This paper presents a case study of a course on academic writing for postgraduate studies within a collaborative and interactive information and communication technologies (ICT) based language-learning setting. It describes the structure of an academic writing course for PhD students, focusing on three ICTenhanced course activities: collaborative tasks undertaken within a discussion forum, online peer reviews, and videoconferencing with invited specialists. Samples of the course participants' work and results of their feedback are presented. Results indicate that while ICT-enhanced tools are considered useful by both course participants and teachers, there continues to be a need for research regarding the benefits of ICT-enhanced methods when they are combined with a traditional approach to teaching and learning.
This chapter introduces a case study on the use of video summaries in a university setting. It presents a practical insight into a simple, yet complex and versatile activity that aims at improving the language and communication skills of students in authentic intercultural academic situations. This activity has been developed, implemented and used in language courses at Masaryk University (MU), Brno, Czech Republic, and Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Bahía Blanca, Argentina, since February 2014. Students undertaking language courses at MU and UNS write texts and record video summaries outside of class. They then reflect and discuss linguistic, cultural and organisational topics in class or online discussion forums. The activity consists of a set of interconnected tasks that improve students' understanding of similarities and differences between written and spoken styles, encourage their learning autonomy and enhance the authenticity of their language development.
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