Genre-based approach to enhancing secondary students' English writing ability in science subjects
Materials
Week 1: What is scientific research?
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Consider what “scientific research” means, by exploring some key words and ideas
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Introduce the concept of ‘scientific method’ and considers the different steps in doing scientific research
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Consider how scientific English texts vary according to who is writing them, who is reading them, and what their purposes are
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 2 & 3: Getting started
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Explore the topic by answering some questions
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Be guided through the steps you should take to start doing the research.
Multitasking
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Investigating people’s ability to multitask
Laughter and mood
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Investigating the relationship between laughter and mood
The effects of music
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Investigating ways in which people are affected by music
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
Week 4: Reporting research
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look at what sections reports usually contain, in what sequence (order) the sections occur and some of the language you might find in different sections
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
Answer to task 3
PowerPoint
Week 5: Exploring introductions
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Explore the introduction sections of two research reports written by students in Hong Kong
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Identify six elements which often occur in such introductions
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Explore some features of vocabulary and grammar typically used in introductions
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 6: Drafting your introduction
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Put into a logical order notes from one of the introductions ( on waste disposal) and then to re-write part of or the whole of the introduction from the notes
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Re-write from notes the part of the second introduction (on texting) that reports previous research
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 7: Explaining how the research was carried out
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Examine a sample methods sections from a research report written by university students
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Write a methods section based upon a set of instructions for carrying out a research project
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 8: Drafting your methods section
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Write the first draft of your methods section
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Share your draft with your classmates and get comments from them
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 9: Presenting and describing results
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look at ways of displaying and describing results using two different kinds of graphs
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Practice describing some results yourself
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 10: Drafting your results section
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Write the first draft of your results section
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Share your draft with your classmates and get comments from them
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 11: Discussions and conclusions
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look at ways of displaying and describing results using two different kinds of graphs
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Practice describing some results yourself
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Week 12: Preparing the whole report
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Write the first draft of your discussion and conclusion sections
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Share your draft with your classmates and get comments from them
Students' Handouts
Teachers' Notes
PowerPoint
Teaching Manual
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This manual contains teachers’ notes, students’ handouts, and PowerPoints.
Teaching Manual
Teaching Tips
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This teaching tips for teaching scientific writing in English are organized into three categories: fostering the learning environment, integrating English learning in science classrooms, and overcoming English scientific report writing challenges.
Teaching Tips
QR Codes & Descriptions of Tutorials
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This document includes QR codes and descriptions for the 12 tutorials.
QR Codes &
Descriptions
Videos mentioned in 'QR codes & Description of Tutorials ' can also be found via the following link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1svyOYOlNHp3UXpU3dod1MoPNs0B_0ubW?usp=sharing
Final Reports
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The reports describe the justifications for the project and issues encountered in science writing in Hong Kong schools, the project’s aims and procedures, the outcomes of the project’s assessment measures, and policy implications.
Final Report (short version)
Final Report (long version)
Workshop Video
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Dr Jack Pun and his team conducted a workshop to the participating schools, the teachers, and other experts on genre-based pedagogy for science writing.