the main issues under investigation and pointing to the challenges academic writing 387 poses for Polish linguists. Individual writing challenges are discussed based on selected studies of academic writing carried out by Polish scholars, which, as Hryniuk points out, have not been very extensive to this point. Nevertheless, the author has managed to gather the most notable examples of up-to-date studies (among others Łyda & Warchał, 2011; Warchał, 2010, 2015), which are mostly quantitative. At the same time, Hryniuk emphasizes that qualitative research is also of value in investigating academic writing. Her publications are in fact a good example of this approach since she emphasizes the importance of the commentaries made by the article authors on their own writing processes. This is well-evidenced in her present book. The chapter is not only very well con- structed, but also highlights important, albeit lesser-known Polish empirical studies on academic writing. Chapter 5, entitled “The Study,” starts the empirical part of the book. It offers a detailed description of the research project, complemented by an anal- ysis of the academic publication experience of 16 Polish scholars working in the area of linguistics and applied linguistics. The author used semi-structured in- terviews, which focused on participants’ attitude to writing an academic text in English for publishing purposes, on the one hand, and on their experiential com- ments on writing their own texts, on the other. The analysis of the data is very detailed, but what makes it particularly valuable are extracts from participants’ experiential comments. For the purposes of analysis, the author uses the results of her previous studies on the difficulties encountered by Polish writers in using Anglo-American conventions in academic writing and focuses on the areas of greatest discrepancy between Polish and English, such as the use of authorial voice and the employment of hedges or evaluative language to express central- ity. It is an interesting study, which, however, should only be regarded as a pilot study because of its modest sample (16 participants) and the scope of data an- alyzed. At the same time, it constitutes an excellent starting point in an im- portant and as yet under-investigated area. The chapter is quite extensive, but the author uses a reader-friendly tabular presentation of the results in the form of the summary included in the final section. In the final chapter 6, “Conclusions and Implications for Instruction,” Hryniuk succinctly presents the results of her study and discusses them against the back- ground of the theoretical and empirical studies outlined in the earlier parts of the book. She also offers some ideas for future research, suggesting the need to extend it to other areas of the humanities. However, what I find most useful here is the idea of incorporating the findings of this and other studies into aca- demic writing courses, which deserve more attention and prestige in neo-philo- logical university studies at BA, MA and, most, importantly, PhD levels. The au- thor suggests, for example, organizing workshops during which students or young 388 researchers could get hands-on experience of not only writing their texts, but also of revising and editing them for publication. In sum, Katarzyna Hryniuk’s book is interesting in content, it is presented in a coherent format and written in good academic English. It offers not only a very good theoretical overview of the process of academic writing and publication is- sues related to it, but also contextualizes it well by focusing on specific areas of difficulty for Polish scholars publishing in English on the basis of selected studies and her own very interesting research project(s). There is only one issue that I feel should have been treated with appropriate attention in the book, which is plagia- rism in academic writing. Plagiarism has a presence in the academy and I see mak- ing our students and young scholars aware of it and working on ways of avoiding it (e.g., through self-plagiarism or accidental plagiarism) as an important issue in developing academic writing courses as well as in publishing itself. This monograph is much-needed, especially at a time when far-reaching reforms of higher education are being implemented in Poland. One way of mak- ing Polish scholarly expertise more visible abroad is the obligation to publish research results in prestigious journals that for the most part use English as a means of communication. The author is aware of the challenges and dangers that relate not only to writing but also to the financial restrictions that Polish academia experiences and discusses all of them thoroughly in her book. At the same time, she offers a way forward and in this I see the greatest value of the publication both for publishing in English and for its didactic implications. I would additionally like to reinforce the position Hryniuk takes in relation to the importance of local publications in Poland, obviously on condition that they con- form to the highest academic standards and the need to see them promoted. I can fully recommend the monograph, Non-Natives Writing for Anglo- American Journals: Challenges and Urgent Needs to scholars. It will be of inter- est to many types of academics. I see it as a guide for scholars publishing in English and especially those who are at the beginning of their adventure with publishing in English. Selected parts of the book can also serve as a manual for teaching academic English in university departments and for supervising theses in linguistics and applied linguistics at MA and PhD levels. Also, as a journal edi- tor myself, I view the book as an important resource for those who have respon- sibilities in the publishing process, journal editors and article referees. Reviewed by Danuta Gabryś-Barker University of Silesia, Poland danuta.gabrys-barker@us.edu.pl 389 References Łyda, A., & Warchał, K. (2011). Ethnic and disciplinary cultures and understate- ment: Litotic constructions in Polish and English linguistics and biology re- search articles. In J. Arabski & A. Wojtaszek (Eds.), Aspects of culture in second language acquisition and foreign language learning (pp. 193-216). Berlin: Springer Verlag. Warchał, K. (2010). Taking stance across languages: High-value modal verbs of epistemic necessity and inference in English and Polish linguistics research articles. Linguistica Silesiana, 31, 123-136. Warchał, K. (2015). Certainty and doubt in academic discourse: Epistemic mo- dality markers in English and Polish linguistics articles. Katowice: Univer- sity of Silesia Press.