Using Hirvela’s Reading/Writing Connections as a Tool for the Evaluation of Academic Writing Courses

This article reports on a study aimed at the implementation of a tool for the evaluation of academic writing courses for second language writers (L2 writers). Specifically, the main principles of the text Connecting Reading and Writing in Second Language Instruction (Hirvela, 2016) are implemented in the evaluation of a previously designed academic writing course in the English Language Center (ELC) of Shantou University (STU), a key provincial university located in Guangdong Province, China. The study is first contextualized within the larger framework of course evaluation and is placed within the realm of narrow, formative assessments. Afterwards, the core principles of Hirvela’s work are identified. These principles are applied in step-by-step fashion to the chosen academic writing course, with successes and lack of successes of the course being acknowledged. The paper then concludes by providing an overall picture of the usefulness of Hirvela’s principles in evaluating academic writing courses. The significance of institutional and cultural environments is emphasized.