Towards teaching undergraduate-level disciplinary writing in English majors: A genre-based approach

Abstract

Teaching students disciplinary writing skills is important in supporting them to develop a disciplinary identity, to become a member of their scientific communities, and to be academically and professionally more successful. Disciplinary writing practices are often implemented at the graduate level where students are familiarized with the processes of creating knowledge and the forms of written products within their disciplines. However, at the undergraduate level, disciplinary writing instruction is not a common practice in most higher education institutions in Turkey. This study addresses disciplinary writing needs of junior-level students in English Language and Literature (ELL) and English Language Teaching (ELT) and seeks to contribute to our understanding of how we can assist students' disciplinary writing skills at an early stage in their undergraduate studies. It describes an undergraduate-level research-informed and genre-based disciplinary writing course for the ELL and ELT disciplines. The course aims to equip students with disciplinary knowledge and writing skills in line with the requirements of their departmental writing tasks. The course is described with a focus on learning objectives, teaching units, weekly structure, sample teaching materials and activities, and assessment of students' written work. The challenges associated with developing and teaching this course are addressed, and some considerations that teachers must think about when implementing and evaluating the course are given.