Writing for Publication: Teacher Training

Course Lecturer: Dr. Dana Lynn Driscoll (Director of the Kathleen Jones White Writing Center, Professor in English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Course Aims: to prepare course participants to design and teach courses in which doctoral students, under the guidance of the lecturer, gradually write a publishable English article about their research, with an emphasis on adherence to the basic principles of scientific work. Course participants as future lecturers will be able to guide students through the entire publication process, including selecting an appropriate journal, communicating with editors and reviewers, preparing the manuscript for peer review, etc. They will also be able to use their acquired skills to teach the general principles of academic writing in English, which their students will appreciate, for example, when writing their dissertations. The course does not deal with academic English.

Target Group: Academics/post-doctoral students from various disciplines with perfect knowledge of English (C1 level according to CEFR) or English language teachers. For English language teachers, knowledge of the basics of scientific work or experience in the publication/review process is an advantage.

Course Dates: we plan to open the next session in September/Oct 2023 (13 weeks)

Format: blended-learning (Moodle e-learning platform + meetings with the course lecturer via Zoom)

Course content:

  • 10 modules with video lectures on the theoretical foundations of teaching publication skills. Main topics: Threshold concepts, genre analysis, plagiarism, empirical article, publication process, peer-review, feedback, and writing conferences
  • Each topic is accompanied by study materials and assignments that the participants can later use in their own teaching practice. The participants will receive individualized feedback on each assignment
  • Once every 3 weeks a reflective meeting with other course participants and the lecturer (via Zoom)
  • Course participants also receive the handbook Teaching Writing for Publication to EAL learners (authored by Etchegoyen Rosolová K., Lurring, E. and Kašpárková A.). This handbook summarizes the basic approaches to teaching publication skills in English and contains many practical examples of students’ texts.

Graduates will be able to:

  • guide students in scientific writing according to English-language conventions (i.e. those required by most international peer-reviewed journals)
  • apply various teaching approaches to the teaching of writing (genre pedagogy, corpus linguistics, social pedagogy in writing, etc.)
  • work in the Moodle e-learning environment
  • guide students through the publishing process and prepare them for peer review
  • provide constructive feedback (written and oral in writing conferences)
  • tailor the course “Writing for Publication” for the needs of their group/department/faculty (if they follow the basic course with the Practical Training module — please, see below)

Course fee: 600 EUR + VAT / 15 000 CZK + DPH

Time commitment: 3-5 hours of study on average per week

 

In addition to this course, we strongly recommend following up with a semester of Practical Training with mentors from the Czech Academy of Sciences or the Technical University of Ostrava

  • hands-on experience in a real blended-learning course Writing for Publication for doctoral students and researchers
  • participants work with 2-3 students under the guidance of a mentor, give them feedback (the course is run under the ÚJČ AV ČR or VŠB-TUO) and assist in writing conferences
  • regular reflective meetings (approx. once a month) to share experiences and consult upcoming course tasks
  • shadowing and teaching in an authentic, successful course that participants can use as a model for creating their own courses

Training Fee: 400 EUR + VAT (course length 13-15 weeks) / 10 000 CZK + DPH

 

If interested, please contact Alena Kašpárková (alena.kasparkova@vsb.cz) or Kamila Etchegoyen Rosolova (etchegoyen@langdpt.cas.cz)