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TEACHING UNIVERSITY LECTURERS HOW TO TEACH SUBJECT-SPECIFIC WRITING

Lena ManderstedtAnnbritt Palo

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Luleå University of Technology

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Less than two hours drive south of the Arctic Circle

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How to attract students

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Vision 2020: Pedagogical IdeaThe core : to support students' development to

independent professionals

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AND… there was some money to apply for…

• The student: An independent writer

• Phases 1 (students) and 2 (university pedagogy course)

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What has already been tried out

• The language lab (est. in 2006 )

• much appreciated by students (and teachers), but not the most efficient way to teach academic writing

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Background

• Standards of student literacy are falling - too many university

students cannot read or write academic

texts• Several explanations:

- an increased number of students described as non-traditional entrants not knowing how

to write - sub-standard school

teaching - even modern technology

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Inspiration

research into academic literacy practices, the effectiveness of feedback and the role of assessment as keys to develop and improve student learning

+ academic literacies models, including digital literacies, for course design, and for writing instructions

(Echos from Lea, Street, Martin, Rose, Wingate, Timperley, Hattie, Hyland amongst others)

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Phase 1: The students

–Workshops with two focus groups

–The results pinpoint the importance of contextualizing and scaffolding subject-specific writing through deliberative discussions

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Phase 2: The university teachers

–Design of a University Pedagogy course, teaching university lecturers how to teach and scaffold subject-oriented writing

“Do subject-teachers really want to teach subject-specific writing?”

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Course outline

Constructive alignment: learning outcomes → teaching and learning activities → assessment tasks

• set own experience in relation to the proven experience and scientifically based knowledge

• apply and evaluate models for feedback • evaluate assessment methods• in collaboration with colleagues devise learning activities supporting the development of students' academic writing skills• evaluate their own teaching and formulate proposals for improvement

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Problems to address 1. What do university teachers who are

specialists in, say, Geology or Psychology need in order to improve their skills as teachers of writing within their subjects?

2. What kind of learning activities will help university teachers develop a meta-language enabling them to scaffold writing practices in their own disciplines and fields?

3. What kind of support, or network, must be available to university teachers who are to teach subject-specific writing?

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References

Hattie, John; Timperley, Helen. (2007). The Power of Feedback. In Review of Educational Research, Vol. 77(1), p. 81-112.Lea, Mary R.; Jones, Sylvia. (2011). Digital literacies in higher education: exploring textual and technological practice. In Studies in Higher Education, Vol.36(4), p.377-393. Lea, Mary R.; Street, Brian V. (1998). Student Writing in Higher Education: an academic literacies approach. In Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 23(2), p. 157- 172.Martin, John R. (2009). Genre and language learning: A social semiotic perspective. In Linguistics and Education: An International Research Journal, Vol.20(1), p. 10-21.Wingate, Ursula. (2011). Using Academic Literacies and genre-based models for academic writing instruction: A ‘literacy’ journey. In Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Vol.11(1), p. 26-37.

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Sources

• Picture 1, Photo: Tomas Bergman• Picture 2, Photo: Nicke Johansson• Video: https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IynLD1I6fCQ• Picture 3, Photo: Karl-William Sandström• Picture 4,

http://www.ltu.se/ltu/lib/Skriva/sprakverkstad/Sprakverkstad-1.107211?l=en

Page Editor and Contact: Cecilia Falk

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Contact information

Lena.Manderstedt@ltu.seAnnbritt.Palo@ltu.se