Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2018 number 2

Introduction. In Western universities, academic writing is a well-developed discipline, whereas in Russia it is still virtually unknown. The paper gives an overview of the development of academic writing as rhetoric and composition, analyzing the impact of classical rhetoric at different stages of its development, and sheds light on the reasons underlying the major differences between the international (mainly anglophone) and national traditions of writing at university and beyond. Methodology and methods of research. The paper employs retrospective, diachronic analysis of the development of academic writing in Western universities, and comparative analysis, which encompasses the different stages of this development through the lens of the classical model of rhetoric, the historical deviations from the cognitive components of the model, and the consequences of these deviations for scholarly discourse. The method of intercultural rhetoric is incorporated into the comparative study of the Russian and international modes of argument. Result of research. Two major deviations from the classical model of rhetoric, in the Middle Ages due to the dominance of Christianity, and the 19^th century due to the connection of writing with literature, resulted in the spread of formal, ideologically restricted ways of presenting arguments. Rethinking rhetoric in the 20^th century in Western universities fostered the dynamic development of rhetoric and composition, involving collaborative, cognitive and student-centered approaches, which eventually led to establishing academic writing as a discipline. The study demonstrates that the diversity between the international and Russian scholarly traditions originates in the lack of awareness of the theoretical and methodological bases of academic writing in Russia, which is due to the still prevailing idea of writing as the field of language and literature. This idea pertained in scholarly writing under the pressure of the Soviet ideology thus leading to the isolation of Russian academic community and depriving it of developing in the mainstream of the global academic communication. Conclusions. To overcome the diversity between the Russian and globally accepted traditions of scholarly publications, the Russian academic community needs to be educated into the international rhetorical and publishing conventions. This can only be achieved through introducing academic writing as a discipline and specific field of educational research, incorporating a wide range of theoretical, methodological and institutional studies.