Learning to Teach Creative Writing

Is it possible to teach people to write fiction? A more important and helpful question is: how do we teach creative writing? And who are the teachers? A published writer is not necessarily qualified to teach creative writing. To helpfully share their declarative knowledge with students, a writer must embrace the art and craft of teaching, consider how different students learn and create the optimum setting to enable learning. There is a parallel challenge for the writer with the student, as each is faced with challenges around their previously held assumptions about ways of learning.     

Using modeled writing to support English-only and English-learner second-grade students

This study compared 70 English learners (ELs) and English-only (EO) second-grade students' writing samples before and after a yearlong writing program. The school utilized Write From the Beginning (J. Buckner, 2006) and focused on personal narratives. A subgroup of students also participated in an intervention supporting expository writing on curricular topics. Sociocognitive theory framed the Modeled Writing (MW) used in this study. An analysis of covariance used prescores on 2 writing assessments to compare students' writing achievement at the end of the year, and t tests compared students' writing by gender, language, and group on various pre- and posttest scores. Results indicate that MW benefited both EOs and ELs and that the MW students outscored the controls on all items of the standardized writing assessment at year's end. The comparison affords greater understanding of writing development and achievement differences among young ELs and EOs and suggests instructional and research opportunities.     

Viewing student behavior through the lenses of culture and globalization: two narratives from a US college writing class

Globalization is bringing about profound changes in the university writing class in Western English-speaking universities, notably due to the influx of international students. This article narrates the experiences of a US writing teacher working with Chinese international students. It presents two incidents in which misunderstandings occurred, one involving textual re-use and the other, writing tests. The narratives demonstrate that, in order to understand student behavior, it is important for teachers to understand both the global context within which international students operate and their cultures of learning. The argument rests on the premise that, through personal engagement with students, teachers can engage in transformative internationalization, a type of internationalization that involves synergistic changes in both teachers and students.     

Power,pedagogy and the personal: feminist ethics in facilitating a doctoral writing group

The paper explores questions of power arising from feminist facilitators running a doctoral writing group at a UK university. Butler’s [2014. Re-thinking Vulnerability and Resistance. [Online]. Accessed September 12, 2017. http://www.institutofranklin.net/sites/default/files/files/Rethinking%20Vulnerability%20and%20Resistance%20Judith%20Butler.pdf] theorisation of precarity and vulnerability inspired us to re-think normative constructions of research writing and the academic identities and subjectivities this presupposed. Our doctoral writing group was imagined as a space to think collectively and reflexively about the thesis, the multi-faceted power-dynamics at work in its production, and our relations to the text as both writer and audience. This paper antagonises some of the pedagogic consequences of inviting seemingly ‘personal’ matters into the space of the writing space and, subsequently, the doctoral text itself. We speak back to discourses that position doctoral writing as always and only an individual, and individualising endeavour, that eschews encounters with the personal and relational. Indeed, we recognise that configurations and spaces for research writing are always ‘political’.     

Experiential learning in doctoral training programmes: fostering personal epistemology through collaboration

There has been increasing recognition for the need to reform doctoral training practices to foster students’ personal epistemology. This study describes the design and evaluation of a learning experience designed to help students understand the scholarly publication process. Firstly, this study discusses the design of the learning experience, describing the collaborative process of writing an interdisciplinary publication using both online and face-to-face learning. Secondly, this study evaluates the effectiveness of the learning experience by examining students’ reflections. We show that participation in the learning experience helped students to develop their academic writing proficiency, collaboration and teamwork, intercultural competence, and ability to engage in reflective practice. Importantly, we show that each student also created more individualised knowledge, gaining insight into how they and others think. This study, therefore, demonstrates that personal epistemology can be fostered through collaboration in a doctoral writing group context.     

大学生英语写作能力状况分析与提高

首先通过实例对目前大学生的英语写作能力进行初步分析,然后按照二语教学理论与元认知学习理论,从教学与学习两个方面提出过程写作教学法与词汇学习策略等最佳的学生英语写作能力提高对策。     

Peer facilitated writing groups: a programmatic approach to doctoral student writing

Very few empirical studies have investigated programmes in which doctoral students act as peer facilitators in faculty writing groups. We report on the development of a centrally delivered doctoral student writing programme in which twenty student participants were mentored and provided with the resources to initiate their own faculty-based doctoral writing groups. ‘Legitimate peripheral participation’ was used as a conceptual lens to interpret the data collected during the establishment and evaluation of the programme. All student participants in the preparatory training course, which was developed in consultation with postgraduate students and research supervisors, went on to become doctoral writing peer facilitators of peer writing groups. Insights from seven of these showed how a well-structured and supportive programme harnessed the benefits of peer learning by bringing personal rewards to participants and building institutional capacity around doctoral research writing literacies.     

写作教学的改革和教学理念的创新

调动学生潜藏的“个性能量”,发现自我,激发个性话语的活力,用有可操作性的创新理念,推动写作教学的改革,解放思想,张扬个性,让我们的写作课真正属于我们自己。     

作家性格与作家创作关系新探——从该问题所涉的相关中国文化语境出发

作家性格单线、直线决定创作表征的认识,与"性格决定命运"之庸俗的中国"大众日常意识"共谋。中国社会语境往往铸就了国人机械、被动顺应社会的性格。粗俗的唯物主义哲学、中国文化结构特有的"身体化"特性,进一步强化了我们从生理、遗传之浅见来理解性格。事实上,中国人性格极具"面具化"特征。它们是生活环境超常挤压的创伤之果。根本还在于,作家可以虚拟创作性格,其思想、价值观念往往影响了艺术取向。另外,现代人格学说较之传统性格论有更合理的知识谱系。     

Handling the loss of innocence: first-time exchange of writing and feedback in doctoral supervision

ABSTRACT

The first time of many significant encounters is the most intense, raising awkwardness, anxiety and hope. This article presents data from doctoral students (n?=?80) who described the first time that they submitted writing to their supervisor and received feedback. The first writing/feedback exchange is an initiation into the cultures of academia. Student accounts captured the intensity of the initiation for students, excitement or dread on submitting writing, with increased emotional reaction when going through the feedback process, that liminal first time. Close focus on the first-time writing feedback exchange makes a contribution to the literature on the social interactions of doctoral writing. Data backs our argument that students and supervisors need to carefully manage the first-time exchange of writing. Our findings are analysed thematically and through an autoethnographic lens of the lead author, who was both a research assistant for the research survey and an international doctoral student experiencing the same processes in his cross-disciplinary joint doctorate. We draw on conceptual threshold-crossing theories established in regard to doctoral learning.     

忠于自我——论萧红小说创作的独特性

萧红是中国现代文学史上一位独特的女作家，她的小说创作始终沿着个人人生经历和情感体验的独有轨迹发展，在创作轨迹、表现视角、关注对象三个方面体现了她对于自我的忠实。     

Promoting writing amongst peers: establishing a community of writing practice for early career academics

In the current research-focused climate, academics are facing increasing pressure to produce research outputs. This pressure can prove particularly daunting for early career (EC) academics, who are simultaneously attempting to master new teaching and administrative demands while establishing their own independent research trajectories. Previous reports suggest that academic writing retreats can be an effective way of increasing research outputs. Such retreats generally involve academics from a range of career stages and require expert facilitators. Through organising a series of structured writing events, this project aims to cultivate an enduring community of practice for academic writers. Reflecting on our EC retreat and subsequent writing days with academics from different career stages, we suggest that success hinged on three key factors: (1) A formal structure comprising bounded periods of intense writing, flanked by group reviewing and goal-setting; (2) Co-located writing with participants based in a shared space, away from their usual workstation and distractions; (3) Peer discussions involving participants at a similar career stage. Specifically we found that writing amongst ‘equals’ increased productivity and confidence amongst EC academics.     

飞翔:论林白的个人化写作

90年代女性文学最引人注目的现象是“躯体写作”和由此发展演变的个人化写作。女性写作姿态万千,林白作为女性文学代表作家在激情时代努力实践着她的个人化写作;建立在个人经验与个人记忆基础之上用语言飞翔也让语言飞翔。     

Spanish and UK post-PhD researchers: writing perceptions,well-being and productivity

Post-PhD researchers working at universities are contributors to a country’s productivity and competitiveness mostly through writing, which becomes a means to establish their scholarly identity as they contribute to knowledge. However, little is known about researchers’ writing perceptions, and their interrelations with engagement in research, productivity and the influence of workplace climate, which, if negative, can result in burnout and abandonment intentions. In this paper, we explore these issues for the first time. Using a cross-sectional design, 282 postdoctoral researchers answered a cross-cultural questionnaire focusing on engagement, scientific writing, researcher community and burnout, and socio-demographic variables. Data analysis included exploratory factor analysis, T-test, ANOVA or Mann–Whitney U (SPSS, v.22). Results showed that adaptive perceptions of writing were related to higher levels of engagement, lower levels of burnout and productivity; maladaptive perceptions of writing were related to burnout experiences. The consideration of research writing as a developmental process that can take many years beyond the PhD is discussed. Critical to understanding such development is the extent to which a shift in perception of writing to knowledge creation may be a precursor to more adaptive functional behaviours. Educational insights related to constraints in writing, publication processes and related research conditions are also considered.     

中国少数民族新创文字在文化变迁中的功能与意义阐释——以哈尼、傈僳和纳西族为例

New writing systems for several of China’s minority languages were developed and implemented during a unique period in Chinese history. Throughout the different stages of modern Chinese history, these writing systems have had various societal functions and uses, including the improvement of education and literacy for China’s ethnic minorities. In the new era, the societal functions of these newly created systems have been weakened by the large-scale influence from both outside and within minority environment. Nevertheless, the newly created writing systems have undeniable value and significance, and they continue to serve positive functions that cannot be fulfilled by other writing systems. __________ Translated by Daniel Weisman from Minzu Jiaoyu Yanjiu 民族教育研究 (Journal of Research on Education for Ethnic Minorities), 2007, 18(5): 5–11     

Strategic revisions in the writing of Year 7 students in the UK

This article discusses revisions to personal narrative writing made by Year 7 students (aged 11–12) in a UK secondary school. The concept of strategic revision was used as a basis for analysing drafts and revised texts in order to investigate strategies and techniques deployed by students in the process of revision and how these related to expectations student writers had of their readers.

These analyses suggest that, given a reasonably supportive instructional environment, some Year 7 students can revise their own written texts strategically, and that in doing so they may recruit, and perhaps acquire, a range of writing skills and associated procedural knowledge. They also suggest that in the process of revising their texts, some student writers may have altered their expectations of their readers' understanding, ability to interpret and willingness to empathise.

Implications for researching writing processes and for the writing curriculum are suggested, including the use of students' revisions to tap into the complex sets of procedural knowledge which seem to underlie aspects of writing and writing development.     

写作教学应注重写作主体素质的培养

大众化写作使得“精英”写作的经典模式被打破,而所谓的大众化写作不可避免地导致平庸、低陋,使得写作创作产生越来越多的文化垃圾。因此,提高写作者的写作水平是目前摆在人们面前的迫切任务。高校写作课的教学也应在提高学生写作能力方面做出努力,其关键是要加强写作主体的写作素质。所谓写作素质是指写作主体本身所具有的进行写作活动的所需要的基本条件以及达到的水平,是作者在围绕文章的集材、运思、表达等活动中表现出来的素养。素质的提高不仅仅是写作技巧的培养,在写作过程中思想素养、生活素养、知识素养同样也作用和影响着写作能力的形成。     

门罗小说中的记忆书写

2013年诺贝尔文学奖得主加拿大作家艾丽斯·门罗是"当代短篇小说大师"。门罗作品内容多源于自己的生活,其小说堪称时间和记忆的艺术。通过记忆书写演绎叙事个体记忆选择、家族群体记忆追寻,表现自我独立成长和地域群体认同意识,探究记忆书写重构的本质。门罗在时间与记忆中穿梭,建构了自己完美的作家人生。     

New Books: The Reunification of the University

Academic writing is something we all want our students to do well. The ability of our students to use writing in meaningful ways seems to lag far behind what we know they can do. The author introduces a technique to assist in teaching college academic writing. Writing for personal goals is contrasted with student academic writing. The integration of personal writing is used to demonstrate the developmental nature of writing and thinking in the progress of student learning in college so that these learners can understand more clearly and use more effectively their own thinking and writing capabilities.