Writing across Cultures: Supporting PG Students whose First Language is not English to Develop Their Discipline-Specific Academic Literacy
Writing across Cultures: Supporting PG Students whose First Language is not English to Develop Their Discipline-Specific Academic Literacy
Learning Enhancement & Academic Development Service
Date: Friday 17 January 2020
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Venue: Teaching Room, Southpark House
Category: Academic events
Speaker: Dr Karen Ottewell, University of Cambridge
Website: www.glasgow.ac.uk/leads/events
Kaplan noted in 1966 that just because you can write an essay in your L1 does not necessarily mean you can write one in an L2 and with it he founded the theory of contrastive rhetoric, which 50 years on, despite significant research in this area, still lacks a pedagogical framework.
My experience of working with international postgraduate students at Cambridge has shown Kaplan’s conclusion to still hold true since the main difficulties they seem to face are not simply ‘language issues’, but far more the thornier issue of rhetorical transfer, since different cultures, both national and disciplinary, construct argument and express this in different ways. In my teaching I get students to reflect on what’s going on behind the writing so that they can consider the assumptions they are making about the construction and structure of argumentation in English – and this approach has proven to be instructive.
In this session I will present an overview of the theoretical principles which underpin this approach, followed by a discussion of practical strategies to support students to develop their written academic literacy.
Biography:
Karen Ottewell is the Director of Academic Development & Training for International Students section at the University of Cambridge, which provides training to assist international students in further developing and honing the skills required to succeed in an English-speaking academic context.
This session is open to staff of the University of Glasgow and validated institutions.
Tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch will be available.