(1483) ENHANCING STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS AT POSTGRADUATE LEVEL: AN ACTIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN AN INTERCULTURAL CONTEXT

摘要

The paper presents a teaching and learning experience aimed at improving students’ academic writing skills at post-graduate level. The activity was carried out in the course “Communication for Peace” of the Master in International Studies in Peace, Conflict and Development at the University Jaume I (Castellon, Spain). The paper describes the experience of introducing new active methodologies to enhance learning practices to help students improve their academic writing. It is organized in the following sections. First, we will introduce the context of the course within its post-graduate program and the peculiarities of the international and interdisciplinary students’ background. Second, we will review the main pedagogical approaches based on active learning methodologies that sustain the introduction of a workshop on academic writing. Third, we will describe the structure and activities of the theoretical-practical workshop with its main parts: preparatory assignment, professor’s explanation, students’ personal work and professor’s individual tutoring, students peer review and mutual support, and final reflection on the learning process. Finally, we will discuss the experience assessing both positive outcomes and challenges encountered, also taking into account students’ feedback and the implementation of the workshop in the last two years.