Developing Academic Writing Skills in EFL University Students Through Haiku Composition

Background. Although there is empirical evidence to support the inclusion of poetry in the EFL classroom, the medium is rarely encountered in language learning environments. Aims. This study aimed to determine the influence of haiku composition tasks on developing academic writing skills of a group of TEFL majors at an Ecuadorian university. Method. The study was part of a larger research project (originally presented as a Master’s degree dissertation), developed under a mixed-method approach. This article reports the quantitative findings of the statistical analysis of results of two essay-based tests, administered before and after a six-week treatment that promoted haiku composition practices. Results. The findings determine a positive influence of haiku composition on the development of the academic writing skills of the participants in the study. Discussion. The main benefits of haiku composition in terms of academic writing skill development relate to the vocabulary enrichment and enhancement of linguistic competence, audience awareness, and writing process consciousness. These benefits are linked to the formal meter and reader-centeredness nature of haiku. The results encourage the inclusion of poetry-based creative writing tasks in EFL contexts; the evidence suggests that these activities are feasible and beneficial for motivated learners, particularly when framed within a student-centered process.

Comparative Study on Transmedia Awareness of Traditional Media Audiences and Social Media Users in Turkey and Ukraine

The theory of mediatization focuses on discussions on the intertwining of the media with social institutions such as politics, family and religion, influencing and being affected by these structures. In general, mediatization refers to the social and cultural process in which a field or institution becomes to some extent dependent on the logic of the media (Hjarvard, 2011). Hjarvard draws attention to the processes of mediatization as a concept by cultural and social phenomena through the media, and their symbolic content is more or less under the influence of the media. The media is determinative on the fictional world with it produces and, on its audience (consumers). It influences, directs and shapes them through the discourse it produces. Mediatization is an important issue in the context of media literacy and especially transmedia methods. Because transmedia content practices and methods increase the mediatization effect and affect the orientations of the individual and society, especially when it comes to inadequacy in the context of media literacy. Therefore, this study focused on the awareness of the audience (consumers) about transmedia applications. It is seen that the studies conducted in the field of transmedia have developed in terms of content production methods, strategies and audience engagement. It is understood that there are not enough studies on subjects such as audience impacts or audience awareness. In this context and in this study, the competence of multimedia viewers who use social media and follow a traditional media tool to understand and be aware of the content transitions between different media tools has been examined. The television channel was chosen as the traditional media medium for the research study due to its widespread viewing.

Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback in First-Year Composition: Accuracy and Lexical and Syntactic Complexity

First-year composition courses must balance a range of writing instruction priorities including genre and audience awareness with language instruction, particularly for second-language writers. Despite the attested efficacy of dynamic written corrective feedback for language gains in intensive English programs, little research has investigated dynamic written corrective feedback in supporting language and discourse development among L2 first-year composition students. In the present study, pre- and post-test writing from 63 second-language first-year composition writers was analyzed for grammatical accuracy as well as lexical and syntactic complexity. Writers with dynamic written corrective feedback intervention ( n = 30) failed to outperform a control group on nearly all measures, and in fact made significantly more verb errors and demonstrated significantly less syntactic complexity over time compared to the control group. Results suggest that while dynamic written corrective feedback is efficacious in some settings, it may be at cross purposes with other first-year composition discourse-based goals such as genre and audience awareness.

Distributed Creativity: Language Learning and the Craft Approach to Creativity

This paper examines shortcomings in the individualist model of creativity and the implications that has for understanding creativity in second language education. The author first examines why education policies in Japan and around the world currently promote creativity and presents what until now has been the standard approach to understanding creativity. It discusses whether this approach, highly centred on the creative individual, is appropriate for foreign language education and education in general. It then introduces the concept of “participatory” or “distributed” creativity, in particular from the work of Vlad Petre Glăveanu, as offering a possible solution to problems with the individual sociocognitive model. Finally, the author argues that, by bringing in collaboration, increased audience awareness, and “openness to difference” in a “craft” approach to creativity, the distributed model supports genre approaches in teaching and the promotion of collaborative social skills in students in order to boost their ability to contribute creatively. この論文では、個人主義型創造性アプローチの不十分な点と、そこから暗示される第二外国語教育における創造性の理解について考察するものである。まず、日本および世界の教育政策において、なぜ創造性が推奨されているのかについて、これまでの創造性に関する一般的なアプローチについて示す。主に個人の創造性について焦点を当てたこのアプローチは、外国語教育や一般的な教育に適しているかについて論ずる。そして、個々の社会認知的アプローチに関する問題の解決に繋がる可能性のある、Vlad Petre Glăveanuの研究から”participatory” or “distributed creativity” (参加型創造性、分散型創造性)についても取り上げ紹介する。創造型技能的(“craft”)アプローチによる観衆の気付きと「違いに対する寛容さ」を増すコラボレーションを用いることで、この分布モデルは、生徒達が創造的に貢献できる能力を高めるための、協調的な社会的能力を向上させるだけでなく、様々なジャンルの授業において役立つものである。

“I pictured my little sister when writing” – Teacher and Student Experiences with Training Audience Awareness in a Television Studies Seminar

Training audience awareness is a significant but challenging task for teaching academic writing. To integrate the teaching of television studies with writing skills, I designed a BA seminar when working as a lecturer in the English department of a German university in 2015. I present my experience with and my students’ evaluation of training audience awareness as part of this seminar. The evaluations confirmed students’ increased awareness of the importance of incorporating audience-directed elements in writing, but indicated that the task had created obstacles, for example, regarding students’ reading comprehension. I retrospectively analyze my teaching approach and discuss possible reasons for my students’ success and difficulties with the writing assignment, and make suggestions for changes that may have better supported their learning process. I, therewith, aim to foster the integration of teaching writing within, across, and beyond disciplinary audiences in discipline-specific courses.

Teachable Moments in News Media—An Analysis of Audience Awareness, Enjoyment, Interest, Opinion Formation, and Understanding (AEIOU) toward Science

In light of the increased time spent by people on watching the news via social media, what might be the communication impacts if science education could help in producing science news media for the public? The present study compared the audience levels of awareness, enjoyment, interest, opinion formation, and understanding (AEIOU) toward science experimentally between two groups: the general science communication (GSC) group (i.e., participants with general daily science news digestion) and the science edu-communication (SEC) group (i.e., participants who watched science news videos produced jointly by science educators, scientists, and news media production teams). As a result, those in the SEC group showed significantly higher levels of “interest”, formed more scientific “opinions”, and had better “understanding” than the GSC participants. In terms of creating an “additional opportunity” to develop science news media sustainably for the public, the present study confirms more salient outcomes when science educators are involved in the production of science news media.

Museum collections

Egyptological museum collections are the principal means of interacting physically with pharaonic material culture. Such collections of objects have a partial, often fragmentary, nature and are usually biased in favour of monumental and funerary sources. This chapter delineates the background to the acquisition of objects and the formation of museum collections—notably through the elaborate antiquities trade network rather than through archaeological ‘discovery’. The resulting museum representations of ‘ancient Egypt’ attempt to elide many gaps in the material record to form a coherent (but often simplistic) narrative. Museums attempt to balance conservation, accessibility and research, while utilizing the popular appeal of ‘ancient Egypt’ to engage with a wide audience. Awareness of these factors is important in understanding Egyptology’s reconstruction of pharaonic civilization.