Writing and Written Language

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:

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

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• your own strategies as a writer.
• 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;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

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

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 and learning methods

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.

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

Archibald, A. & G. C. Jeffery (2000). Second Language Acquisition and Writing: A multidisciplinary approach. Learning and Instruction, 10(1), pp. 1–11.

Nystrand, M., Green, S., & Wiemelt, J. (1993). Where did composition studies come from? An intellectual history. Written Communication, 10(3), pp. 267–333.

Cumming, A. (1998). Theoretical Perspectives on Writing. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18, pp. 61–78.

Textbooks

Grabe, W. & Kaplan, R. B. (1996). Theory and practice of writing. London: Longman.

Assessment strategy

Assessments designed to provide informal, on-module feedback

 group activities;

 practical research tasks;

 Analysis and discussion of recent research papers.

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 Information

Repeat type: Internal & External