ILMADBN-Academic Writing for Digital Business

Module Provider: International Study and Language Institute
Number of credits: 0 [0 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Autumn term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Ms Gill Kendon
Email: g.b.kendon@reading.ac.uk

Module Co-convenor: Dr Anna Ziomek
Email: a.k.ziomek@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module focuses on the academic language and writing skills needed to perform more effectively at post-graduate level in Digital Business. It is primarily designed for students whose first language is not English. The module utilises Digital Business-specific written texts to develop a range of reading and writing skills needed for successful completion of coursework tasks.

The module is non-credit-bearing and designed to support students’ disciplinary study, the expectation being that students will apply the skills they have learnt on ILMADBN in their credit-bearing work. Therefore, for the module itself  there is no assessment or expectation of independent study hours.

Aims:

It focuses on the key academic language and skills needed to successfully complete Master’s level Digital Business written coursework assignments 

By the end of the module, students will be better able to: 

• recognise and respond to the expectations of the key written assignment genre(s) in Digital Business, e.g. the Report


• accurately interpret coursework assignment instructions/briefs


• employ task-appropriate organisational patterns at paragraph, section and whole-text level


• use a variety of task-appropriate techniques to incorporate and comment on the views of others in their writing


• employ a task-appropriate register and task-appropriate language 


• critically evaluate their own and others’ writing


• read disciplinary texts employing appropriate reading skills and strategies to critically engage with them


• communicate fluently and accurately within their discipline by building their subject-specific vocabulary and grammar

Assessable learning outcomes:

N/A

Additional outcomes:

N/A

Outline content:

Classes will have the following foci:

• recognising the key written coursework assignment genre(s) in Digital Business PGT programmes   e.g.  the report, the essay, the reflective account
  
  
  
  • expected structural & argumentation patterns and how these differ according to task type 
  
  
  • reading-to-write and source use and synthesis processes
  
  
  • how ‘voice’ and ‘stance’ are realised linguistically within these target genres
  
  
  
  


• Key skills useful to all academic writing within Digital Business:
  
  
  
  • incorporating sources using paraphrasing, summarising and direct quotation
  
  
  • employing linguistic features of textual cohesion to clearly signal relationships between parts of a text
  
  
  
  


• Grammar for academic and professional communication, including verb tense and form, nominalisation, clause and sentence structure


• Lexical phrases for academic and professional communication, including expressing recommendations and making evaluations.


• Building discipline-specific vocabulary knowledge for Digital Business


• Reading skills and strategies for dealing with texts such as Digital Business cases e.g. 
  
  
  
  • careful reading to build gradual understanding of ideas and relationships between them 
  
  
  • strategic reading to identify specific sources or concepts (search reading)
  
  
  • strategic reading to identify overall nature and structure of text (skimming)
  
  
  
  

Global context:

This module supports internationalisation at Reading by facilitating successful and equal inclusion of students whose first language is not English in UK degree programme study.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The module will adopt an overall ‘genre’ approach, taking the social purpose of texts as the starting point to explicate organisation/structure and key discourse and language features.

Teaching will be learner-centred, taking a task-based approach to :

• analysis of example texts from the target genres


• guided ‘noticing’ of key organisational, argumentative and linguistic features in context


• exer cises practicing use of relevant lexical/grammatical items


• scaffolded reading-to-write exercises


• scaffolded written-language tasks

Summative assessment- Examinations:

N/A

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

N/A

Formative assessment methods:

Sessions will take a task-based approach, enabling students to receive on-going feedback from the instructor and from other students during class discussions.

Penalties for late submission:

N/A

Assessment requirements for a pass:

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Reassessment arrangements:

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Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

N/A

Last updated: 24 April 2023