Event

CANCELLED: TUJ Distinguished Lecturer Series: Effective Techniques for Teaching and Learning L2 Writing

Saturday, March 14th, 2020, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Speaker: Eli Hinkel (Seattle Pacific University, U. S. A.)

This event has been canceled, pursuant to the strong recommendations by governmental authorities to reduce the number of public gatherings.

L2 writing instruction has the goal of developing learners' skills directly relevant to producing written text. These skills necessarily include grammar and vocabulary. For learners, becoming fluent and proficient in using vocabulary and grammar takes a great deal of time and work simply because the English grammar system is complex, and the number of words to be learned, retained, and practiced is enormous.

There are, however, effective strategies that learners and teachers can use to make the learning process more efficient. Language analyses demonstrate unambiguously that recurrent multiword units and prefabricated expressions are extremely common in both speech and writing. Efficient learning strategies take advantage of this characteristic of English. Teaching grammar for writing cannot take place in isolation from the lexical properties of text and recurrent multiword phrases (Hinkel, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020). In language uses of any kind, many words are combined in various patterns to create new meanings that cannot be predicted from the meaning of their component parts. Lexical phrases can be rigid and inflexible in their forms, or flexible with variable components. Examples of recurrent phrases are myriad: a recent/new development, a wide/broad range, based on/on the basis of, give an example, give credit, give rise to, in general, in sum, make a decision, make a point, on the one hand, on the other hand, take into account.

This seminar offers highly practical suggestions for teaching vocabulary, grammar, and phrasal constructions that occur frequently in written texts. These suggestions target specific areas of L2 writing and maximize language gains by employing a few shortcuts. By focusing on teaching vocabulary and phrases, as well as adding to the students' range of frequent grammar constructions, teachers can help students L2 writers develop their productive skills.

Organization: Temple University Japan

Cost: free

Venue: TUJ Tokyo Campus 1-14-29 Taishido, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan 154-0004 (map)

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

Contact Temple University Japan

Temple University Japan

Work phone: 03-5441-9800