This article explores specific aspects of literacy practices in teacher education in Norway, building upon data collected within the research project "Digital literacy and use of learning resources in teacher education in Norway" (DigiGLU). Our main aim is to explore how teachers in different subject courses in teacher education (TE)…

In a world that is fraught with a troubling political climate, Lu believes it is especially important that teachers provide guidance to students not only for their academic endeavors but also for their understanding of the complexities in language and the social implications of language varieties. With such belief in mind, she asks: How can…

Purpose: Imagination in critical literacy research is usually referred to as a taken for granted concept that is seldom theorised, leaving the assumptions unchecked that everyone has a shared understanding of imagination. This paper aims to challenge critical literacy researchers to rethink the relationship between criticality and imagination and…

This paper argues that curriculum decision-making in the South African University of Technology (UoT) environment is affected not only by industry and disciplinary demands, but also by socio-structural features and ideologies particular to this educational sector. It supports the view that recontextualisation processes are subject to multiple…

President Obama's America's College Promise proposal has brought renewed attention to community colleges' capacity to connect the college and career aspirations of today's undergraduates. Despite this capacity, however, community colleges have historically offered students two distinct educational pathways: a liberal education transfer-oriented…

Process-based composition pedagogy has ignored the question of "doneness": the criteria used to decide when a piece of writing is complete. This article uses survey results from first- and second-year composition courses to challenge common beliefs about how students determine when writing assignments are sufficiently completed. We find…

Leading scientific organizations, like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, have called for innovative approaches to student learning that incorporate "real-world examples". Drawing on writing-to-learn theory, innovative writing projects can be used when they build upon writing skills acquired from other disciplines…

This article examines the influence of context on student writing and discusses how the author used one methodology, problem-based learning, to foster more contextualized writing practice in ninth-grade English classes. Both research and practical experience suggest that students can benefit from writing practice contextualized within specific,…

This article provides an update to the author's overview of developments in second language (L2) online writing that he wrote in 2008. There has been renewed interest in L2 writing through the wide use of social media, along with the rising popularity of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and telecollaboration (class-based online exchanges).…

Student plagiarism in higher education is widespread and presents a growing concern for faculty and administrators who are intent on upholding academic integrity. However, a myopic view of plagiarism as a purely ethical issue is misguided. It is not always simply a deliberate attempt to deceive. Through the involvement of students in an…

Effects of peer response using instruction in genre knowledge on the writing of 140 sixth-grade students are investigated. In one condition students were taught specific genre knowledge involving functions of linguistic indicators of time and place. In another condition students were taught more general aspects of communicative writing. Both…

In today's world, individuals should be able to maintain their expertise amidst constant changes. Thus, this type of agency should be supported in higher education. One approach for a teacher-researcher to examine supporting agency and how it manifests itself in higher education courses is through the learning design. In this article, learning…

Although written communication is a foundational skill, especially for careers in management, faculty can be reluctant to utilize writing assignments for a number of reasons including the subjective nature of and time involved in grading. In this article, we present the IDEAL framework--an andragogical tool developed in an effort to address these…

Online instructors are tasked with creating meaningful learning assignments, but they may struggle with balancing their teaching workloads. This article includes five strategies for creating assignments and activities that promote learning without overwhelming instructional workload, including anticipating student questions when writing…

To investigate how college students understand and use cloud technology for collaborative writing, the authors studied two asynchronous online courses, on science communication and on technical communication. Students worked on a group assignment (3-4 per group) using Google Docs and individually reflected on their experience writing…