Andrea Milde, Lecturer in German:
The Writing Problems of Students: A Dilemma for Teachers?
Tuesday 24th November 4pm Háskólatorg, room 101
Many university teachers experience the dilemma of two different, and, perhaps contradictory roles. While university teachers are sometimes the only people students can ask for help with their academic writing they also face the task of marking the pieces of writing which they had been asked to give advice on.
Imagine the following scenario:
A keen student, who has been very active and well prepared in the classes throughout the whole semester, comes to see you about writing an essay. This student has done lots of research and has gathered useful and interesting materials, but just doesn’t know how to put his/her ideas into an essay. What would you, as the teacher of that module, do?
Many institutions of higher education, such as in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and North America, have been establishing writing centres, which offer specific courses and advice for students who are suffering problems with academic writing.
Based on research that has been carried out on writing and writing education, Andrea Milde will discuss different types of writing problems and their features, possible reasons for writing problems, and clashes between the needs of students and the advice of teachers. According to Peter Elbow, “this is partly because schooling makes us obsessed with the ‘mistakes’ we make in writing” (1973, 5).
The aim of this practical (rather than theoretical) session, is also to stimulate a discussion on teachers’ experiences of fulfilling both roles, teaching and marking, on the one hand, and giving advice on academic writing, on the other.
Andrea Milde is a Lecturer in German at the University of Iceland. She completed a Ph.D. in German Linguistics at the University of Sheffield in 2006. Everyone welcome!
