From 4 July to 16 July 2022, Academic Communication and Research Methodology, an online course project co-sponsored by University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) and School of Public Affairs of Zhejiang University, was successfully carried out. Fourteen students from different majors in Zhejiang University participated in the course. Ut-Austin, the flagship of University of Texas, is one of the prominent world-class public research universities as well as one of the first eight prestigious schools enjoying the reputation “Public Ivy League School” in the US. University of Texas at Austin is a world-renowned school known for its excellent international education, which can be shown in its perfect standards in teaching and research, particularly in the curriculum and teaching practices of English language teaching. The English Language Center (ELC) of this university has offered courses and programs since the 1960s and online exchanging courses have been available since March 2020.
The program aims to improve English academic writing skills. During this class, students will develop skills in areas such as summarizing and paraphrasing, describing visuals and writing data commentary and explaining problems and solutions. In addition, students will receive accordingly detailed feedback from teachers and other classmates, and also students will be cultivated the habit of self-revision to produce more logical and coherent writings.
This program consists of two main courses: Academic Communication and Research Methodology. In Academic Communication course, under the guidance of tutor Emily Spurgeon, students will have a better command of the writing process from the initial rough draft to the final draft. In Research Methods portion of this class, students will develop essential critical reading skills necessary for reading and writing research papers at the graduate level through the following learning goals such as working with sources (paraphrasing, quoting, and citing), research methodologies (quantitative & qualitative), strategies for presenting data and commenting on visuals and techniques for communicating research. In the two-week course, we students learned a lot with the help of two teachers. Also, what two teachers prepared for and the way they teach left a profound impression on us. The management of course syllables and the atmosphere create a sound learning environment with a sense of engagement.
This summer program by University of Texas at Austin has provided students from all majors with detailed inspiration on English academic writing, and has improved students' writing skills through practice. It not only brings students more knowledge of academic writing, but also enhances the communication between teachers and students during the course.
