This doctoral seminar course is designed to introduce PHD students to various types of research in the fields of applied linguistics and the making and presentation of scholarly works through reading, analyzing, and critiquing published research and writings of their own. As an advanced research writing course, one key component of the course will be on the construction, deconstruction, and evaluation of academic genres of writing, and the construction, negotiation, and co-construction of academic discourse and scholarly identity in the publication process.
The course will hence foreground the English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP) research and the need for students to develop a principled and critical way of evaluating and developing research articles. Meanwhile, it will also require students to reflect on how the understandings and skills they gain from this course can be deployed in their own research and writing. A dissertation proposal draft or a working paper intended for an English academic journal is expected at the end of the class.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Specifically, by the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding and skills in the analysis, evaluation and interpretation of specific forms of research writing;
- Show critical awareness of various research design and methodological approaches, considering issues of reliability, validity, and generalizability.
- Practice the intellectual discipline and critical skills necessary for scholarly work in the field of applied linguistics: objectivity, respect for and fidelity to sources, awareness of and sensitivity to ethical issues, collegiality and critical thinking;
- Develop and use appropriate research writing skills, including, but not limited to: concise summaries and annotations, logical presentation of arguments, appropriate construction of academic voice/identity, and proper citation and documentation of literature.
- Submit a draft of their dissertation proposal based on a substantial and critical review of research literature on a topic of their own choice, OR alternatively, submit a working paper intended for publication in an English academic journal in their field.
- Teacher: czhao, Zhao Guanfang