Morag Hegge
DARE Project: Fostering Instructor Professional Learning and Student Success through the Implementation of a Genre-based Pedagogy in an ESL Course
Project Supervisor: Olga Makinina, Saskia Van Viegen, Ibtissem Knouzi
Project Description:
The purpose of the proposed project is to examine the effectiveness of a genre-based approach to teaching academic writing to bi/multilingual international students enrolled in an English as a Second Language course at York University. Grounded in a functional model of language, genre-based pedagogies in English for Academic Purposes instruction enable students to develop competence in reading and writing academic texts, and to acquire, analyze and apply academic genres, conventions and rhetorical patterns in their writing practices across different disciplines. While the research is in consensus that to be effective academic writers, students need to develop awareness of and control over academic genres, many instructors may not feel confident in implementing a genre-based pedagogy due to the lack of readily available resources and teaching strategies. Findings arising from the project will be used to inform development of professional learning resources for faculty teaching writing at the post-secondary level, including enhanced course resources and a pedagogic framework. Results will be disseminated through scholarly and professional publications.The Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE) – Undergraduate enables our students to meaningfully engage in research projects supervised by LA&PS faculty members. Find out more about DARE.