Transitioning into postgraduate writing in a practice-oriented discipline

Dr. Lia Blaj-Ward

School of Arts and Humanities

11 September 2012

Transition(s)

First language to English

Home country HE system to UK HE system

First degree study to postgraduate study

(an academic discipline to another)

Creative practitioner to academic writer

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Behind the scenes: excerpt from email to course leaders (28 March 2012)

I am hoping that next year we can embed Language Centre provision for international students more strongly within courses - this embedding can happen in a number of ways:

– timetabling a language support class adjacent to a discipline-specific lecture to which language support is linked

– working closely with a course leader to provide scaffolding material related to complex written assessments (e.g., reading and writing activities which help students make the most of a complex text)

– working closely with a course leader to rewrite assessment criteria in international student-friendly language (create a checklist which students can use to evaluate their work before submitting it).

Snapshots of the CADBE in-sessional at NTU

Snapshot #1

Vignette about liaising with a module leader

Snapshot #2

Prompts for reflective group activity to support development of writing about creative practice

Snapshot #3

Academic language task

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Key words: writing, practice, assessment

– Writing – neither tangential, nor displacing; contextualise/evaluate practice, document process (Borg, 2012)

– In-sessional support driven by the shape of the final written assessment genres (Nesi & Gardner, 2012)

– Priorities: Process/practice,

genre, language http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inspiring-Writing-Art-Design-Taking/dp/1841502561/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347273866&sr=1-1

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From language to genre…

• What language? – “English for Art and Design”: technical vocabulary, academic vocabulary,

descriptive language linked to content of individual project, functional language which gives coherence to written academic genres

• Where from?– For the in-sessional class: core texts/journals/magazines in the field, sample

written work by previous student cohorts, professional artist/designer profiles on the internet

– For individual projects: conversations with discipline lecturers, technicians, “creative” reading (full range of texts)

• Do we “teach” this language?– No (and yes) – we help students access the language they need to articulate

their practice and professional identity within the scope of a written genre.

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…from genre to process/practice

• Tension between grammatical accuracy and creative use of language (e.g., Guo,

2007): intervention, interference, boundaries

• Discipline expert gatekeepers’ interpretation/understanding of genres (ethnography of writing practices and genres)

• Collaborative sense-making of texts and of expectations about written texts (Turner and Hocking, 2004)

• Scope for in-sessional support (text-heavy): written words on page, not experimenting with objects, colours, textures

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concise-Chinese-English-Dictionary-Lovers/dp/0099501473/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347270538&sr=1-1

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Pedagogies: the theories behind supporting writing

• AcLits and UK version of WiD: legitimise positive rather than remedial attention to writing (Lea & Street, 1998; Lillis & Scott, 2007; Deane & O’Neill,

2011)

• Genre, discipline and cultural/temporal specificity in academic discourse; also hierarchy in terms of complexity of student genres (Hyland, 2012; Nesi & Gardner, 2012)

• AcLits as a design frame for pedagogic interventions (Lea, 2004; Lea & Street, 2006)

• Making expertise/meta-awareness visible, internalising criteria and guidelines (Donahue, 2011; Harrington, 2011; Mitchell, 2010; Nicol, 2010)

• CEM model (Sloan & Porter, 2010) and needs analysis (Basturkmen, 2010)

• Communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998; Lea, 2005; Shreeve, 2007).

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References

Please see handout.

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