Course Syllabus

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Basic Information

Name of university: Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes (UAA), 3rd semester

Course: Academic & Creative Writing

Meets face to face: Tuesday & Thursday from 12:00PM-2:00PM; Friday from 10:00AM-11:00AM at the UAA campus

Instructor: Benjamin Stewart - Profile

Contact information: Online learners may contact me via Canvas email; UAA students may contact me in my office by referring to posted office hours.

Course Description

Prerequisites: B1-B2 English level proficiency

Overview of course: This course is part of the English language development strand, and supports all other subjects that require writing skills in the B.A. in English language teaching.  It is focused on taking learners from an intermediate to an advanced level of writing through a series of critical writing activities.  The written texts cover a varied range of documents and essays.

Learning objectives: Students will develop their writing skills and proceed from an intermediate to an advanced level of writing in English.

Methods of instruction: The use of technology will be an essential part of this course.  Teachers will guide students throughout the course as they develop digital literacies, exercise critical thinking skills, and perform various writing assignments that will each be graded using a six-trait writing rubric.  An online written portfolio will include all writing assignments which will allow students to self and peer-assess each other's work.  Class sessions will be held in the classroom, the language lab, computer lab, and online; activities will be carried out in groups, pairs, and individually.

Click here to access full syllabus!

Materials

 Materials: Various information and communication technologies (ICTs) will be used to achieve the objectives of the course.  The Canvas platform will be used to include course content and activities related to discussions and activities performed in face-to-face sessions.  The UAA online library will be used to find sources for student projects.  The main texts for this course include The Routledge Handbook of Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course.  Other texts that will be used are The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader, The Handbook of Applied Linguistics, and The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition.

Requirements

Formative assessments: informal pedagogical dialogues (face to face & online), interactive lectures, & student projects

Summative assessments: Midterm & Final

Policies

Assessment of written products will be based on the following criteria:

Ideas	10%
Organization (coherence)	20%
Voice (tone/style)	20%
Word choice (point of view)	20%
Sentence fluency (cohesion)	20%
Conventions (mechanics/APA)	10%

 

Grading logic for six-trait writing rubric:

• No more than 10% of scores lower than a 3, with at least 40% 4s = 90%-100%
• No more than 30% of scores lower than a 3, with at least 10% 4s = 80%-89%
• No more than 10% of scores lower than a 2, with at least 20% 3s = 70%-79%
• No more than 30% of scores lower than a 2, with at least 10% 3s = 60%-69%
• Anything lower...=<60%

Another way of looking at the grading logic above:

• Nothing lower than a 2, and at least three 4s = 90%-100%
• No more than two scores lower than a 3, and at least one 4 = 80%-89%
• No more than one 1, and at least two 3s = 70%-79%
• No more than two 1s, and at least one 3 = 60%-69%
• Anything lower...=<60%

Participation in class will include presenting and discussions that will take place in class as well as in Canvas.  Learners may have certain activities to perform in Canvas that are directly based on activities and discussions covered in class.  All graded activities will be accessible in the Assignments section of Canvas.

Tips for Success

• View Canvas Student Quickstart Guide.
• Create an account in Canvas and sign in with your user name and password.
• Create an account with Google that allows you to access your gmail account, Google Docs, among others.
• Come to class each day having read the assigned readings in order to actively participate more in class.
• Ask questions in class and via Canvas to your peers, to me, or anyone else you come in contact with related to the course content.  Grow your personal learning network in a way that best supports your learning objectives for the course.
• Make sure to check course announcements frequently.
• Review rubrics before beginning any projects in order to have a clearer idea as to what expectations are and specifically the criteria by which you will be assessed.
• Review grades each week to make sure you track your process accordingly.  All mistakes should be reported (via Canvas email) to the instructor within a week.
• Each week, learners are encouraged to complete a Weekly Feedback Form.  Doing so enables the instructor to have a better understanding of what's been working and what changes need to be made to instruction and assessment in the future.

Links

 | More course-related links!

Statement on Accommodation

 Email me at any time that you feel I need to know about any particular challenges that you face in achieving your objectives for this course.

 

Evaluation of the Course and Assessment of Student Learning

This course will be heavily based on providing formative-types of assessment; however, this is one mid-term exam that is a summative assessment designed to measure what you have learned after eight weeks of study.  Any language instructors who wish to discuss this course or share experiences related to similar subject matter, may contact me via Twitter @bnleez. 

Rights

All open (public) content for this course is under a creative-commons license (CC-BY).  Learners taking this course for credit have the right to choose how open course projects will be.  If any learner feels uncomfortable with working publicly, please email me via Canvas.

Disclaimer

This syllabus is subject to change and is based on the original syllabus below, which is designed for face-to-face classes.  

Click here to access full syllabus!