Changing the Course: Interpreting and Elaborating Scientific Texts Aided by ICT

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.v10i2.8192

Keywords:

academic writing, genre, ICT, Strategic Language Learning, syllabus design, university

Abstract

Changes to the pedagogy of foreign languages (FL) have taken place with the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). These changes provide instructors with opportunities to become meaning facilitators and designers. This article presents the rationale behind the pedagogy for a university course to enhance FL for academic purposes. It refers to three editions of a course with around 15 students each, native speakers of Spanish who self-assessed as being in an A2 to B1- English proficiency level in the scale of the Common European Framework of Reference. They came equipped with disciplinary knowledge in education and needed to build the state of the art of their research proposals. They submitted an account of up-to-date literature and research reports. The course, aided by ICT, helped them search, find, understand and integrate to their projects valuable literature available in English and in Romance languages. Students drafted their research interest in English and prepared an oral presentation. The needs of the FL learners were better served for they were directly connected to what they do at the university, which is, among other things, to determine the quality and authority of the sources and therefore interpret and assess texts related to their field of expertise. The article proposes moving away from a focus on language to a focus on problem solving and presents strategies, procedures, and ICT support. The article problematizes the issue of proficiency defined in terms of the type of problems language users could solve to meet their needs rather than in terms of language level.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Rigoberto Castillo, Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas

Professor.

Doctorado Interinstitucional en Educación

Rigoberto Castillo holds a Ph.D in Foreign Language Education fron the University of Texas at Austin. He teaches at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas in Bogotá. Has lectured and consulted for several organizations in Latin America. His book on Strategic Learning was nominated to the British English Language Teaching award (ELTons). Recipient of the National Award of the Colombian Association of Teachers of English. Has published books and articles in ELT.

References

Bailey, S. (2011). Academic writing for undergraduate students: A Handbook for International Students (Third Ed.). London and New York: Routledge.

Castelló, M., M. Mateos, N. Castell, A. Iñesta, I. Cuevas and I. Solé, (2012). Academic Writing practices in Spanish universities. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology. Retrieved January 28, 2016 from: http://www.investigacionpsicopedagogica.org/revista/articulos/27/english/Art_27_688.pdf

Castillo, R. & Pineda-Puerta, A. (2016). The illusio of the foreign language standard in a Colombian university. Latin American Journal of Content and Language Integrated Learning, 9(2), 426-450.

Castillo, R. (2014). Teaching and learning another language strategically. Bogotá:

Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. Retrieved on October 16, 2015 from:

http://die.udistrital.edu.co/publicaciones/teaching_and_learning_another_language_strategically

Cope, B and M. Kalantzis: ‘Multiliteracies’: New Literacies, New Learning. Retrieved February 17, 2017. From: http://newlearningonline.com/files/2009/03/M-litsPaper13Apr08.pdf

Devitt, A. J. (2015). Genre Performances: John Swales’ Genre Analysis and Rhetorical-Linguistic Genre Studies. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. Volume 19, Pages 44–51

Eisner (2012). Blog: Writing the research statement. Retrieved July 25, 2013 from:

http://www.academiccoachingandwriting.org/academic-writing/academic-writing-blog/vi-writing-the-research-statement-how-and-why-you-research-what-you-do/

Elwel, F. (2013). Glossary of the social sciences. Retrieved March 3, 2016 from: http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/glossary/Index.htm

Granados, C. (2013). Challenges of Bilingualism in Higher Education: Experience of the Languages Department at the Universidad Central in Bogotá, Colombia. Gist Education and Learning Research Journal (7), 245-258.

Hyland, K (2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing. Journal of second language writing. Instruction. V. 16. 148-164. Retrieved Feb 17, 2014 from: http://www2.caes.hku.hk/kenhyland/files/2010/12/Hyland-genre-teaching.pdf

Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Ibáñez. R. (2007). Comprensión de textos disciplinares escritos en inglés.* RLA, Revista de Lingüística Teórica y Aplicada, 45 (1), I Sem, 67-85.

Kent, T. (Ed). (2012). Post-process Theory: Beyond the Writing-Process Paradigm. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press

Iyer, R. (2007). Pedagogies of Design and Multiliterate Learner Identities. Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. Accessed January 31, 2016 from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/7422/1/7422.pdf

Klimova, B.F (2011). Making academic writing real with ICT Procedia Computer Science Volume 3, 2011, Pages 133-137

Marshall, S. (2007). Engagement Theory, WebCT, and academic writing in Australia. International Journal of Education and Development using ICT [Online], 3(2). Retrieved February 18, 2016 from: http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=227.

M.E.N (2015). Programa Nacional de Inglés 2015-2025: Colombia very well. Retrieved January 31, 2016 from: http://www.colombiaaprende.edu.co/html/micrositios/1752/articles-343287_recurso_1.pdf

Merriam Webster dictionary. (2015). Available at: http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary

O’Malley, J. M., A.U. Chamot. (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.

Oxford, R. (1990). Language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. Boston: Newbury House Publisher.

Oxford, R. (2013). Teaching & Researching: Language Learning Strategies. London and New York: Routledge.

Piedrahita, D. (2012). Normas APA en Microsoft Word 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2015 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGgpzRxMvGA

Pechakucha (n.d). The art of concise presentations: Available at: http://www.pechakucha.org/

Peretz, A. (2005). “Teaching Scientific/Academic Writing in the Digital Age” The Electronic Journal of e-Learning Volume 3 Issue 1, pp 55-66, available online at www.ejel.org

Purdue University (2014). Online Writing Lab. Available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Scitable. (2016). A collaborative learning space for scientists. Learning activities. Retrieved February 3, 2016 from: http://www.nature.com/scitable/ebooks/english-communication-for-scientists-14053993/14601755#bookContentViewAreaDivID

Simon Fraser University Library. (2007). Thesis Templates. Retrieved on February 10, 2015 from: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/writing/thesis/templates.

Swales, J.M. (2004). Research Genre: Explanations and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, M. and C.B. Feak (2010).Academic writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills. A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Trenado, P. (2004). El entrenamiento estratégico en el aula de L2: Fundamentos, fases y modelos. Retrieved Feb 17, 2016 from: http://www.kandagaigo.ac.jp/kuis/aboutus/pdf/paloma_trenado.pdf.

Tudor, I. (2004). The challenge of the Bologna process for higher education. Free University of Berlin.

University of Nevada Writing Center (2014). Available at: http://www.unr.edu/writing-center

University of Virginia (2014). Problem statement template. Retrieved August 1, 2013 from:

http://faculty.virginia.edu/schoolhouse/WP/probstattemplate.html

University of Southern California (2017). Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper. Retrieved Jan 10, 2017. http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/purpose

Downloads

Published

2018-06-20

How to Cite

Castillo, R. (2018). Changing the Course: Interpreting and Elaborating Scientific Texts Aided by ICT. Latin American Journal of Content & Language Integrated Learning, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.v10i2.8192

Issue

Section

Articles