714 Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55(8) May 2012 doi:10.1002/JAAL.00086 © 2012 International Reading Association (pp. 714–724) Thomas DeVere Wolsey | Diane Lapp | Douglas Fisher After one last look, Caleb (all names are pseudonyms) uploaded his paper comparing the economic systems of two neighboring countries, one a democracy, the other a kingdom. He was certain he had captured the essence of academic writing for this assignment in his social studies course. When asked what made his paper a good example of writing for an academic audience, Caleb explained that he had avoided the use of first person, checked spelling for errors, and followed the format prescribed by his teacher. His operational definition of academic writing had emphasized his attention to surface structures. He thought he knew exactly what his teacher wanted, but she was looking, instead, for evidence of deep connections with content through academic discourse. This misinterpretation is not uncommon. Awareness of the discrepancies between teacher expectations and student perceptions of academic writing can help teachers formulate an approach to student writing. Academic writing is a window into what students can do in the larger domain of academic discourse within disciplinary communities. In many ways, Caleb explored content in the important ways his teacher intended; however, his view of what was expected differed markedly from his teacher’s. He is, after all, a novice in a secondary school (Heller, 2010) who has a ways to go in developing disciplinary expertise. Teachers often have well-defined perceptions of what content knowledge is and how that knowledge should be conveyed. Sometimes these perceptions are tacit and hard to define without sustained discussion, because they represent one’s beliefs about linguistics, pedagogy, culture, and command of specific disciplinary knowledge and language. How students navigate academic discourse is evident in their written and oral classroom work. Realizing this, we wondered if students and teachers viewed academic discourse in the same ways. This inquiry focuses on students’ and teachers’ perceptions of written discourse in science, social studies, and English language arts in 10th grade. “Why do we have to do this?” Students often ask this question about written work. Let’s be sure we teach them worthwhile skills. Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions: An Inquiry Into Academic Writing