Graduating on the Installment Plan

I. Warm Up (5 Minutes)
Thought Experiment with Momotaro

II. Freewrite  (15 Minutes)

1. What responsibilities does a language instructor have to her/his students? What skills do you feel are most necessary for composition instructors to pass on to her/his students?
2. Based on the assigned readings, what constitutes literacy in the composition classroom?
3. What role should technology play (if any) in the L2 composition classroom?

III. Discussion (20 Minutes)

1. What are the major arguments of the New London Group?
2. Define multiliteracies. What are the potential benefits of a multiliteracies approach to pedagogy? What are the potential drawbacks?
3. Explain the concept of “Design” as defined by the New London Group. What are the authors seeking to remediate by incorporating this definition of Design into literacy pedagogy?
4. What connections do you see between Oxford’s study on technology-enhanced language learning and the New London Group’s multiliteracies pedagogy? What are the potential points of conflict?
5. What does Oxford’s study reveal about the use of technology in L2 composition classrooms?
6. Consider Waters’ chronicle of the rise of popular language learning media. How do these media fit in with the New London Group’s call for greater access to the “evolving language of work, power, and community?”

IV. Group Work (30 Minutes)

Both the New London Group and Oxford note the potential for multimodal technologies to enhance student writing and instruction. In groups of two, deliberate and respond to the following development:

• As the new director of undergraduate composition at a mid-Atlantic university, you are tasked with designing a composition course for distance-education English students at a major Korean university.
• You have been provided with a Sample-Syllabus for a traditional ENGL 110 course; draw upon course readings (especially the New London Group) to modify course content to accommodate the linguistic, professional, and technological needs of the students.

Being mindful of both instructor and student needs, update the assignments, grading, and language of the syllabus as necessary. Afterward, provide a summative statement that explains your application of multiliteracies pedagody and technology to meet the requirements of your L2 composition course.

When finished, post your updated syllabi and accompanying statements to the course open forum, and get fired up for some discussin’.