Degree Name

MA in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

First Advisor

Ryland White

Abstract

This capstone paper discusses a learning process called “writeshop,” and the role played by language use in a writeshop I co-facilitated in November 2013 in South Africa. A writeshop is a workshop to collectively create a written product for publication. This paper starts with a description of my experience in co-designing and co-facilitating a writeshop as part of my practicum, followed by a reflection on the process and the different roles I played, from a trainer lens. The third part of this capstone paper presents an analysis, based on a survey and individual interviews conducted with the writeshop participants, of the role played by language use and language choice in this specific writeshop process. This capstone paper has two main foci: the description and reflection on my participation as co-designer, co-facilitator and co-writer in the writeshop during my practicum, and the analysis of the language element in this process, based on the perception of the participants of the writeshop. It was structured in a way to reflect the Experiential Learning cycle created by David Kolb (1984): starting with the Concrete Experience (the description of my experience in the BFG4 writeshop); then going into Reflective Observation (the reflection on such experience); then into Abstract Conceptualization (data collection and analysis, where generalizations are be made); and closing with Active Experimentation (suggestions on how to apply the learning in future writeshops). This research aims at being a contribution to the training field on writeshop design and delivery, and the issue of language use in trainings with multilingual groups.

Key words: Writeshop, language use, training, multilingual groups

Disciplines

Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching | Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Methods

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