Communicating science research through the Final Year Project: Teaching towards a transformative awareness

by Wu Siew Mei and Lee Kooi Cheng Centre for English Language Communication   PR4196 was launched in semester 1 of AY2017/ 2018 in collaboration with the Pharmacy Department (PD). The initiative was mooted by the PD and from its conceptualisation, the PD has been working very tightly with CELC. The structure is such that […]

Asking Critical Questions:  The Facilitator as an Organizer and an Evaluator

by Gene Segarra Navera   One of the challenges of discussing scholarly content especially with and among students from various disciplines and with a variety of learning profiles (Riding and Rayner 1998) is how to sustain their interest while keeping them motivated to engage deeply and thoughtfully with the learning materials. In other words, how do […]

Writing Portfolio: A Potential Support for Raising Language Awareness

by Daron Benjamin Loo   Maintaining cohesion across a variety of lessons and tasks is a common pedagogical strategy. In language instruction, cohesion helps students retain what was taught and to become more aware of language or communication features as a class progresses. In ES 5000, where graduate students are equipped with fundamental academic writing […]

Examining Progress in Academic Writing Skills

by SoTL Blog Facilitators   One of the central tenets for SoTL is that teaching and learning needs to be examined to determine the quality of pedagogical content and delivery. This process is iterative, and sets an educator on a trajectory of constant reformulation (O’Brien, 2008). Traditionally, research into academic writing has involved the investigation […]

Active and Data-Driven Learning: Approaches for Responsive Teaching

by Daron Benjamin Loo   Broad Context  Active learning, according to Bonwell and Eison (1991), is a process that “involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing.” (p. 2). Active learning in higher education is a research interest for scholars in the area of SoTL. Active learning may be encouraged […]

Seeing through the lens of the learner: Levels of visuality in instruction and materials development

by Gene Segarra Navera   A semester with a visually impaired learner and another with a student who admits to having difficulty with writing served as an eye-opener for me as a teacher of rhetoric and composition.  These eye-opening moments involved adjusting levels of visuality in my instruction and learning materials.  It is an adjustment […]

Fostering L2 Voices with Literature: Pedagogical Insights

by Won Kim University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) Keywords: Language and literature integration, adult ESL learners, L2 pedagogy, classroombased research   Abstract This article reports on a qualitative case study of an advanced ESL class for adult learners at a private language institute in Canada. In this class, literary texts were used as teaching […]

Exploring the Issue of Exclusion through Reading English Picture Storybooks

by Hsiang-Ni Lee National Taitung University (Taitung, Taiwan) Keywords:      adult literacy, EFL, exclusion, literature-based instruction, picture books   Abstract This paper describes a four-phase inquiry project which applied essential elements of literature-based instruction. The research results have shown that through utilization of theme-based illustrated storybooks and interactive literacy activities, participating young adult learners not […]

Varying Classroom Input to Cater for Different Learning Styles: A Case Study

by Gareth Morgan King Faisal Academy (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) Keywords: Academic writing, Humanism, interpersonal learners, kinaesthetic learners, learner styles, left brain learners, Multiple Intelligences, right brain learners, syllabus design, Total Physical Response   Abstract The paper’s focus is the preferred means of learning of students on an academic writing course at the National University of […]

The Novice Disciplinary Insider: How Novices Can Write Research Papers Like Disciplinary Insiders

by Percival Santos Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (Dalian, China) Keywords: Expert Insider Prose, Discipline-Specific Writing, research paper, EAP   Abstract EAP foundation programs should prepare students to write at least at the novice disciplinary level by the time they leave the program. To do so, they must situate the writing process within a […]