Module EFPM318 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
EFPM318: Writing: the Future
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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:
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develop your understanding of theoretical models of the writing process;
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support your ability to make connections between theoretical models and your own classroom practice;
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enable you to articulate and enact an effective pedagogy for writing;
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nurture your own writing development and sense of ‘teacher as writer’;
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develop your subject knowledge of grammar and your pedagogical knowledge of teaching grammar; and
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support your ability to manage effective classroom talk about writing.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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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 |
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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 |
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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.
Hillocks, G (2006) Research in Writing, Secondary School 1984-2003 L1 Educational Studies in Languages and Literature 6 (2) 27-51
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
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
Cremin, T. and Oliver, L. (2017). Teachers as writers: a systematic review. Research Papers in Education, 32(3) pp. 269–295.
Lefstein, A. (2009). Rhetorical grammar and the grammar of schooling: Teaching powerful verbs in the English national literacy strategy. Linguistics and Education, 20(4), 378-400.
Sandiford, C. and Macken-Horarik, M. (2020) Changing stories: Linguistically-informed assessment of development in narrative writing. Assessing Writing https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2020.100471
Love, K and Sandiford, C. (2016) Teachers’ and students’ meta-reflections on writing choices: An Australian case study International Journal of Educational Research 80, pp.204-216
Banaji, S., Burn, A., Buckingham, D (2010) The Rhetorics of Creativity:A literature review. 2nd ed. London: Creativity, Culture and Education. https://www.creativitycultureeducation.org//wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rhetorics-of-creativity-2nd-edition-87.pdf
Myhill, D. Newman, R. and Watson, A. (2020) Going Meta: Dialogic Talk in the Writing Classroom. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy. 43 (1) 5-16.