Academic integrity matters are relevant to all areas of university teaching, but they are of particular importance to degree programmes whose graduates intend to work in the public service. While a large body of scholarship exists on academic integrity, very little has been written that specifically relates to students who intend to pursue careers…

The purpose of this article is to show the process of engaging with the question "How do I improve what I am doing as a teacher, teacher educator and action-researcher through reflection?" The methodology used will explore the role of reflection and writing to promote changes and improve my learning process as a teacher and action-researcher. The…

Because Dominique (or D-Mon, as he liked to be called) had drill before class, he would sometimes come in late in the author's class, his army boots silently moving across the tile as though he were trying to sneak by a sentry. The army fatigues that he wore were supposed to help him blend into a desert landscape, a tan-and-brown world of sand. In…

This article considers the emotional and psychological complexities of responding to personal narratives when the focus is war. The author teaches at a community college and she always begins her semester with a narrative assignment for the usual reasons: students write better when they write what they know; teachers should scaffold writing…

If a liberal arts education should prepare our students to participate in a meaningful way in democracy, what does that mean for how we design our courses across disciplines? In this paper, I first address the question: who should teach democratic skills? Using an upper-level course in Canadian politics, I then illustrate how to explicitly…

In a project-based approach to teaching a foreign language at the university level, students are often required to participate in several task-based writing activities. In doing so, language learners not only write incorrect forms, but also correct forms of the same structures, both of which provide useful information on their strengths and…

A critical/creative paradigm in contemporary English carries with it an imperative that students should be given opportunities for deep engagement with texts relevant to what matters in their everyday lives. In this paper, I argue that the materiality of everyday life includes the physical and geographic places where we live. When students live in…

An essential difficulty in solving practical problems that are not like the ones a student has solved before is discerning the core of the problem. It is claimed that discernment has to be trained by variation--by varying the context of the assignments in which students have to identify and grasp their "underlying form". A decisive…

In this article we examine how instructors make decisions about task design in telecollaboration and the factors that influence these decisions during the actual implementation of the tasks. We begin with a review of the recent literature of online intercultural exchanges to identify and describe a typology of 12 different types of tasks and task…

This paper reflects on the use of digital photography in urban-based human geography fieldwork. It draws on the authors' experience of introducing digital photography into the teaching and assessment of a level 3 undergraduate field course in Berlin. To begin they outline how they sought to use simple digital technologies in order to facilitate…

Argues the need for additional experience in language for social action in contexts where English teachers can provide scaffolding, monitoring and intervention. Concludes that students must have experiences in real writing contexts that lead them to face the linguistic and other demands which will enable them to develop the competencies they need.…

Imaginative writing is a great vehicle for creative thinking and risk taking as children structure a reality in a story. However, the author believes that American children are untrained for this sort of work and progress. They need connected experiences. This insight intensifies the author's resolution to seek collaboration with artists in other…

Students in college writing courses need to understand world issues, including the oppressive effects of the global economy. But their teachers need to give them a sense of agency and authority, rather than simply telling them what political positions to take. One example of a writing assignment that might engage as well as inform students…

Critics of student writing in British lecture courses as "mere rehash of lecture notes" are reminded that (1) by its nature, the lecture course focuses on and is limited to information conveyed in lectures, and (2) professors refuse to use materials such as U.S. textbooks that could supplement the information conveyed in class. (MSE)

With the implementation of Israel's New Curriculum in English, English teachers are considering the type of assignments that help students transition from isolated skills to communicative ability. Suggests that assignments dealing with relationships are a good starting point. (Author/VWL)