Hiroshima University Syllabus

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Japanese
Academic Year 2024Year School/Graduate School Writing Center (University Wide Courses for Graduate Students)
Lecture Code 8A002002 Subject Classification Specialized Education
Subject Name Self-directed Learning of Academic English and Disciplinary Literacies
Subject Name
(Katakana)
セルフダイレクティッド ラーニング オブ アカデミック イングリッシュ アンド ディシプナリー リテラシーズ
Subject Name in
English
Self-directed Learning of Academic English and Disciplinary Literacies
Instructor WANG TINGJIA
Instructor
(Katakana)
ワン ティンジア
Campus Higashi-Hiroshima Semester/Term 1st-Year,  Second Semester,  Intensive
Days, Periods, and Classrooms (Int) Inte:Online
Lesson Style Lecture Lesson Style
(More Details)
 
 
Credits 1.0 Class Hours/Week   Language of Instruction E : English
Course Level 5 : Graduate Basic
Course Area(Area) 21 : Fundamental Competencies for Working Persons
Course Area(Discipline) 06 : Globalization/International cooperation studies
Eligible Students All postgraduate students of all fields
Keywords Self-directed learning, Reading-to-Learn pedagogy, academic literacies, disciplinary literacies, English for Academic Purposes 
Special Subject for Teacher Education   Special Subject  
Class Status
within Educational
Program
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
 
Criterion referenced
Evaluation
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
 
Class Objectives
/Class Outline
This 2-day intensive course will be held on 12/21 and 12/22 (Saturday and Sunday), 2024.

This course aims to teach students a reading-based method known as Reading-to-Learn (R2L) approach for the independent learning of academic English in students’ own disciplines. The R2L cycle shows step by step how to identify technical vocabularies/expressions in a mentor text, learn technical expressions in the surrounding co-text, and to revise students’ own writing with newly-learned technical expressions to raise the academic tone of the writing. The R2L pedagogy is widely used in L1 context to facilitate L1 students’ transition from narrative or descriptive writing to technical or academic writing. This intensive course will adapt the R2L approach to L2 students’ levels, model the use of the adapted R2L approach on journal articles, and assist students in practicing the adapted R2L approach on academic publications in their own disciplines.  

Day 1 will focus on the learning of the R2L approach and academic literacies. Day 2 will focus on the practice of the R2L approach and disciplinary literacies.

 
Class Schedule lesson1
Lesson 1 Introduction (Day 1, 8:45-10:15)
Introduction of the course outline, expectations, and assessment. Students’ introduction of their research topics and disciplines. Students will provide an introductory paragraph about their research topics and disciplines for the later practice in this course.

lesson2
Lesson 2 Reading-to-Learn approach (Day 1, 10:30-12:00)
This lesson will introduce the theory and practices of R2L approach in L1 context and model the adapted R2L approach in L2 context.

lesson3
Lesson 3 Guided practice of the R2L approach (Day 1, 12:50-14:20)
In this lesson, students will be guided by the teacher to practice the R2L approach on a journal article, to learn academic expressions from the article, and to revise their own introductory paragraphs.

lesson4
Lesson 4 Independent practice of the R2L approach (Day 1, 14:35-16:05)
In this lesson, students will independently practice R2L approach on journal articles in relation to their research topics and revise or expand their introductory paragraphs of their own research.

lesson5
Lesson 5 Recap academic literacies & Introduction of disciplinary literacies (Day 2, 8:45-10:15)
In this lesson, we will recap Day 1 content, respond to students’ questions, and introduce the Day 2 outline.

lesson6
Lesson 6 R2L in Arts and Humanities (Day 2, 10:30-12:00)
In this lesson, students from Arts and Humanities will demonstrate in front of the class about using the R2L approach to learn key language features in a journal article.

lesson7
Lesson 7 R2L in Science (Day 2, 12:50-14:20)
In this lesson, students from Science will demonstrate in front of the class about using the R2L approach to learn key language features in a journal article.

lesson8
Lesson 8 Wrap up and oral presentations (Day 2, 14:35-16:05)
In this lesson, students will conduct an oral presentation to show their rewriting of the introductory paragraph in Day 1 and reflect the reasons and purposes behind the revision.


lesson9
lesson10
lesson11
lesson12
lesson13
lesson14
lesson15 
Text/Reference
Books,etc.
No textbook will be used. Students are encouraged to bring in their own materials to practice. Materials from the instructor will be provided during the class. 
PC or AV used in
Class,etc.
 
(More Details) PC – projector for PowerPoint - handouts - Microsoft Teams 
Learning techniques to be incorporated  
Suggestions on
Preparation and
Review
Lesson Instructions and relevant materials will be provided through email and/or uploaded on Teams before the class. Students are required to regularly check their Hiroshima email accounts and prepare the course before entering the class. Students are required to save the in-class practice outcomes from each lesson, which will be needed for the final exam. 
Requirements Students should have some experiences in English reading and writing. Students should have knowledge of basic academic etiquettes, such as checking the university email regularly, preparing lessons before entering a class, bringing required materials to attend a class, actively participating in class activities and so on.

Registration limit of this course is 30.
 
Grading Method Preparation & Attitude: 20%; Oral presentation: 50%; Reflective Writing: 30%

Oral presentation (50%) will be conducted in the final lesson 8. It will include students’ demonstration of R2L approach, self-evaluation of their Day 1 writing and the critical reflection of their Day 2 revision. The breakdown is presented below:
Demonstration of R2L approach: 10%
Summary of new language features learned through the R2L approach: 10%
Self-evaluation of the Day 1 writing: 10%
Critical reflection of the Day 2 revision: 10%
Discussion about English in disciplines: 10%

Students are required to submit the presentation materials for the final assessment.


Reflective Writing (30%) is an approximately 800-1000 word writing to respond following topics: What did you learn from this course? What are the aspects in your English reading and writing that need to be improved after taking this lesson? Why? And how?

Self-evaluative skills are significant to the development of English literacies, especially in students' own practice. The reflective writing (30%) is designed to examine whether students have developed a certain level of self-evaluative capacity by learning and practicing knowledge of critical reading in this lesson.  The content, the paragraphing and the grammar of the reflective writing will be assessed in the grading system.
 
Practical Experience  
Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it  
Message This course will be delivered and facilitated in English.

This 2-day intensive course will be held on 12/21 and 12/22, 2024.

Students need to participate in the class discussion. Students need to ensure that the internet and the microphone function stably for the course.

Students are encouraged to speak in this course, asking questions, participating in group discussions and so on. 
Other   
Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes.
Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching. 
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