EAP101
Writing about Language Learning ~ Duke Kunshan University
M-Tu Dec. 10-11 (Week XIV)
Final paper presentations and discussion
“Saying why it matters”—explaining what’s at stake
HOMEWORK
Finish revising your final drafts of your final papers
Bring both your final draft and your rough draft with my comments to class
Bring your computer so you can fill out course evaluations
W-Th Dec. 5-6 (Week XIII)
Common problems with final paper drafts
Homework
Begin revising final papers (due W-Th Dec. 12-13)
Due next class: 3-4 minute verbal presentation of your argument
M-Tu Dec. 3-4 (Week XIII)
Meet in small groups to go over peer feedback
HOMEWORK
By the end of the day, give me a list of your key “take-home points” from peer feedback
W-Th Nov. 28-29 (Week XII)
Finish in-class argument-building exercise
Intro to peer feedback
HOMEWORK
As soon as possible, give each of your peer reviewers a copy of your final paper rough draft
Read your peers’ papers and fill out peer feedback forms
Read TSIS Chapter 7 (“Saying Why It Matters”)
M-Tu Nov. 26-27 (Week XII)
Speakers and discussion: ideas for final paper
In-class argument-building exercise cont’d
HOMEWORK
Rough draft of final paper due next class
Look over the “Grading” section on Final Paper Guidelines
W-Th Nov. 21-22 (Week XI)
Share responses to open letter
Intro to Sixth Tone and op-ed genre
In-class argument-building exercise
Homework
(Suggested) find and read 2-3 op-eds on Sixth Tone that you find interesting
2-minute statement of the argument you plan to make in your final paper
Write first 1-2 paragraphs of your final paper
M-Tu Nov. 19-20 (Week XI)
Review do’s and don’ts of summarizing and quoting
Reflect on guided imagery exercise
Homework
Read “Speaking, Being, and Becoming” on Two Cents
Be ready to verbally summarize one interesting point
Letter to Austin #6
Writing Exercise #3
W-Th Nov. 14-15 (Week X)
Austin’s “bare bones guide” to building arguments
Go over Dornyei’s argument
Homework
Review TSIS Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Austin’s Rules of Thumb
Presentations
Short Essay #6 (~400 words)
M-Tu Nov. 12-13 (Week X)
Speakers and discussion: MLMT excerpt 3
Reflecting on guided imagery exercises
Using counterarguments
Homework
Review all 3 excepts from MLMT
Outline Dörnyei and Kubanyiova’s argument (counts as Short Essay #5)
Think up a counterargument
W-Th Nov. 7-8 (Week IX)
Speakers and discussion:
MLMT excerpt 2
TSIS Ch. 4
In-class guided imagery exercise
Homework
Read TSIS Chapt. 6
Read MLMT excerpt 3
Letter to Austin #5
Presentations (3 students per section)
M-Tu Nov. 5-6 (Week IX)
Discuss MLMT excerpt 1
Schools of Athens painting: Argumentation and “joining the conversation”
Homework
Finish revising midterm papers
Read TSIS Ch. 4 and MLMT excerpt 2
Presentations (three students per section)
Short exercise with TSIS templates
W-Th Oct. 17-18 (Week VII)
MLMT: The big picture
Homework
Week of Oct. 29: individual conferences
Revise your midterm paper
Begin reading Motivating Learners, Motivating Teachers
M-Tu Oct. 15-16 (Week VII)
Citations and reference lists cont’d
Homework
Preview Motivating Teachers, Motivating Learners
Read classmates’ responses on Two Cents
W-Th Oct 10-11 (Week VI)
Citations and reference lists
Homework
Draft 1 of midterm paper due next class
M-Tu Oct. 8-9 (Week VI)
Motivation theory presentations
Homework
Start working on midterm paper
Print APA sample paper and reference list, bring to class
Send e-copy of SE#4
W-Th, Sept. 26-27 (Week V)
Meet in groups to discuss academic articles
Homework
Prepare motivation theory presentation
Short Essay #4
W-Th, Sept. 19-20 (Week IV)
Choosing and researching a motivation theory
Check-in with groups
Intro to reference lists
Homework
Begin researching motivation theory
Find 3 promising academic articles, write reference list
M-Tu, Sept. 17-18 (Week IV)
Share responses to Mackey
Intro to motivation theory presentations
Writing idiomatically, cont’d
Homework
Letter to Austin #4
Reading motivation theory handout, choose 3
W-Th, Sept. 12-13 (Week III)
Go through “Listening is Believing”
Common problems with Short Essay #2
Strategies for writing more idiomatically
Homework
Read Mackey, “Wanting it Enough”
Short Essay #3
M-Tu, Sept. 10-11 (Week III)
Preparation for social situations workshop
Go over Open Letter #1
Preview “Listening is Believing”
Homework
Skim TSIS Chapters 2 and 3
Reading “Listening is Believing” and “English and Me”
W-Th Sept. 5-6 (Week II)
Plagiarism cont’d
Paraphrasing
Unidiomatic language
Homework
Read and mark up my open letter on Two Cents
Short Essay #2
M-Tu Sept. 3-4 (Week II)
Brainstorm reasons why people learn languages
Intro to River Town
Quoting, paraphrasing, and plagiarism
Homework
Read River Town excerpt
Letter to Austin #2
W-Th, Aug. 29-30 (Week I)
Course Handbook quiz
They Say, I Say intro: Conventional language and summarizing
Homework
Read TSIS Chapter 1
Print River Town excerpt
Short Essay #1
M-Tu, Aug. 27-28 (Week I)
In-class writing: “Good at English”
Course introduction
TED Talk: “English Mania”
Homework
Letter to Austin #1
Read Course Handbook and prepare for quiz
Read TSIS Introduction
Latest from Two Cents:
Students at Duke Kunshan University respond to Austin Woerner’s open letter, “Good at English.”
An open letter to my students at Duke Kunshan University.
What does it mean to you to be “good” at a language?
Course Documents
Readings
They Say, I Say is one of the most widely used "how-to" books about writing used in American college classrooms. It is a required textbook for EAP101 at Duke Kunshan University.
In this article published in the British newspaper The Guardian, linguist Alison Mackey overviews the subject of motivation in language learning.
Rivertown is Peter Hessler's memoir of living and teaching in rural Sichuan province as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1990s. It is one of the most widely read accounts in the English-speaking world of living in China as a foreigner.
Excerpts from Motivating Learners, Motivating Teachers: Building Vision in the Language Classroom, by Zoltan Dornyei and Magdalena Kubanyiova.
A collection of first-person autobiographical narratives written by scholars about the process of language learning.
A short personal essay in which author Yiyun Li describes her childhood in 1980s Beijing and the origins of her desire to study English.
An open letter to my students at Duke Kunshan University.
How does speaking a foreign language affect how you see yourself, and how others see you?