Module EFPM318 for 2019/0
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
EFPM318: Writing: the Future
This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.
Module Aims
The principal aim of this module is to enable you to develop a stronger theoretical understanding of writing and the teaching of writing which will have a direct impact on your own pedagogical practices and a direct impact on your students’ outcomes in writing.
Specifically, the module aims to:
-
develop your understanding of theoretical models of the writing process;
-
support your ability to make connections between theoretical models and your own classroom practice;
-
enable you to articulate and enact an effective pedagogy for writing;
-
nurture your own writing development and sense of ‘teacher as writer’;
-
develop your subject knowledge of grammar and your pedagogical knowledge of teaching grammar; and
-
support your ability to manage effective classroom talk about writing.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate systematic understanding of theoretical models of writing; 2. demonstrate understanding of students learning needs in writing and interpret these learning needs in order to plan, teach, assess and evaluate lessons and schemes of work which involve writing; 3. demonstrate critical awareness of conceptualisations of creative writing and the role of teacher as writer; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. critically evaluate the relevance of writing research to classroom practice; 5. synthesise relevant writing research literature in support of an argument; 6. use appropriate technologies for data handling and writing in education; 7. present data and findings in a form appropriate for educational contexts; |
Personal and Key Skills | 8. manage your own learning and show the independence required for professional development; 9. learn effectively and be aware of your own learning strategies; 10. demonstrate effective communication by expressing ideas and opinions, with confidence and clarity, to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes; and 11. think creatively about the main features of a given problem and develop strategies for its resolution. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
Introduction: the place of writing in the language curriculum; an overview of research in writing; learning to write; developing as a writer; articulating a pedagogy for writing.
The Writing Process: cognitive models of the writing process; process theories of writing; students’ composing processes; the writing process in the curriculum; re-thinking planning, drafting and revising as classroom processes.
Creative Writing: theories of creativity; defining creativity writing; teachers’ thinking about creative writing; professional writers’ perspectives on writing; teachers as writers; the creative writing workshop; developing students’ critical responses to writing; assessing creative writing.
The Grammar-Writing Relationship: the historical grammar debate; prescriptive and descriptive grammar; grammar as choice; functionally-oriented grammar; metalinguistic understanding; teaching grammar to support writing development.
Writing Conversations: the importance of talk in the teaching of writing; talk to support the writing process: generation, formulation, revision; managing effective classroom talk about writing; supporting metalinguistic conversations.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
26 | 274 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 26 | 8 Seminars of 3 hours each (4 Study Days): Face-to-face or online webinar, plus 2 one hour webinars |
Guided Independent Study | 50 | Independent Study using online Cybergrammar website to develop grammatical subject knowledge and undertake self-testing. |
Guided Independent Study | 40 | Database searching and reading research articles on writing and the writing process |
Guided independent study | 9 | Preparation of a research proposal for the research assignment. |
Guided independent study | 40 | Data collection and analysis for research assignment |
Guided independent study | 50 | Preparation of a portfolio of creative writing and an accompanying critical commentary. |
Guided independent study | 85 | Completion of written assignment for summative assessment. Task includes further reading in relation to focus of the project, synthesis of material and drafting/redrafting the final piece of work. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Module Dropbox for sharing resources and materials
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Beard, R (2000) Developing Writing 3-13 London: Hodder and Stoughton
Cremin, T and Myhill, D.A. (2012) Writing Voices: Creating Communities of Writers London: Routledge
Dymoke, S. Lambirth, A. and Wilson, A. (2013) Making Poetry Matter: international research on poetry pedagogy London: Bloomsbury Academic
Fisher, R. Jones, S. Larkin, S. and Myhill, D. (2010) Using Talk to Support WritingLondon: Sage
Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Hillocks, G (2006) Research in Writing, Secondary School 1984-2003 L1 Educational Studies in Languages and Literature 6 (2) 27-51
Kellogg, Ronald. T (1994) The Psychology of Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press
Myhill, D.A and Wilson, A.C. (2013) Playing it safe: Teachers’ views of creativity in poetry writing Thinking Skills and Creativity 10: 101– 111
Myhill, D.A. Jones, S and Watson, A. (2013) Grammar Matters: How Teachers’ Grammatical Subject Knowledge Impacts on the Teaching of Writing Teaching and Teacher Education 36:77-91
Smith, J and Elley, W (1998) How Children Learn to Write London: Longman
Wilson, A.C. and Myhill, D.A. (2012) Ways with Words: Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies of the Role of Metalanguage in the Teaching of Poetry Writing Language and Education 26 (6):553-568