Teaching plan for the course unit (Short version)
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General information

 

Course unit name: Written Composition and Academic Writing Strategies

Course unit code: 569250

Academic year: 2023-2024

Coordinator: MONTSERRAT CASTELLO BADIA

Department: Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology

Credits: 6

Single program: S

Estimated learning time

Total number of hours 150

 

Face-to-face and/or online activities

60

-  Lecture with practical component

Face-to-face

60

Supervised project

40

Independent learning

50

Learning objectives

Referring to knowledge Appreciate the scope of academic writing both as a tool for acquiring knowledge of other disciplines as well as for constructing and producing knowledge. Ensure professionals in the field of educational psychology are able to facilitate the teaching of the strategies of academic writing and communication in any educational setting. Analyse and appraise the advances and limitations of research in academic writing and communication. Respect human diversity (differences in gender, culture, abilities and resources), recognise social and economic injustice and adopt an attitude of personal and professional commitment to a continuous process of social change.

 

 

Teaching blocks

 

1. Strategic knowledge and regulated learning (1 ECTS)

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• The nature of strategic knowledge: from learning about procedures to using procedures strategically
• From self-regulation to socially shared regulation
• Regulated learning in socially situated contexts

2. Writing as a semiotic tool. Learning to write (3 ECTS)

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• The composition process in writing: the planning, drafting and rewriting cycle
• Differences between learning to write and acquiring academic literacy
• Discourse communities and academic writing practices
• Notions of academic writing: challenges to its teaching and learning
• Teaching strategies to regularise composition processes in discourse communities.

3. Language as an epistemic tool: writing-to-learn (2 ECTS)

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• Learning to write and writing-to-learn: how, when and why?
• Writing in different disciplines and writing through the curriculum
• Advances in Europe and the USA with regard to writing as an epistemic tool
• Contributions made by psychoeducational research and interventions in schools and universities

 

 

Official assessment of learning outcomes

 

Students obtaining a final grade of 9 or more, may, at the discretion of the faculty, be awarded a ’matrícula d’honor’, albeit that no more than 5% of the students enrolled on the course can receive this award. Student assignments must be original work. Students copying on a test or plagiarising in a written assignment will be deemed to be in breach of the student code and automatically failed (see Article 16.7 and the annex to the Regulations governing the teaching, assessment and grading of learning at the University of Barcelona: http://www.ub.edu/acad/noracad/avaluacio_2020.pdf). Attendance and active participation in class sessions is compulsory. Students must attend at least 75% of the sessions in order to opt for continuous assessment. Students must submit to continuous assessment to pass the course. This comprises the resolution of two group tasks as specified (30%), the writing of three group texts and an individual learning diary (50%) and the submission of a final essay (20%). Students are assessed on their ability to: Relate and integrate new information with their prior knowledge. Select and prioritize the information needed to resolve the different tasks. Reflect on the conceptual approaches presented and link them to their previous experiences. Analyse and design innovative proposals of academic literacy. Reflect on the scope and limitations of research in this field. Reflect on their own learning and regulate their performance throughout the module. Repeat assessment Students that fail the continuous assessment mode of evaluation are entitled to repeat the assessment tasks. Students opting for repeat assessment renounce any grades awarded previously as part of their continuous assessment. Repeat assessment comprises a written exam covering all course content, both theoretical and practical. Students sit the exam on the date and time set by the MIPE Academic Committee. The final grade for students sitting the repeat assessment is the grade obtained on this exam and this exam alone.   Examination-based assessment Requisites   In accordance with University regulations, any student can request they be evaluated by single assessment. To do so, they must fill out the "Single assessment request" form, which can be downloaded from the virtual classroom, and submit it no later than twenty calendar days from the start of the course.   Activities and criteria Single assessment comprises a written exam in which students have to answer two questions (from a choice of four) on the module content and resolve two practical problems (also from a choice of four). A maximum of 2.5 points are available for each question. To pass the module, students must obtain a minimum score of 5 points.   Repeat assessment Students that fail the single assessment mode of evaluation are entitled to repeat the assessment tasks. Repeat assessment comprises a written exam covering all course content, both theoretical and practical. Students sit the exam on the date and time set by the MIPE Academic Committee. The final grade for students sitting the repeat assessment is the grade obtained on this exam and this exam alone.

Reading and study resources

Check availability in Cercabib

Book

Bañales, G., Castelló, M., & Vega, N. (Coords.). (2016). Enseñar a leer y escribir en la educación superior. Propuestas educativas basadas en la investigación. Serie: Lenguaje, Educación e Innovación (LEI). Ediciones SM/CeIDEA/U.A.T.

Castelló, M., & Donahue, C. (2012) (Eds.). University writing: Selves and Texts in Academic Societies. Volume Series in Writing. Emerald group Publishing Limited.

Prior, P. (2006) A Sociocultural theory of Writing, In C.A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), (2006) Handbook of writing research. Guilford.

Chapter

Castelló, M. (2009). Aprender a escribir textos académicos: ¿copistas, escribas, compiladores o escritores?. En J.I. Pozo y M. P. Pérez Echeverría (Coords.), La Psicología del aprendizaje universitario: de la adquisición de conocimientos a la formación en competencias (pp.120-133). Ed. Morata.  

Castelló, M. (2021). Escribir (leer) e investigar: voces en diálogo [Writing (Reading) and Research: voices in dialog]. In D. Rodrigues & J. Quintiliano (Comps.). Discursive Practices in Academic Writing: issues under study. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Minas Gerais.

Article

Castelló, M. (2014). Los retos actuales de la alfabetización académica: estado de la cuestión y últimas investigaciones. Enunciación, 19(2), 346-365. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14483/udistrital.jour.enunc.2014.2.a13

Camps, A y Castelló, M. (Coords.) (2013). Monográfico: Escritura académica//Academic Writing. REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 11(1). http://www.red-.net/redu/index.php/REDU/issue/view/70.

Castelló, M. (2015) (Coord.). Writing at University. Analyzing Faculty’s and Students’ Conceptions, Ideas and Beliefs. Special Issue / Escribir en la Universidad. Análisis de las concepciones, ideas y creencias de estudiantes y profesores. Monográfico. Cultura y Educación, 27(3), 456-476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2015.1072362 

Sala, A., & Castelló, M. (2018). Regulation of Writing Composition Processes in Higher Education. Reading and writing, 31(4), 757-777