Ready to TELL VOL.1 ACT.2 2022

Students will be able to:

• Understand basic conventions of academic register
• Identify and fix problems with academic register in writing
• Use an online writing correction tool (Marking Mate) and understand the advantages and disadvantages of such tools

Teachers should have access to and be familiar with Marking Mate via:

• • http://writingtools.xjtlu.edu.cn:8080/mm/markingmate.html
    OR
  • http://www.readingandwritingtools.com/mm/markingmate.html (for users outside China)

• Prepare a short text that breaks a number of standard rules of academic register. This text should be provided to students electronically so that they can later copy and paste it into Marking Mate. However, you may want to first distribute hard copies of the text for the initial discussion and analysis.  You may want to also have a “corrected” version of the text on hand for later comparison.  Sample non-academic and academic texts are provided in the ”Files to download" section.
• Prepare a list of common academic register conventions as a handout (electronic is fine). An example of this is in the ”Files to download" section.
• Students should bring a piece of writing they have been working on (preferably already typed on the computer).

Hardware requirements:

• Teacher: computer; projector (for demoing Marking Mate)
• Students: laptop/tablet + internet connection

Step 1: Introduce the idea of formality and academic register in writing. However, at this stage it is not necessary to go through all the conventions in detail.

Step 2: Put students in groups of 2 – 3 and distribute the hard copies of the non-academic text.  (Alternatively, use the electronic version, but a hard copy may be easier for group annotation at this stage.)

Step 3: In groups, students should read the text and underline instances of what they consider to be informal or non-academic registers. Then, they should discuss how they would edit the text to make it more academic.

Step 4: Now groups should use the electronic version of the text. Instruct groups to open Marking Mate and copy/paste the text into the Marking Mate box (Marking Mate Step 1). Ask them to adjust the settings in Marking Mate Step 2 and uncheck all settings that are NOT in the Academic Style section so that you can focus exclusively on register problems. Then they should click the button in Marking Mate Step 3 to check the text.

Step 5: Students compare the results from Marking Mate with their own initial analysis. Show students that they can use the mouse to hover over a red-highlighted word to find out why it is considered non-academic along with suggestions on how to change it. They can also click the word to get more explanation and advice on a separate page. Allow students to ask questions and/or ask students what were some words and phrases that Marking Mate highlighted that they had not identified in the initial analysis. 

Step 6: Students now brainstorm and write a list of academic register conventions based on what has been highlighted in Marking Mate. This could be done in groups or as a whole class.

Step 7: Distribute the list of standard academic register conventions and allow students time to read it and compare with their own list.

Step 8: Students now re-write the non-academic text by applying the advice from Marking Mate and the list of rules. Afterwards, students can be given the “corrected” version of the text for comparison.

Step 9: Students check a piece of their own writing for academic register problems. First, they should apply the rules themselves and then check with Marking Mate. Groups can discuss how to fix the problems that were identified and then make corrections.

Step 10: Lead a discussion about proofing tools that students regularly use, and discuss the pros/cons (for example, see caveats below).  You may want to also point out additional features of Marking Mate such as the ability to check spelling, grammar, and highlight repeated words. 

Writing correction tools, such as Marking Mate, the grammar checker in MS Word, and Grammarly, are not 100% accurate:  they may at times miss errors, misidentify a problem, or give poor or faulty advice. These tools are often designed with native English speakers in mind and may miss common mistakes made by English learners. Students should use these tools with caution. Having said all that, Marking Mate was designed with English learners in mind (specifically, Chinese university students) and the software is programmed to identify common register problems that the designers (two EAP teachers) had often seen in their own students’ work.

To demonstrate the above problem, in Step 10 above you could point out some informal words in the sample text that Marking Mate missed.  For instance, in the sample text above, Marking Mate does not highlight “Well,” in the third sentence.

Students should also be advised that academic register conventions are to some extent subjective; different teachers and departments may have different ideas about what language is considered appropriate for academic writing and conventions may vary according to the task. In the Settings in Marking Mate, the user could adjust the settings to conform to the conventions appropriate to the writing task. For example, personal pronouns may be accepted in some tasks so that box could be unchecked in the settings.