Stephen van Vlack Sookmyung Women’s University

Graduate School of TESOL Teaching Writing Policy - (Spring 2010)

Overview: This three-hour-per-week course has two main areas of focus, both of which revolve around composition, but from different angles. Part of the course is designed to provide students with instruction in the foundations of English composition itself, the goal being to provide instruction and practice which will enable the students to improve their compositions skills. The course will also ultimately focus on how to teach writing/composition in the English language. It is believed that the special hands on practice which the students will get in this class serves to heighten their understanding of some of the aspects of teaching writing/composition. Focusing on contextualized skills development, the classroom will endeavor to serve, as always, as a model environment for the student teachers. Objectives: This course has two main objectives: to get the students to be better writers of English; and to get them to be better teachers of writing. By the end of the course all students must be able to write a well-formed paragraph/essay complete with a topic sentence (thesis statement), and well organized supporting statements. Students should also be able to take the materials they are using in their schools and create effective exercises for the development of writing skills from them. Text and Materials: • Raimes, Ann. (1983). Techniques in teaching writing. Oxford: Oxford University

Press. • Kroll, Barbara (ed.) (1990). Second language writing: Research insights for the

classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Winter Reading Reid, J. (ed.). (2009). Writing myths: Applying second language research to classroom

teaching. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. • In addition to the main texts there will also be a large amount of other materials

for which the students will be held responsible. These will come in the form of handouts and photocopies provided by the instructor. Do not lose them or forget to bring them to class.

Additional Materials: Students must bring to each class their journal and two folders, one to hold all their writing assignments, and the other to hold any papers that the instructor gives out. A college-level English-English dictionary as well as a thesaurus are strongly encouraged to be used and brought to class. Methodology English Only: The working language of this class is English. This means all official aspects of the course including all assignments, presentations and in-class discussion will be conducted in English only. As this is a multilingual classroom, students are expected to follow international standards on language use and sensitivity. Failure to do so will result in a lower participation grade.

Classroom: Various approaches will be employed in the classroom. Direct lecturing will kept to a minimum while group work, in-class activities, and direct and indirect questioning will be stressed. Remember students, the classroom is supposed to serve as a model. Be critical and observant of what your instructor does. Attendance: Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes. Two or more absences will result in a significantly lowered final grade. Being late twice is counted as an absence. Arriving more than half an hour late is also counted as an absence. Students themselves are responsible for all material covered and assigned in class during their absence. If you are going to be absent and know it beforehand, make sure you contact your teacher as far in advance as possible, but bear in mind that there is no such thing as an excused absence. Assignments Homework: Students will be given three types of homework for each class. They are, first, writing up answers to focus questions from the reading, second, formal writing assignments designed to cover certain types of writing contexts, and third, dialogue journals. All assignments, unless you are told otherwise, must be typed and handed in during class on the day they are due. Dialogue Journals: In addition to the other writing homework assignments, students are expected to keep a journal throughout the course. Students are required to write in the journal at least five times per week. Since we are going to be doing a dialogue journal, students are also responsible for reading and commenting meaningfully on others journal entries. We are also going to experiment with two different formats for the journals this semester: an on-line version (http://www.pindax.com/messageBoard.asp?bid=4911) and a pencil and paper version. Projects Midterm Project: The midterm project is due on the 8th week of class (April 23rd). Students will be able to choose from a variety of different options, one being more practical, one being experimental in nature, and one revolving around theoretical research. More information will be made available in due time once the class begins. Final Project: The final project is based on what the student has already done for the midterm. First, the student must revise their midterm according the feedback received. Secondly, they will extend and augment the midterm. It is due no later than June 20th (this date is subject to change). Grades: Final grades will be based on performance in the following categories. Assignments 30% Participation 15% Journals 15% Midterm Project 10% Final Project 30% Important Notes -Late assignments will not be accepted for marks and missed in class work cannot be

made up. If, however, you know in advance that you will be late or absent make sure you contact the teacher and maybe something can be worked out.

-The penalty for plagiarism and cheating is automatic failure. Don’t try it. Instructor - Stephen P. van Vlack Office - Haengpa Faculty Building 206 Tel. - 2077-7761 E-mail - vxvlack@gmail.com • There is also a web page to accompany this course. The address of the page is: http://www.udveksling.com The web page will be updated on a weekly basis. Make sure you go to there each week to upload any new information. Also, feel free to explore all the options there, such as the web board and links.