Mastering writing skills is an important aspect of productive communication activity. The development of writing skills includes not only familiarity with the structure, but also the development of the language in terms of style, vocabulary, and grammar. Writing is one of the fundamental aspects of communicative activity, however, the training and the process of mastering this skill present a certain challenge for the teacher. In this regard, the use of modern educational technologies greatly facilitates this task. In this article, we will tell you about the most popular educational resources.
List of modern technologies used in teaching writing
Massive open online courses
Such courses are widespread because they have a high degree of adaptability to the needs of students. In addition, the student has free and quick access to media content. These resources are an excellent tool for self-learning. They should also be considered as a way to introduce the best educational practices in educational institutions. Students highly evaluate the results of working with massive open online courses in the learning process.
Coursera
Coursera offers a wide range of courses, including for the development of academic writing skills. The course “Academic English: Writing Specialization” consists of several blocks and includes both basic training (Grammar, Punctuation) and the development of an advanced program (Advanced Writing, Writing a Research Paper). Blocks can be easily integrated into the main educational program. For example, in the framework of the discipline “Practical English: Writing”, you can actively use the first two blocks: “Grammar and Punctuation” and “Getting Started with Essay Writing”. Students can learn the course as homework or at a seminar along with the main course materials.
Online platform
Everyone knows that students often write test papers, essays, term papers, theses, dissertations, etc. If there are difficulties when writing such works, students are usually looking for free essay writer. FastEssay.com is a reliable website that assists students in writing different types of work. After receiving the completed work, students study it in detail, increasing their level of writing skills.
The series of videos by Mary Norris
In addition to educational platforms, there are training programs based on well-known media, news resources useful in teaching writing, mobile applications that enable you to edit texts, as well as special social networks focused on learning foreign languages.
The series of videos by Mary Norris, the corrector for The New Yorker since 1978, also known as Comma Queen, is of particular interest. She shoots short videos lasting 2-3 minutes, where she talks fascinatingly about punctuation rules (for example, the Oxford comma), and also explains complex lexical and grammatical cases (the choice between ensure and insure, that and which, massive and awesome; the use of adverb and infinitive; the ability to end a sentence with a preposition). Mary Norris comments on controversial cases, reinforcing the theory with examples from her own professional practice.
This format allows you to simultaneously develop writing and listening skills. The author of the videos tries to present serious material in an interesting and humorous way, so the learning process occurs in the edutainment format. For example, the name of one of the videos is “Excuse me! Your participle is dangling”. Another advantage of this resource is that these articles are filled with valuable linguistic and regional knowledge.
News in levels
News in Levels is another recourse that helps to actualize the writing skills. Current news is distributed by difficulty level. The student is invited to develop listening and reading skills, in addition, any news can be used as a reference point for written assignments. The site prepares students for working with primary sources, and can also be useful in preparing for abstracting.
Business writing blog
Business writing blog offers tests that measure your knowledge of the basic rules of formal writing. The resource gives advice on business correspondence, introduces etiquette rules, offers checklists, gives examples of differences between the American and British traditions in the framework of business correspondence, and gives instructions on editing your own text with examples. All materials can be used both for independent study and involved in classroom classes.
Thus, the development of technology and the Internet offers great opportunities for independent writing practice.
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