Overview
The Language Centre Academic Reading Group is open to all Language Centre staff, who attend in their own time, with a view to continuing professional development. It has been running for several years, and was originally an initiative of the Queen Mary 'Thinking Writing' team, but has in recent years been run by Language Centre staff themselves.
An academic journal article is selected in various ways: through recommendations, special interests, or, occasionally, relevance to a theme agreed by the group. The aim is to foster regular motivation for reading around our subject, loosely EAP and related topics, and to provide a forum for discussion of topical or significant issues relevant to our teaching or research, and to help us better meet the needs of our students.
The Reading Group sessions are fluid; teaching staff attend if they are interested in the topic or article or when their timetable permits. Consequently, sessions are different each time with some lively debate, and valuable shared insights and shared practice.
There are generally two or three Reading Group sessions per semester, and we like to invite a guest speaker once a year. Attendees read the article proposed prior to the session and formulate some questions they would like to raise with colleagues. These questions provide the starting point for discussions, though often one hour is not quite enough…
If you have any questions about the Reading Group, would like to attend, or to be one of our guest lecturers, or to recommend an article, please contact Sherin White: s.j.white@qmul.ac.uk
Forthcoming Sessions
Details of the next Reading Group session will be added when confirmed.
Previous Sessions (Sessions are listed most recent first.)
Date: Thursday 3rd April, 2014 (Language Centre Professional Development Event) Time: 16.00-17.00 Venue: Arts Two, Room 2.17
Article for discussion: Wingate, U. (2012) 'Argument!' helping students understand what essay writing is about. Journal of English for Academic Purposes (11) 145-154. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.001.
Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jeap
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Date: Monday 10th March, 2014 (Lee Hawkes, Guest Lecturer)Time: 18.00-19.00Venue: Bancroft Building, Room 1.06.
Article for discussion: Hawkes, L. (2013) Why the international student experience matters. International Student Experience Journal, Vol.1, 2. Available free online at: http://isejournal.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/3/1/16311372/article_1_why_the_international_student_experience_matters.pdf.
Journal homepage: http://isejournal.weebly.com/
Date: Tuesday 18th February, 2014Time: 12.00-13.00Venue: Bancroft Building, Room 1.01
Article for discussion: Wingate, U. (2012) Using Academic Literacies and genre-based models for academic writing instruction: A 'literacy' journey. Journal of English for Academic Purposes (11) 26-37. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.006.
Date: Tuesday, 4th FebruaryTime: 15.00-16.00Venue: Queen's Building, The Pantry
Article for discussion: Hyland, K. (2002) Specificity revisited: how far should we go now? English for Specific Purposes, 21 (385-395) Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(01)00028-X.
Journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/esp