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PDW English Writing for German Native Speakers (# 540), Sunday 1 August 10:30–12:00 EDT

  • 1.  PDW English Writing for German Native Speakers (# 540), Sunday 1 August 10:30–12:00 EDT

    Posted 07-26-2021 17:37

    Are you a German native speaker? If so, this PDW may be for you:

    English Writing for German Native Speakers (# 540), Sunday 1 August 10:30–12:00 EDT

    Inevitably, non-native speakers of English face additional challenges in the writing and review process compared with native speakers of English. Such challenges include difficulties in adhering to the organizational, grammatical, semantic, and punctuation conventions of the English language and not being able to communicate complex thoughts clearly to reviewers and editors. In particular, German native speakers who write in English may mistakenly follow conventions of German writing that can adversely affect grammatical, semantic, stylistic, and punctuation aspects. This workshop is designed for German native speakers who want to improve their English writing skills through techniques they can later apply independently. In interactive exercises that take advantage of the chat, polling and breakout room functions of the online meeting platform Zoom and the collaboration capabilities of Google docs, participants will practice revision techniques that target German language patterns transferred into English. At the end of this workshop, participants will be able not only to preempt typical mistakes but also to write effective English sentences and, by extension, purposeful paragraphs and convincing manuscripts that meet the standards of AOM publications. 

    Agenda 

    • Welcome and introduction. (5 min)
    • Interactive presentation of the macro and micro concerns of writing for publication in English, with emphasis on Subject-Verb-Object (S-V-O) syntax as tool to improve clarity and idiomatic flow. (15 min)
    • Introduction of revision techniques, tailored to identify weaknesses German native speakers may have. Participants will practice the techniques in breakout rooms and individually on their own sample texts. (55 min)
    • Summary and brief Q&A. (10 min)
    • Conclusion. (5 min)

    We ask participants to bring a 2–3 page electronic document of their own academic writing that has not been edited by someone else and from which they can share select paragraphs in the breakout rooms.

    After the workshop, we invite participants to revise up to two pages of text using the techniques taught in this workshop and to send them to the speaker for comment. 

    Best regards,

    Markus Vodosek (mavodo@iu.edu) and Mary Craig (englishforimpact@gmail.com)

     



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    Markus Vodosek
    Clinical Professor
    Indiana University
    Bloomington IN
    +1 (812) 855-9727
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