Tag Archives: academic writing

December Holidays: 5 Writing Activities

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, Ōmisoka, New Year’s Eve…with abundant holidays and traditions involving food, gifts, and socialization, December offers teachers many opportunities to engage students in fun and reflective writing activities. As I wrote last month in my November post, … Continue reading

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6 Ways to Build Fluency in Second Language Writing

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

What Is Fluency in Writing? When asked what their goal is in learning a language, many learners say they want to be fluent in both speaking and writing. In everyday discussions, we often think of fluency as a reflection of … Continue reading

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Teaching Workplace Writing

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

Much of our discussions of writing instruction revolves around academic writing and preparing students for their future studies, from high school to university to graduate school. But few of our students plan to become professors, so it’s important for writing … Continue reading

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Writing-Focused Sessions at TESOL 2020

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

March means it’s almost time for the annual TESOL Convention, which this year will take place in vibrant Denver, Colorado. If you are attending the Convention, you have myriad opportunities to participate in workshops and listen to speakers talking about … Continue reading

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Researching Second Language Writing

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

As writing teachers, we read research other people have conducted. During our studies, professors assigned us journal articles and books describing observations of classrooms, analyses of students’ written texts, and interviews with teachers about their work. If you are like … Continue reading

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Developing Reflective Writing With L2 Learners

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

As we enter a new year, many people look back over the previous year and set goals for the coming one. This process is called reflection and is a deeply human trait—but how we express our thoughts may be different … Continue reading

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Professional Written Communication: Positioning Yourself for Maximum Effect

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

This blog post is a guest post by Gerriet Janssen, associate professor at Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Last year, when I was a Fulbright Scholar in Chile, I visited Colombia and facilitated several workshops on academic writing for … Continue reading

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Collect, Select, Reflect: Portfolios for L2 Writing Assessment

Betsy Gilliland
Betsy Gilliland

Portfolios for assessing students’ writing have been around a long time, but I believe it’s worth another visit, particularly given the tools we now have available online for collecting and sharing our work. What Is a Portfolio? A portfolio is … Continue reading

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