Introducing the FUS Faculty: Tracie Mac Kenzie

CO-Director of ALP (Academic Literacies Program)

M.A. Monterey Institute of International Studies
B.A. University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Office: Villa, Kaletsch Campus, Office 7
Phone: +41 91 985 22 98
Email: tmackenzie@fus.edu

Tracie Mac Kenzie teaches courses in academic writing, skills development for academic success and sociolinguistics. She coordinates the preparatory courses in the Academic Literacies Program and is actively involved in identifying student needs and tracking student progress in their writing development. Formerly the English Language Coordinator for the Foreign Language Modules in the faculty of Public Relations and Communications at IULM University, Milan, she has lectured at both the undergraduate and the graduate programs at IULM and Bocconi Universities in Milan and has taught language and test preparation at the Politecnico of Milan, Mills College (USA) and the University of California, Berkeley (USA). She also taught Italian at the Monterey Peninsula College (USA). Her areas of interest center on pedagogy and learner, in particular, learner training and learner autonomy, skills development and sociolinguistics.

2024-2025 Courses

WTG 124	Discovering Academic Literacies	FALL 2024
WTG 124 introduces students to the literacies necessary for successful navigation of university studies. This course helps students develop strategies to become more proficient in their comprehension and production of texts – both written and oral. It increases capacity to take in and retain the content of a text by teaching students to analyze and prioritize content and structure, apply effective strategies for clarification and analysis of lexis, recognize specific text and assignment requirements, and adjust their approach to a text accordingly. The course also focuses on furthering understanding and development of the essential components and expectations of academic writing, with particular attention given to awareness and development of academic writing structures, in order to make students more confident in their approach to academic writing. Students who successfully complete WTG 124 (i.e. with a minimum final grade of C) must take WTG 130 the following semester.
WTG 130	Academic Writing: Entering the Conversation	FALL 2024
This course provides students with a bridge to university-level academic writing. It is designed to help students further develop their critical writing skills. It looks at best practices for research and use of information, including evaluation and effective incorporation of outside sources through paraphrase, summary and correct citation formats, and addresses the development of structure and expression in academic writing and techniques for effectively sharing information in both written and oral forms. Upon successful completion of WTG 130 (i.e. with a minimum final grade of C) the student must take WTG 150 in the following semester.
WTG 150	Academic Writing: Crossing Borders	FALL 2024
Designed as a discussion/workshop seminar, this writing course develops students’ awareness of scholarly discourse and their participation in it: what makes academic discourse different from other kinds of writing, how different disciplines approach analysis and evidence, and what counts as effective communication within scholarly communities. Through the study of borders -- what they are, how they shape culture, politics and society, and why they change -- the course helps students develop academic communication strategies that are applicable across the curriculum at Franklin. The main focus of the course is to help students develop strategies for joining the academic conversation, covering skills such as close reading and responding to texts; generating, supporting and sharing ideas in both oral and written form; and scholarly researching. Drawing from a wide selection of texts and media about cross-border and cross cultural practices, which has recently garnered much attention among scholars and speaks to the Franklin mission, students will explore various academic responses to the phenomenon of border crossing, concluding with a research-based final project and defense. Succesful completion of WTG 150 requires a minimum final grade of C. (This writing-intensive course counts towards the Academic Writing core requirement.)
WTG 130	Academic Writing: Entering the Conversation	SPRING 2025
This course provides students with a bridge to university-level academic writing. It is designed to help students further develop their critical writing skills. It looks at best practices for research and use of information, including evaluation and effective incorporation of outside sources through paraphrase, summary and correct citation formats, and addresses the development of structure and expression in academic writing and techniques for effectively sharing information in both written and oral forms. Upon successful completion of WTG 130 (i.e. with a minimum final grade of C) the student must take WTG 150 in the following semester.
WTG 150	Academic Writing: Crossing Borders	SPRING 2025
Designed as a discussion/workshop seminar, this writing course develops students’ awareness of scholarly discourse and their participation in it: what makes academic discourse different from other kinds of writing, how different disciplines approach analysis and evidence, and what counts as effective communication within scholarly communities. Through the study of borders -- what they are, how they shape culture, politics and society, and why they change -- the course helps students develop academic communication strategies that are applicable across the curriculum at Franklin. The main focus of the course is to help students develop strategies for joining the academic conversation, covering skills such as close reading and responding to texts; generating, supporting and sharing ideas in both oral and written form; and scholarly researching. Drawing from a wide selection of texts and media about cross-border and cross cultural practices, which has recently garnered much attention among scholars and speaks to the Franklin mission, students will explore various academic responses to the phenomenon of border crossing, concluding with a research-based final project and defense. Succesful completion of WTG 150 requires a minimum final grade of C. (This writing-intensive course counts towards the Academic Writing core requirement.)

Recent conference presentations:

Dawson C., Dawson I. & Mac Kenzie T. 2018. "Learner Training: The road to collective autonomy?" Presented at English for Specific Purposes: A Multidimensional Challenge. Vienna, Austria.

Dawson I., Mac Kenzie T. & Dawson C., 2017. "Life in the EAP Lane: Student Perceptions of the Effectiveness of EAP." Presented at BALEAP PIM. Edinburgh, UK.