Academic Writing Development PgCert

" Academic Writing Development PgCert

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— Coventry University (@covcampus) September 26, 2012 OVERVIEW

The Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Writing Development offers a new type of qualification aimed at graduates and professionals interested in studying, researching and teaching writing. The course focuses on writing, rhetoric and literacies research and on the ways this research informs the teaching of writing. The programme is based upon Coventry University’s international reputation in the teaching of academic writing at the Centre for Academic Writing.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

As part of the programme, you will be:

• teaching academic writing;
• supporting the research writing of academics and other professionals;
• developing professional academic writing development techniques;
• writing programme management and development.

As students on the Academic Writing course you will be able to:

• teach academic writing to students;
• develop and manage a writing programme;
• support professional academic writing for publication, including publication-writing in English as an additional language.

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

Mandatory modules

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Writing Development

• Teaching academic writing;
• Supporting academics, postgraduates and professionals in writing for publication;
• Forms and practices of disciplinary writing;
• Writing programme development and management.

Teaching Academic Writing

This module aims to introduce students to the foundations of teaching academic writing at tertiary level. It develops expertise in approaches to writing (both taught and tutored), argumentation, intertextuality, and strategies for motivating writers. It presents an overview of issues involved in the design and delivery of academic writing instruction, and invites students to interrogate the factors that influence the teaching of writing in different institutional contexts. It will also discuss the impact of digital tools on writing, from visual literacy to intertextuality to on-line delivery of writing support. This module will provide increased awareness of the choices and challenges facing tertiary-level writing developers.

Supporting Academics, Postgraduates and Professionals in Writing for Publication

This module aims to provide students with a repertoire of skills for facilitating research publication in English, in academic and applied settings. It focuses on the challenges experienced by postgraduates, academics and other professionals, both with English-speaking or other language backgrounds, throughout the process of publication. The module explores coaching strategies and ways of motivating writers to produce rigorous scholarly prose and negotiate the culture of publication, especially in international peer reviewed journals. The main benefit of taking this module is an increased awareness of the writing and publishing experience of native and non-native language speakers, in and outside of academia, which is an essential starting point for the design and implementation of research writing consultancy for academics and professionals.

Forms and Practices of Disciplinary Writing

Understanding and evaluating the discursive formations and practices of disciplinary writing are significant ingredients of writing research and the refinement of writing pedagogies. Based on this premise, this module is designed to articulate the relationship between the forms and practices of disciplinary genres and its implications for teaching, learning and researching academic writing. The context for this debate is meant to help formulate an international perspective on academic writing that will also draw upon students’ own experience of teaching, learning or simply producing writing in/across various disciplines. Questions related to (non-)standardisation and the production of master genres, such as the essay or the report, will be addressed in tandem with issues concerning writerly and readerly discursive projections, intertexts and the use of sources, and argument/problem constructions in the disciplines.

Writing Programme Development and Management

In this module, students will become familiar with key theories and pedagogies underpinning the development and management of university and college-level academic writing programmes, centres, and initiatives. Students will gain an overview of how various types of writing support have evolved historically and in different national contexts, and will have an opportunity to evaluate models of academic writing provision, both in terms of theoretical coherence and practicability (including an appraisal of their effectiveness, reach, and value-for-money). Students will compare the strengths and weaknesses of current practices internationally and consider the extent to which these practices support or modify the theories on which they purport to be based. The module will also guide students in considering important constraints (such as cost, sustainability, local institutional needs) involved in establishing or further developing an academic writing programme, centre, initiative, or other form of academic writing provision.

HOW WILL THIS COURSE BE TAUGHT?

The programme will be delivered in both part-time and full-time modes. In part-time mode, it will involve blended learning, including one four-day face-to-face session and on-line seminars for each module. In full-time mode, it will involve classroom (lectures, seminars, and workshops) delivery at Coventry University. Each module is worth 15 credits.

Students can enrol for the PG Certificate as this is a qualification aim in its own right. In addition, the PG Certificate serves as a fall back award for students who aim for the Diploma but do not pass enough modules to achieve that award.

Assessment is normally completed at or soon after the end of the ten weeks of teaching for all 15-credit modules.

The 1 year full-time course is campus based, and the 1 year part-time course is a blended learning mode. For international students, the 1 year full-time option only is available.

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