OVERVIEW
Writing in English is an important skill for students to acquire. Traditionally, university level English writing has focused on essays or reports and occasionally students have written their graduation thesis in English. We will continue to emphasize such writing and wherever possible will include academic content. This includes skills such as summarizing, paraphrasing and quoting which are important so that students can refer to sources correctly (thereby avoiding plagiarism). Also, EC3 can serve as as a bridge between high school writing and college writing. Therefore, writing strategies such as looking up words or phrases in the dictionary for choosing the most suitable vocabulary/expressions can also be introduced in the course. In addition, in an increasingly digital world, forms of writing such as e-mails and blogs reflect the kinds of writing that people in the twenty-first century need to be able to do. It is important that university students are exposed to these varieties of writing in English and are able to critically reflect on them. If you are interested in exploring different kinds of text types please follow this link to International Baccalaureate (IB) resources.
TEACHING APPROACH
We encourage teachers to use a process writing approach wherever possible (brainstorming, planning, drafting and editing) but this does not stop teachers from paying attention to grammar and errors. It is important to emphasize that students can learn a lot from each other as well as from the teacher through peer feedback and review of each other’s writing. It is not expected that teachers give feedback each week on student work – if a process approach is taken then four or five assignments in a semester would be more than sufficient. Expected word counts will vary according to each teacher’s approach and student level, but as a rule of thumb 400 words is a good target. At all levels students need to be encouraged to do as much extensive writing as possible. This can be in class through ‘fast writing’, and out of class through journals or blogs. Students also need to practice writing using a computer. Teachers do not have to explicitly teach computer skills but can make it clear to students that assignments should be typed.
DIFFERENT LEVELS
We would like all students in the first year to become familiar with the structure of a basic essay. A common format is the five-paragraph essay that includes an introduction with a thesis statement, body paragraphs with topic sentences and support, and a conclusion. This is not the only way to structure an essay but it is a basic form that is useful for more extensive academic writing. We would also like teachers to show students how to avoid plagiarism through simple referencing, quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing. In addition, we strongly encourage teachers to outline the basics of how to send a clear email message.
At lower levels in the first year, as well as essays and emails, the content of writing is likely to include personal topics and genres such as descriptive reports and stories while paying attention to language aspects such as word choice and sentence structures. Higher level students can write more formal academic reports on various issues. Very high level students in the second year may be encouraged to write faculty specific research papers.
TRANSITION FROM YEAR ONE TO TWO
In the first year lessons will have emphasized process writing techniques, fluency and personalized topics with some focus on academic content. Students should have learned the basic format of an essay, how to write emails and how to avoid plagiarism. In the second year we would like to continue to use process writing but encourage students to focus on objective writing, formal style, logical organization and accuracy. The emphasis should have a more academic focus in the second year rather than on personal topics. This can be done in a variety of ways depending on student level, major, and the teacher’s approach and choice of materials.
Adjustment for 60-minute back to back class (120 minutes total)
As the 60-minute quarter system is introduced from 2016, one slot lasts for 60 minutes totaling 120 minutes. It is aimed at students’ active participation in class activities. In the EC3 writing course, therefore, the additional 30 minutes can be used for activities such as peer review, independent study, feedback or proofreading before turning in the final drafts. Teachers can provide students with advice on their texts individually as well as monitoring their writing activities.
Considerations on a summer break between the quarters
There is a summer break between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3. Teachers should use the same textbook over the two quarters; however, it is preferable that teachers carry out the class with different teaching goals. In Quarter 2, for instance, students can establish fundamental academic writing skills taking into account various types of paragraph writing such as time order and cause and effect. In Quarter 3, teachers can aim at developing more advanced writing skills introducing 5-paragraph essays. As for the assignments during the summer break, the decision should be left to individual teachers.
GRADING
Grading should reflect course objectives. Below are first-year objectives with suggested evaluation methods in parentheses.
By taking this course students should:
- learn how to write a basic essay (essay rubrics)
- learn how to write a basic email (email rubrics)
- learn how to avoid copying published work (essay rubrics)
- increase their writing fluency (timed writing, report word counts)
- increase their confidence and motivation to write in English (teacher observations, self-reflection, attitude surveys)
Participation can also be evaluated. For example, students can gain points by attending classes, coming on time, completing class assignments, and speaking up in class. They could lose points by being absent, coming late, showing off-task behavior or non-participation in discussions.
*It is important to combine several different ways of grading to reflect students’ use of different skills, strategies and abilities.