Teaching and Researching Second Language Writing

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• examine the strategies you use in text production;
• understand and evaluate research methods used in the study of writing;
• examine the place of writing in your own learning and teaching of languages.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• understand the relationship between your students’ literacy in their first and second languages.
• apply theoretical models of the writing process to your students’ writing in the classroom;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• understand your own approaches to writing in different contexts.
• understand how research tools are used to investigate practical situations
• relate theory to practice in applied linguistics;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the ways in which research into writing is carried out;
• key concepts and terms used in current research into writing in both first and second languages;
• your own strategies as a writer.

The main body of the module is in four parts which examine process, product, context, and instruction of writing in a second language. The first deals with composing and the writer in relation to the text; the second deals with the text produced, its structure and organisation; the third with the text and the writer in relation to their social context; and the fourth with the teaching, assessment, and acquisition of writing in a second language.

Teaching methods include

• seminars;
• student-led sessions;
• workshops.

Learning activities include

• literature searches;
• analyses of current research;
• devising and carrying out small scale research projects.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.