
The IATEFL Conference is this weekend!
I’d rather be back in Harrogate, soaking in all the Yorkshire vibes and re-living IATEFL 2014, the last IATEFL to be held in Harrogate (it was an action-packed conference). But online is the next best thing and I look forward to not having to overcome jet lag.
Check out the conference program(me) online here.
I present on Saturday at 3:35pm UK time / 11:35am Halifax time. Here’s my talk description; slides aren’t quite finished yet but I’ll put them up soon. đ
Defining âGood Writingâ: Ideology in Canadian University Language Policy
The textual characteristics of good academic writing are communicated via language policies at many Canadian universities. Correction keys, marking codes, grading criteria or rubrics at the course, departmental, faculty or institutional level guide the teaching and assessment of academic writing. These descriptions of good writing on the lexical, grammatical and organizational level are not neutral, however; in many cases they embody covert attitudes and ideologies around âwrittennessâ (Turner, 2018) that place value on a specific type of academic writing. In the plurality of Englishes thriving in the linguistically-diverse setting of the contemporary Anglophone Canadian university, these policies around âgood writingâ often centre certain Englishes while marginalizing others. In this session, participants will critically examine commonly-held definitions of âgood writingâ. We will unpack the covert attitudes and ideologies that influence how we teach and evaluate academic writing in linguistically-diverse higher education settings. After presenting the concept of âwrittennessâ and related ideologies, a case study of a discursive analysis of piece of language policy from a Canadian university will be presented. Then, the role of teachers in implementing, appropriating and resisting language policy will be discussed. Alternatives for teaching and policy-making around academic writing for practitioners in higher education contexts will be proposed.
Turner, J. (2018). On writtenness: The cultural politics of academic writing. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Here are the slides: