Visual Writing

Product Description Considering the fact that the academic essay continues to be widely used as an assessment tool within education, there is a need for students to develop their skills in this area. However, it is often the case that students perceive instruction in academic writing, if it is offered at all, as boring. This book addresses these two issues. First, the book can be used by students themselves, even in the absence of academic writing classes, as a self-help guide, from which they can develop their knowledge of academic writing and subsequent proficiency. Second, by discussing the components of academic writing in terms - such as film - which are familiar to today's generation, students are enabled to relate to the material better and see what might have been perceived as dull from a brand new perspective. Visual learners in particular will enjoy the analogous link between films and essays and arguably, students today are more visually literate than previous generations, being exposed to visuals on a daily basis such as text message iconography, computer games and the Internet. The visual instruction provided in turn helps to facilitate mental visuals in students' minds from which their knowledge of essay writing can start to develop. About the Author Alex Baratta is the director for the Language, Literacy and Communication programme within the School of Education at the University of Manchester. His teaching and research background lies within academic writing, EFL and linguistics and he has taught in South Korea, the USA and currently in the UK. He has had articles published in several academic journals which focus on academic writing from a variety of perspectives, such as writer stance, writing development, discipline-specific writing and visual pedagogy, the latter focus being the impetus for this book.