Sample records for l2 academic writing

  1. Calibrating Genre: Metacognitive Judgments and Rhetorical Effectiveness in Academic Writing by L2 Graduate Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Negretti, Raffaella

    2017-01-01

    Several strands of applied linguistic research have emphasized the importance of genre awareness for academic writing students. Although metacognitive behaviors have been linked to L2 writing proficiency and performance, there is still the need for an account of how and why different metacognitive behaviors can help L2 academic writers to apply…

  2. Diction and Expression in Error Analysis Can Enhance Academic Writing of L2 University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sajid, Muhammad

    2016-01-01

    Without proper linguistic competence in English language, academic writing is one of the most challenging tasks, especially, in various genre specific disciplines by L2 novice writers. This paper examines the role of diction and expression through error analysis in English language of L2 novice writers' academic writing in interdisciplinary texts…

  3. Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading.

    PubMed

    Munoz-Luna, Rosa

    2015-01-01

    Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2) academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others) with students' writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergraduates of English Studies; they are in their fourth year, so they are expected to be proficient in English academic writing but their written production quality varies considerably. Results are analysed following a mixed methodology by which metalinguistic items are statistically measured, and then contrasted with semi-structured interview results; SPSS and NVivo provide quantitative and qualitative outcomes, respectively. The analyses reveal that undergraduate students who produce complex sentences and more coherent texts employ a wider range of writing strategies both prior and while writing, being able to (un)consciously structure and design their texts more successfully. These high-scoring students make more proficient use of complex transition markers for coherence and frame markers for textual cohesion; their commonly used (pre-)writing strategies are drafting, outlining, and proofreading.

  4. Main Ingredients for Success in L2 Academic Writing: Outlining, Drafting and Proofreading

    PubMed Central

    Munoz-Luna, Rosa

    2015-01-01

    Spanish undergraduates of English Studies are required to submit their essays in academic English, a genre which most of them are not acquainted with. This paper aims to explore the extralinguistic side of second language (L2) academic writing, more specifically, the combination of metalinguistic items (e.g. transition and frame markers, among others) with students’ writing strategies when composing an academic text in L2 English. The research sample conveys a group of 200 Spanish undergraduates of English Studies; they are in their fourth year, so they are expected to be proficient in English academic writing but their written production quality varies considerably. Results are analysed following a mixed methodology by which metalinguistic items are statistically measured, and then contrasted with semi-structured interview results; SPSS and NVivo provide quantitative and qualitative outcomes, respectively. The analyses reveal that undergraduate students who produce complex sentences and more coherent texts employ a wider range of writing strategies both prior and while writing, being able to (un)consciously structure and design their texts more successfully. These high-scoring students make more proficient use of complex transition markers for coherence and frame markers for textual cohesion; their commonly used (pre-)writing strategies are drafting, outlining, and proofreading. PMID:26046836

  5. Assessing and Improving L2 Graduate Students' Popular Science and Academic Writing in an Academic Writing Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rakedzon, Tzipora; Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

    2017-01-01

    This paper reports a study using a quasi-experimental design to examine whether an academic writing course in English can improve graduate students' academic and popular science writing skills. To address this issue, we designed pre- and post-assessment tasks, an intervention assessment task and a scoring rubric. The pre- and post-assessment tasks…

  6. The Impact of Blended e-Learning on Undergraduate Academic Essay Writing in English (L2)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferriman, Nicholas

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes a quasi-experimental study into the impact of a blended e-learning environment on academic writing assignments in English (L2) at a Thai international college. An experimental group of 15 students used an on-line bulletin board, as well as face-to-face (F2F) communication in class, to share information for essay topics they…

  7. Hedging, Inflating, and Persuading in L2 Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hinkel, Eli

    2005-01-01

    This study analyzes the types and frequencies of hedges and intensifiers employed in NS and NNS academic essays included in a corpus of L1 and L2 student academic texts (745 essays/220,747 words). The overarching goal of this investigation is to focus on these lexical and syntactic features of written discourse because they effectively lend…

  8. Corpus-Supported Academic Writing: How Can Technology Help?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chitez, Madalina; Rapp, Christian; Kruse, Otto

    2015-01-01

    Phraseology has long been used in L2 teaching of academic writing, and corpus linguistics has played a major role in the compilation and assessment of academic phrases. However, there are only a few interactive academic writing tools in which corpus methodology is implemented in a real-time design to support formulation processes. In this paper,…

  9. Fostering Academic Vocabulary Use in Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brun-Mercer, Nicole; Zimmerman, Cheryl Boyd

    2015-01-01

    Though research has established a relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic success and identified features to guide the L2 word learner through academic tasks (see Nation, 2013), less is known regarding student perceptions of academic vocabulary and the conscious decision-making process of these learners while they are writing. In…

  10. The Use of Paraphrase in Summary Writing: A Comparison of L1 and L2 Writers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keck, Casey

    2006-01-01

    Paraphrasing is considered by many to be an important skill for academic writing, and some have argued that the teaching of paraphrasing might help students avoid copying from source texts. Few studies, however, have investigated the ways in which both L1 and L2 academic writers already use paraphrasing as a textual borrowing strategy when…

  11. Academic writing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eremina, Svetlana V.

    2003-10-01

    The series of workshops on academic writing have been developed by academic writing instructors from Language Teaching Centre, Central European University and presented at the Samara Academic Writing Workshops in November 2001. This paper presents only the part dealing with strucutre of an argumentative essay.

  12. Do L2 Writing Courses Affect the Improvement of L1 Writing Skills via Skills Transfer from L2 to L1?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gonca, Altmisdort

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship of second language (L2) writing skills proficiency with the first language (L1) writing skills, in light of the language transfer. The study aims to analyze the positive effects of L2 writing proficiency on L1 writing proficiency. Forty native Turkish-speaking university students participated in the study.…

  13. Writing by Academics: A Transactional and Systems Approach to Academic Writing Behaviours

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kempenaar, Larissa Elisabeth; Murray, Rowena

    2016-01-01

    The literature on academic writing in higher education contains a wealth of research and theory on students' writing, but much less on academics' writing. In performative higher education cultures, discussions of academics' writing mainly concern outputs, rather than the process of producing them. This key component of academic work remains…

  14. Teaching Google Search Techniques in an L2 Academic Writing Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Han, Sumi; Shin, Jeong-Ah

    2017-01-01

    This mixed-method study examines the effectiveness of teaching Google search techniques (GSTs) to Korean EFL college students in an intermediate-level academic English writing course. 18 students participated in a 4-day GST workshop consisting of an overview session of the web as corpus and Google as a concordancer, and three training sessions…

  15. "Good" Academic Writing in Hebrew: The Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers and Their Instructors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ezer, Hanna; Sivan, Tamar

    2005-01-01

    This study explores the perceptions of different groups of L1 and L2 Israeli pre-service teachers and their instructors regarding "good" academic writing. The study further investigates whether those perceptions accurately reflect their knowledge of academic writing. Eighty-one participants graded three different essays written by…

  16. Collaborative Writing in L2 Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Storch, Neomy

    2013-01-01

    In this first book-length treatment of collaborative writing in second language (L2) classrooms, Neomy Storch provides a theoretical, pedagogical and empirical rationale for the use of collaborative writing activities in L2 classes, as well as some guidelines about how to best implement such activities in both face-to-face and online mode. The…

  17. Effects of Web-Based Collaborative Writing on Individual L2 Writing Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bikowski, Dawn; Vithanage, Ramyadarshanie

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the effect of repeated in-class web-based collaborative writing tasks on second language writers' (L2) individual writing scores. A pre-test post-test research model was used in addition to participant surveys, class observations, and teacher interviews. Participants included 59 L2 writers in a writing class at a large U.S.…

  18. Cognitive Factors Contributing to Chinese EFL Learners' L2 Writing Performance in Timed Essay Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Yanbin

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated cognitive factors that might influence Chinese EFL learners' argumentative essay writing in English. The factors that were explored included English (L2) language proficiency, Chinese (L1) writing ability, genre knowledge, use of writing strategies, and working memory capacity in L1 and L2. Data were collected from 136…

  19. The Relationship between L2 Students' Writing Experiences and Their Perceived Poetry Writing Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liao, Fang-Yu

    2017-01-01

    This paper looks at how L2 students' writing experiences relate to the way they think they can write poems and to further investigate if any types of writing experiences contribute to their perceived poetry writing ability. The paper starts by bringing up the value of introducing poetry writing to L2 students. Then, the literature review section…

  20. Collaborative Writing to Enhance Academic Writing Development through Project Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robayo Lun, Alma Milena; Hernandez Ortiz, Luz Stella

    2013-01-01

    Advanced students at university level struggle with many aspects of academic writing in English as a foreign language. The purpose of this article is to report on an investigation aimed at analyzing what collaborative writing through project work tells us about students' academic writing development at the tertiary level. The compositions written…

  1. Dynamic Development of Complexity and Accuracy: A Case Study in Second Language Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosmawati

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports on the development of complexity and accuracy in English as a Second Language (ESL) academic writing. Although research into complexity and accuracy development in second language (L2) writing has been well established, few studies have assumed the multidimensionality of these two constructs (Norris & Ortega, 2009) or…

  2. Automated Measurement of Syntactic Complexity in Corpus-Based L2 Writing Research and Implications for Writing Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lu, Xiaofei

    2017-01-01

    Research investigating corpora of English learners' language raises new questions about how syntactic complexity is defined theoretically and operationally for second language (L2) writing assessment. I show that syntactic complexity is important in construct definitions and L2 writing rating scales as well as in L2 writing research. I describe…

  3. Strategic English Writing for Academic Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Grace Hui Chin

    2017-01-01

    Writing is one of the four abilities in English Learning. Many students need to write their theses and dissertations in English in order to achieve their academic degrees. English writing is in fact an access of international and intercultural communication with native-speakers and non-native speakers, in academic fields. After reading abundant…

  4. Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tardy, Christine M.

    2010-01-01

    As students move from writing personal essays to writing formal academic texts in English, they face several new challenges. Writing tasks in higher education often require students to draw upon outside sources and to adopt the styles and genres of academic discourse. They must conduct research, summarize and paraphrase, cite sources, adopt genre…

  5. Academic Writing: Theory and Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Street, Brian V.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper I attempt to locate the study of academic writing in the broader field of Literacies as Social Practice. I begin with a brief summary of recent theories of Literacies as Social Practice and then recount some of the ethnographic methods for studying these. I then discuss the application of these concepts to academic writing in Higher…

  6. Hidden Voices: L2 Students' Compensatory Writing Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stockall, Nancy; Villar Cole, Corinna

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative research study examines how 12 undergraduate second-language learners understood the concept of citations in academic writing. The following questions guided this study: What are the participants' beliefs about citing research? How do students conceive the role and function of citations in their writing assignments? How do they…

  7. Matching Vocabulary Learning Process with Learning Outcome in L2 Academic Writing: An Exploratory Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ma, Qing

    2013-01-01

    This exploratory case study of two undergraduates links vocabulary learning approaches with lexical quality measured in academic writing. Employing an array of qualitative data, it is shown that in a "semi-language-rich" learning context, Chinese learners may dispense with rote learning and engage in a more natural learning approach in which…

  8. L2 Writing Practice: Game Enjoyment as a Key to Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allen, Laura K.; Crossley, Scott A.; Snow, Erica L.; McNamara, Danielle S.

    2014-01-01

    The Writing Pal (W-Pal) is an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) designed to provide students with explicit writing strategy instruction and practice. W-Pal includes a suite of educational games developed to increase writing engagement and provide opportunities to practice writing strategies. In this study, first (L1) (n = 26) and second (L2)…

  9. Investigating the Reading-to-Write Processes and Source Use of L2 Postgraduate Students in Real-Life Academic Tasks: An Exploratory Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCulloch, Sharon

    2013-01-01

    Existing studies of source use in academic student writing tend to i), focus more on the writing than the reading end of the reading-to-write continuum and ii), involve the use of insufficiently "naturalistic" writing tasks. Thus, in order to explore the potential of an alternative approach, this paper describes an exploratory case study…

  10. Academic Writing in Korea: Its Dynamic Landscape and Implications for Intercultural Rhetoric

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Eun-Young Julia

    2017-01-01

    Previous studies on intercultural rhetoric have frequently drawn from examples from Asian writers, especially those of Chinese and Japanese origin, but relatively little information has surfaced in scholarly literature regarding L2 writers from Korea. To fill this gap, this article provides an overview of how academic writing is conceived and…

  11. Academic Writing Practices in Spanish Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Castello, Montserrat; Mateos, Mar; Castells, Nuria; Inesta, Anna; Cuevas, Isabel; Sole, Isabel

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: This article aims at describing the use of written genres at university and how they are used to teach and learn. Method: We carried out a descriptive study focusing on teachers' perceptions regarding the importance of academic writing in promoting learning, the degree of competence they attribute to academic writing in comparison…

  12. Approaches Reflected in Academic Writing MOOCs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kwak, Subeom

    2017-01-01

    Since it was first introduced in 2008, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been attracting a lot of interest. Since then, MOOCs have emerged as powerful platforms for teaching and learning academic writing. However, there has been no detailed investigation of academic writing MOOCs. As a result, much uncertainty still exists about the…

  13. Facilitating Scholarly Writing in Academic Medicine

    PubMed Central

    Pololi, Linda; Knight, Sharon; Dunn, Kathleen

    2004-01-01

    Scholarly writing is a critical skill for faculty in academic medicine; however, few faculty receive instruction in the process. We describe the experience of 18 assistant professors who participated in a writing and faculty development program which consisted of 7 monthly 75-minute sessions embedded in a Collaborative Mentoring Program (CMP). Participants identified barriers to writing, developed personal writing strategies, had time to write, and completed monthly writing contracts. Participants provided written responses to open-ended questions about the learning experience, and at the end of the program, participants identified manuscripts submitted for publication, and completed an audiotaped interview. Analysis of qualitative data using data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification showed that this writing program facilitated the knowledge, skills, and support needed to foster writing productivity. All participants completed at least 1 scholarly manuscript by the end of the CMP. The impact on participants’ future academic productivity requires long-term follow-up. PMID:14748862

  14. Effects of Word and Fragment Writing during L2 Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barcroft, Joe

    2007-01-01

    This study examined how writing (copying) target words and word fragments affects intentional second language (L2) vocabulary learning. English-speaking first-semester learners of Spanish attempted to learn 24 Spanish nouns via word-picture repetition in three conditions: (1) word writing, (2) fragment writing, and (3) no writing. After the…

  15. Changing Academic Identities in Changing Academic Workplaces: Learning from Academics' Everyday Professional Writing Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lea, Mary R.; Stierer, Barry

    2011-01-01

    In this article we examine issues of academic identity through the lens of academics' everyday workplace writing, offering a complementary perspective to those already evident in the higher education research literature. Motivated by an interest in the relationship between routine writing and aspects of professional practice, we draw on data from…

  16. On the Effects of L2 on Iranian Bilinguals' L1 Writing Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Agheshteh, Hessam

    2015-01-01

    While the effects of L1 on L2 have been extensively investigated, the effects of L2 on L1 have been largely ignored. The present study attempted to address this issue by investigating the effects of L2 English on Iranian Bilinguals' L1 writing ability. For this end, 61 participants, 30 bilinguals and 31 monolinguals, were assessed on an…

  17. English for Specific Purposes and Academic Literacies: Eclecticism in Academic Writing Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGrath, Lisa; Kaufhold, Kathrin

    2016-01-01

    Academic Literacies and English for Specific Purposes perspectives on the teaching of academic writing tend to be positioned as dichotomous and ideologically incompatible. Nonetheless, recent studies have called for the integration of these two perspectives in the design of writing programmes in order to meet the needs of students in the…

  18. Using Academic Literacies and Genre-Based Models for Academic Writing Instruction: A "Literacy" Journey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wingate, Ursula

    2012-01-01

    Three writing development initiatives carried out at King's College London UK are discussed in this article to illustrate the need to draw on different theoretical models to create effective methods of teaching academic writing. The sequence of initiatives resembles a journey: the destination is to develop academic writing programmes suitable for…

  19. Potential of Mobile Learning in Teaching of ESL Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zaki, Arlina Ahmad; Yunus, Melor Md

    2015-01-01

    The potentials of mobile learning in teaching academic writing skills for ESL students are explored in this paper. Although there have been studies on MALL to improve writing skills, academic writing was never really touched. Few aspects are covered like the changes in educational technology, defining MALL, identifying issues in academic writing…

  20. An academic writing needs assessment of English-as-a-second-language clinical investigators.

    PubMed

    Wang, Min-Fen; Bakken, Lori L

    2004-01-01

    Academic writing for publication is competitive and demanding for researchers. For the novice English-as-a-second-language (ESL) researcher, the pressure to publish compounds the difficulties of mastering the English language. Very few studies have used ESL graduate and post-graduate students as academic writing research subjects. The purpose of this project was to assess the learning needs of ESL clinical investigators regarding academic writing for English scholarly publication. A qualitative evaluation approach was used to examine the gap between the current and desired proficiency level for the academic writing of ESL clinical investigators. We considered the perspectives of seven ESL clinical investigators plus three mentors and three writing instructors. Semi-structured questions were asked. Field notes were organized using a field-work recording system. They were analyzed using the constant comparative method. ESL clinical investigators do not accurately perceive their writing deficiencies. They have little knowledge of criteria for academic writing and they are influenced by their prior English learning experiences in their home culture, which engender passive attitudes toward seeking appropriate writing resources. Adequate time is especially needed to develop successful writing skills. Four basic steps are recommended to guide program planners in developing ESL writing activities for professional learning: (1) recognize discrepancies, (2) establish clear standards and performance criteria for scholarly writing, (3) develop individual plans, and (4) organize long-term writing assistance.

  1. Using gamification to develop academic writing skills in dental undergraduate students.

    PubMed

    El Tantawi, Maha; Sadaf, Shazia; AlHumaid, Jehan

    2018-02-01

    To assess the satisfaction of first-year dental students with gamification and its effect on perceived and actual improvement of academic writing. Two first-year classes of dental undergraduate students were recruited for the study which extended over 4 months and ended in January 2015. A pre-intervention assessment of students' academic writing skills was performed using criteria to evaluate writing. The same criteria were used to evaluate the final writing assignment after the intervention. Students' satisfaction with game aspects was assessed. The per cent change in writing score was regressed on scores of satisfaction with game aspects controlling for gender. Perceived improvement in writing was also assessed. Data from 87 (94.6%) students were available for analysis. Students' overall satisfaction with the gamified experience was modest [mean (SD) = 5.9 (2.1)] and so was their overall perception of improvement in writing [mean (SD) = 6.0 (2.2)]. The per cent score of the first assignment was 35.6 which improved to 80 in the last assignment. Satisfaction with playing the game was significantly associated with higher percentage of improvement in actual writing skills [regression coefficient (95% confidence interval) = 21.1 (1.9, 40.2)]. Using gamification in an obligatory course for first-year dental students was associated with an improvement in academic writing skills although students' satisfaction with game aspects was modest and their willingness to use gamification in future courses was minimal. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Analyzing Genre Exemplars in Preparation for Writing: The Case of an L2 Graduate Student in the ESP Genre-Based Instructional Framework of Academic Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, An

    2008-01-01

    Some researchers believe that the ESP genre-based framework of writing instruction is effective in teaching discipline-specific English EAP writing to L2 learners, especially to advanced L2 graduate students. However, studies examining students' genre-based learning in such a framework are still underrepresented in current ESP genre-based…

  3. Designing a Website to Support Students' Academic Writing Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Åberg, Eva Svärdemo; Ståhle, Ylva; Engdahl, Ingrid; Knutes-Nyqvist, Helen

    2016-01-01

    Academic writing skills are crucial when students, e.g., in teacher education programs, write their undergraduate theses. A multi-modal web-based and self-regulated learning resource on academic writing was developed, using texts, hypertext, moving images, podcasts and templates. A study, using surveys and a focus group, showed that students used…

  4. Developing Academic Identities: Persuasive Writing as a Tool to Strengthen Emergent Academic Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carbone, Paula M.; Orellana, Marjorie Faulstich

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines how writing samples produced by middle school students reveal their emerging academic identities through their rhetorical choices in writing. Analyses of two texts produced by each student revealed students' implicit understandings of the requirements of academic voice. Through comparisons of each student's texts, strategies…

  5. The Effects of Synchronous Text-Based Computer-Mediated Communication Tasks on the Development of L2 and Academic Literacy: A Mixed Methods Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Jinrong

    2012-01-01

    The dissertation examines how synchronous text-based computer-mediated communication (SCMC) tasks may affect English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' development of second language (L2) and academic literacy. The study is motivated by two issues concerning the use of SCMC tasks in L2 writing classes. First, although some of the alleged…

  6. Peer Response to L2 Student Writing: Patterns and Expectations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdalla Salih, Abdel Rahman

    2013-01-01

    This paper reports the corrective feedback patterns in L2 writing and the student writers' preferences for peer feedback. The study examines the actual focus of peer review and the types of corrective feedback provided in L2 composing process. Sixteen L2 matriculation students at a Malaysian university took part in five peer review sessions,…

  7. Fostering Topic Knowledge: Essential for Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Proske, Antje; Kapp, Felix

    2013-01-01

    Several researchers emphasize the role of the writer's topic knowledge for writing. In academic writing topic knowledge is often constructed by studying source texts. One possibility to support that essential phase of the writing process is to provide interactive learning questions which facilitate the construction of an adequate situation…

  8. An Investigation of L2 Learners' Writing Self-Efficacy, Writing Anxiety and Its Causes at Higher Education in Turkey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirmizi, Özkan; Kirmizi, Gülin Dagdeviren

    2015-01-01

    The present study aimed at investigating higher education L2 learners in a Turkish context in terms of writing self-efficacy, writing anxiety, and the causes of writing anxiety. The data have been collected through the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI), developed by Cheng, (2004), and Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), and…

  9. Peer-Formativity: A Framework for Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Rowena; Thow, Morag

    2014-01-01

    The system currently deployed to assess research outputs in higher education can influence what, how and for whom academics write; for some it may determine whether or not they write at all. This article offers a framework for negotiating this performative context--the writing meeting. This framework uses the established theoretical underpinning…

  10. Web-Based Collaborative Writing in L2 Contexts: Methodological Insights from Text Mining

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yim, Soobin; Warschauer, Mark

    2017-01-01

    The increasingly widespread use of social software (e.g., Wikis, Google Docs) in second language (L2) settings has brought a renewed attention to collaborative writing. Although the current methodological approaches to examining collaborative writing are valuable to understand L2 students' interactional patterns or perceived experiences, they can…

  11. Writing an academic essay: a practical guide for nurses.

    PubMed

    Booth, Y

    Writing academic essays can be a major hurdle and source of anxiety for many students. Fears and misconceptions relating to this kind of writing can be dispelled if the task is approached in a logical and systematic manner. This article outlines the key steps involved in successfully completing an essay and provides some practical tips to facilitate critical and analytical writing. These steps are: analysing the task; exploring the subject; planning the essay; writing the account; and revising the drafts. Although this process is challenging, academic writing is a means of developing both personally and professionally.

  12. Challenging the Productivity Mantra: Academic Writing with Spirit in Place

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Laurel; Roitman, Sonia; Morgan, Ann; MacLeod, Jason

    2017-01-01

    Academic writing groups aim to improve the quality and/or the rate of academic publications. In this article, the authors reflect on a writing group with academic and non-academic members that evolved over two years to uphold a deeper and arguably spiritual purpose. The group commenced with the aim of increasing its members' publication rates, but…

  13. Affordances of Web 2.0 Technologies for Collaborative Advanced Writing in a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strobl. Carola

    2014-01-01

    Can online collaboration yield a positive effect on academic writing in a foreign language? If so, what exactly is the added value, compared to individual writing, and (how) does it translate to better output? These are the central questions addressed in this paper. L2 writing research has long highlighted the benefits of collaboration in terms of…

  14. Using Non-Finites in English Academic Writing by Chinese EFL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Bingjun

    2014-01-01

    Frequent use of non-finites is an important feature of English academic writing (Chafe & Danielewicz, 1987), but teachers and students in the Chinese environment are not aware of it. To investigate the problems that can be found in academic writings by Chinese students is significant in two aspects: academic writing by Chinese EFL students…

  15. Transitional and Transformational Spaces: Mentoring Young Academics through Writing Centres

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Archer, Arlene; Parker, Shabnam

    2016-01-01

    The effectiveness of writing centre interventions on student writing in higher education has been well-documented in academic literacies studies. This paper changes the focus of investigation from student to consultant and, consequently, explores the way in which an academic writing centre can function as a mentoring environment for young…

  16. Supporting the Development of Students' Academic Writing through Collaborative Process Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mutwarasibo, Faustin

    2013-01-01

    The study examines how undergraduate university students in Rwanda experience collaborative process writing as an instruction method capable of helping them improve their academic writing abilities in English. It involved 34 second-year students, divided into 12 small working groups. The data were collected by means of group interviews carried out…

  17. Effects of Blackboard on EFL Academic Writing and Attitudes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fageeh, Abdulaziz; Mekheimer, Mohamed Amin A.

    2013-01-01

    This study aimed to recognize the pedagogical effects of Blackboard as a computer-mediated communication (CMC) environment for teaching academic writing and improving students' attitudes toward academic writing. Learners' interactions in the CMC environment of Blackboard were analyzed via a controlled descriptive design to examine how students…

  18. A Blended Collaborative Writing Approach for Chinese L2 Primary School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Chen, Wenli; Chai, Ching-Sing; Chin, Chee-Kuen; Gao, Ping

    2011-01-01

    This paper outlines an adaptable collaborative writing approach employing a wiki to address the typical weaknesses of young Singaporean Chinese students learning Chinese as second language (L2) in Chinese writing. These students' problems in writing include limited and incorrect use of vocabulary, English-style grammar, badly structured passages,…

  19. Using the Sociocognitive-Transformative Approach in Writing Classrooms: Effects on L2 Learners' Writing Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrot, Jessie S.

    2018-01-01

    The current study used a scale-based approach and complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) analysis to comprehensively capture the effects of the sociocognitive-transformative approach on 2nd language (L2) learners' writing performance. The study involved 66 preuniversity intermediate L2 students from 4 different English classes. I randomly…

  20. The Role of Networked Learning in Academics' Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCulloch, Sharon; Tusting, Karin; Hamilton, Mary

    2017-01-01

    This article explores academics' writing practices, focusing on the ways in which they use digital platforms in their processes of collaborative learning. It draws on interview data from a research project that has involved working closely with academics across different disciplines and institutions to explore their writing practices,…

  1. Embedding the Teaching of Academic Writing into Anthropology Lectures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mostert, Linda Ann; Townsend, Rodwell

    2018-01-01

    This paper lends support to the argument that students require a variety of teaching strategies to help them improve their academic writing. The study described here took place in 2014 in the context of embedding the teaching of academic writing into anthropology modules. The strategies implemented were microthemes, peer feedback, annotated…

  2. A Community-Academic Partnered Grant Writing Series to Build Infrastructure for Partnered Research.

    PubMed

    King, Keyonna M; Pardo, Yvette-Janine; Norris, Keith C; Diaz-Romero, Maria; Morris, D'Ann; Vassar, Stefanie D; Brown, Arleen F

    2015-10-01

    Grant writing is an essential skill necessary to secure financial support for community programs and research projects. Increasingly, funding opportunities for translational biomedical research require studies to engage community partners, patients, or other stakeholders in the research process to address their concerns. However, there is little evidence on strategies to prepare teams of academic and community partners to collaborate on grants. This paper presents the description and formative evaluation of a two-part community-academic partnered grant writing series designed to help community organizations and academic institutions build infrastructure for collaborative research projects using a partnered approach. The first phase of the series was a half-day workshop on grant readiness, which was open to all interested community partners. The second phase, open only to community-academic teams that met eligibility criteria, was a 12-week session that covered partnered grant writing for foundation grants and National Institutes of Health grants. Participants in both phases reported an increase in knowledge and self-efficacy for writing partnered proposals. At 1-year follow-up, participants in Phase 2 had secured approximately $1.87 million in funding. This community-academic partnered grant writing series helped participants obtain proposal development skills and helped community-academic teams successfully compete for funding. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. A Community–Academic Partnered Grant Writing Series to Build Infrastructure for Partnered Research

    PubMed Central

    Pardo, Yvette‐Janine; Norris, Keith C.; Diaz‐Romero, Maria; Morris, D'Ann; Vassar, Stefanie D.; Brown, Arleen F.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Grant writing is an essential skill necessary to secure financial support for community programs and research projects. Increasingly, funding opportunities for translational biomedical research require studies to engage community partners, patients, or other stakeholders in the research process to address their concerns. However, there is little evidence on strategies to prepare teams of academic and community partners to collaborate on grants. This paper presents the description and formative evaluation of a two‐part community–academic partnered grant writing series designed to help community organizations and academic institutions build infrastructure for collaborative research projects using a partnered approach. The first phase of the series was a half‐day workshop on grant readiness, which was open to all interested community partners. The second phase, open only to community–academic teams that met eligibility criteria, was a 12‐week session that covered partnered grant writing for foundation grants and National Institutes of Health grants. Participants in both phases reported an increase in knowledge and self‐efficacy for writing partnered proposals. At 1‐year follow‐up, participants in Phase 2 had secured approximately $1.87 million in funding. This community–academic partnered grant writing series helped participants obtain proposal development skills and helped community–academic teams successfully compete for funding. PMID:26365589

  4. Convergence and Divergence of Process and Portfolio Approaches to L2 Writing Instruction: Issues and Implications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lam, Ricky

    2015-01-01

    In the L2 writing literature, there has been a rich history of scholarship in theory, research and practice since the 1960s. Two of the most prominent L2 writing approaches are process and portfolio pedagogy. The former approach promotes the use of diverse writing strategies (e.g. pre-writing) to enhance student writers' expression and fluency.…

  5. Improving Academic Writing in Nursing Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mattsson, Janet

    2016-01-01

    Background: At a specialist nursing education in intensive care, located at a University college in Sweden, there was a desire among the faculty to develop their ability to support specialist nursing students in their academic development, as well as in their academic writing, to improve the overall quality of the master theses. A quality…

  6. Reading-Writing Relationships in First and Second Language Academic Literacy Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grabe, William; Zhang, Cui

    2016-01-01

    Reading and writing relations, as this concept applies to academic learning contexts, whether as a major way to learn language or academic content, is a pervasive issue in English for academic purposes (EAP) contexts. In many cases, this major link between reading/writing and academic learning is true even though explicit discussions of this…

  7. Stories Are Like Water: An Academic Writing Workshop for Nurses.

    PubMed

    Walker, Madeline; Tschanz, Coby

    2018-04-01

    Traditionally, there is very little formal instruction in academic writing for nurses in graduate programs. We, the writing scholar and a nurse educator and PhD student at a major Canadian university, describe how we collaborated on developing and delivering a 1-day academic writing workshop for incoming master of nursing students. By sharing this description, we hope to motivate nursing faculty to offer similar workshops to address the dearth of writing instruction for graduate students in nursing and to improve scholarship outcomes.

  8. The writing retreat: a high-yield clinical faculty development opportunity in academic writing.

    PubMed

    Cable, Christian T; Boyer, Debra; Colbert, Colleen Y; Boyer, Edward W

    2013-06-01

    The need for consistent academic productivity challenges junior clinician-scholars, who often lack the aptitude to ensure efficient production of manuscripts. To solve this problem, an academic division of a major medical center developed an off-site writing retreat. The purpose of the retreat was not to teach writing skills, but to offer senior mentor assistance with a focus on the elements of manuscript writing. The retreat paired senior faculty members with junior staff. Senior faculty identified manuscript topics and provided real-time writing and editing supervision. Team-building exercises, midcourse corrections, and debriefing interviews were built into the retreat. The number of manuscripts and grant proposals generated during the 2008-2011 retreats was recorded, and the program was evaluated by using unstructured debriefing interviews. An average of 6 to 7 faculty members and fellows participated in each retreat. During the past 4 years, participants produced an average of 3 grant proposals and 7 manuscripts per retreat. After the writing retreat, each fellow and junior faculty member produced an average of 4 scholarly products per year, compared to fewer than 2 for prior years' retreats. Participant feedback indicated the success of the retreat resulted from protected time, direct mentorship by the scholars involved, and pairing of authors, which allows for rapid production of manuscripts and accelerated the editing process. More than 80% of mentors returned each year to participate. The writing retreat is a feasible, effective strategy to increase scholarship among faculty, acceptable to mentees and mentors, and sustainable over time.

  9. On Written Corrective Feedback in L2 Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shao, Xu

    2015-01-01

    Truscott (1996) questions the practicability of grammar correction, and he believes that written corrective feedback (WCF) is not only a waste of time, but even harmful to the students as well. This has led to a great deal of discussion and research on WCF in second-language (L2) writing. Ferris (1999) is the representative opponent of Truscott's…

  10. Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats.

    PubMed

    Tsingos-Lucas, Cherie; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Schneider, Carl R; Smith, Lorraine

    2017-02-25

    Objectives. To investigate whether reflective-writing skills are associated with academic success. Methods. Two hundred sixty-four students enrolled in a pharmacy practice course completed reflective statements. Regression procedures were conducted to determine whether reflective-writing skills were associated with academic success in different assessment formats: written, oral, and video tasks. Results. Reflective-writing skills were found to be a predictor of academic performance in some formats of assessment: written examination; oral assessment task and overall score for the Unit of Study (UoS). Reflective writing skills were not found to predict academic success in the video assessment task. Conclusions. Possessing good reflective-writing skills was associated with improved academic performance. Further research is recommended investigating the impact of reflective skill development on academic performance measures in other health education.

  11. The Role of Cognitive and Affective Factors in Measures of L2 Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zabihi, Reza

    2018-01-01

    This study investigates the direct and/or indirect effects of some cognitive (working memory capacity) and affective (writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy) variables on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of second language (L2) learners' writings. To achieve this goal, 232 upper-intermediate English learners performed an automated…

  12. Examining Academic Writing Motivation of Prospective Indonesian Language Teachers Using Exploratory Factor Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Surastina; Dedi, Fransisca S. O.

    2018-01-01

    Motivation determines students' success in academic writing. The current study adopted 28 items of the academic writing motivation questionnaire by Payne (2012) translated into Indonesian language to explore students' motivation in academic writing. This study involved 120 prospective Indonesian language teachers at STKIP PGRI Bandar Lampung that…

  13. Putting Students at the Centre of Classroom L2 Writing Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Icy

    2016-01-01

    In many educational contexts, L2 writing assessment tends to emphasize its summative functions (i.e., assessment of learning--AoL) more than its formative potential (i.e., assessment for--AfL). While the teacher plays a dominant role in AoL, central to AfL is the role of the students, alongside that of the teacher and peers. A student-centred…

  14. Strategies for successful academic writing - institutional and non-institutional support for students.

    PubMed

    Gopee, Neil; Deane, Mary

    2013-12-01

    Students develop better academic writing skills as they progress through their higher education programme, but despite recent continuing monitoring of student satisfaction with their education in UK, there has been relatively little research into students' perceptions of the active support that they need and receive to succeed as academic writers. To examine the strategies that university students on health or social care courses utilise to develop as writers in the face of many pressures and demands from different sources. Qualitative research conducted at a British University into undergraduates' writing practices in the field of healthcare. Ten participants took part in semi-structured interviews, half of whom were international students. The data was analysed by the researchers from the field of writing development using thematic analysis. The main findings are that certain students struggle as academic writers if they do not receive tuition on appropriate and effective academic writing through institutional provisions, or through non-institutional strategies, that can promote success with the writing process. There is also uncertainty over the extent to which nurse educators are expected to teach academic writing skills, alongside their discipline-specific subject areas. Both institutional provisions for academic writing development, such as a dedicated writing support department, and non-institutional factors such as peer-collaboration should be fully recognised, supported and resourced in tertiary education at a time when students' satisfaction and performance are high on the agenda. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Designing ICT-Enhanced Language Programmes: Academic Writing for Postgraduate Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stepanek, Libor; Hradilova, Alena

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a case study of a course on academic writing for postgraduate studies within a collaborative and interactive information and communication technologies (ICT) based language-learning setting. It describes the structure of an academic writing course for PhD students, focusing on three ICT-enhanced course activities: collaborative…

  16. Identifying Gaps in Academic Writing of ESL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Giridharan, Beena

    2012-01-01

    There is growing evidence that the lack of competence of university ESL (English as a second language) students in academic writing affects their overall academic performance. Olivas and Li (2006) connected low second-language proficiency levels in English to poor academic performance of international students studying at both university and…

  17. Nurturing Interdisciplinary Competence in Academic Writing Classes: Two Taiwanese TESOL Professionals' Shared Journey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Cheryl Wei-yu; Wang, Hung-chun

    2016-01-01

    This study delineates two Taiwanese TESOL teachers' efforts of combining English writing with entrepreneurship education to cultivate English majors' interdisciplinary competence in academic writing classes. An integrated business-and-writing approach was proposed to foster English majors' academic writing skills and entrepreneurial capacities. In…

  18. Functional Adequacy in L2 Writing: Towards a New Rating Scale

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuiken, Folkert; Vedder, Ineke

    2017-01-01

    The importance of functional adequacy as an essential component of L2 proficiency has been observed by several authors (Pallotti, 2009; De Jong, Steinel, Florijn, Schoonen, & Hulstijn, 2012a, b). The rationale underlying the present study is that the assessment of writing proficiency in L2 is not fully possible without taking into account the…

  19. Facilitating Metacognitive Processes of Academic Genre-Based Writing Using an Online Writing System

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeh, Hui-Chin

    2015-01-01

    Few studies have investigated how metacognitive processes foster the application of genre knowledge to students' academic writing. This is largely due to its internal and unobservable characteristics. To bridge this gap, an online writing system based on metacognition, involving the stages of planning, monitoring, evaluating, and revising, was…

  20. How to incorporate academic writing pedagogy in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

    PubMed

    Kostenko, Viktoriia G; Solohor, Iryna M

    2018-01-01

    Introduction: Medical researchers, who are non-native English speakers, are facing now the growing need to publish their research results in international journals switching to an English-only policy, to apply for grants and scholarship, but at the same time this puts many authors whose native language is not English at a disadvantage compared to their English-speaking counterparts. The aim: This paper aims at analysing the existing parameters of academic writing proficiency of medical undergraduate and postgraduate students; elucidating current approaches to develop academic writing competency and to promote academic multi-literacy of junior researchers, and outlining the general recommendations to improve the quality and sophistication of their writing by incorporating the principles and achievements of academic writing pedagogy into the system of medical training. Materials and methods: This study is an empirical applied research of a qualitative type mainly based on data elicited from informants (n=120) of the Ukrainian Medical Stomatological Academy aged from 20 - 35. Results and conclusions: All participants were able to identify personal problem areas, and virtually all they note dissatisfaction with the use of English in their scholarly writing. They stated the obvious difficulties in sentence patterns and keeping tone of scientific narrative format. Writing in genres other than original research articles seems to be quite demanding and is often associated with the lack of self-confidence and language anxiety. Attention to developing academic writing skills should focus on the basic elements of academic writing, characteristics of written genres across the disciplines, providing a framework in which expert and practical knowledge is internally organized.

  1. Using Prewriting Tasks in L2 Writing Classes: Insights from Three Experiments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonough, Kim; Neumann, Heike

    2014-01-01

    Even though collaborative prewriting tasks are frequently used in second language (L2) writing classes (Fernández Dobao, 2012; Storch, 2005), they have not been as widely researched as other tasks, such as collaborative writing and peer review. This article examines the effectiveness of collaborative prewriting tasks at encouraging English for…

  2. Academic voice: On feminism, presence, and objectivity in writing.

    PubMed

    Mitchell, Kim M

    2017-10-01

    Academic voice is an oft-discussed, yet variably defined concept, and confusion exists over its meaning, evaluation, and interpretation. This paper will explore perspectives on academic voice and counterarguments to the positivist origins of objectivity in academic writing. While many epistemological and methodological perspectives exist, the feminist literature on voice is explored here as the contrary position. From the feminist perspective, voice is a socially constructed concept that cannot be separated from the experiences, emotions, and identity of the writer and, thus, constitutes a reflection of an author's way of knowing. A case study of how author presence can enhance meaning in text is included. Subjective experience is imperative to a practice involving human interaction. Nursing practice, our intimate involvement in patient's lives, and the nature of our research are not value free. A view is presented that a visible presence of an author in academic writing is relevant to the nursing discipline. The continued valuing of an objective, colorless academic voice has consequences for student writers and the faculty who teach them. Thus, a strategically used multivoiced writing style is warranted. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Thesis Writing Challenges for Non-Native MA Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadeghi, Karim; Shirzad Khajepasha, Arash

    2015-01-01

    Writing in a second (L2)/foreign language is generally a challenging activity, and writing an MA thesis, as an example of academic enterprise, can be daunting when done in a language in which the writer is not fully competent. The challenge such a genre of writing poses for L2 writers has not been properly addressed. To fill in the gap in this…

  4. Computer-Based Multimodal Composing Activities, Self-Revision, and L2 Acquisition through Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dzekoe, Richmond

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated how 22 advanced-low proficiency ESL students used computer-based multimodal composing activities (CBMCAs) to facilitate self-revision and learn English through academic writing in the USA. The CBMCAs involved a combination of writing, listening, visual analysis, and speaking activities. The research was framed within an…

  5. Attitudes toward text recycling in academic writing across disciplines.

    PubMed

    Hall, Susanne; Moskovitz, Cary; Pemberton, Michael A

    2018-01-01

    Text recycling, the reuse of material from one's own previously published writing in a new text without attribution, is a common academic writing practice that is not yet well understood. While some studies of text recycling in academic writing have been published, no previous study has focused on scholars' attitudes toward text recycling. This article presents results from a survey of over 300 journal editors and editorial board members from 86 top English-language journals in 16 different academic fields regarding text recycling in scholarly articles. Responses indicate that a large majority of academic gatekeepers believe text recycling is allowable in some circumstances; however, there is a lack of clear consensus about when text recycling is or is not appropriate. Opinions varied according to the source of the recycled material, its structural location and rhetorical purpose, and conditions of authorship conditions-as well as by the level of experience as a journal editor. Our study suggests the need for further research on text recycling utilizing focus groups and interviews.

  6. Writer L1/L2 Status and Asynchronous Online Writing Center Feedback: Consultant Response Patterns

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weirick, Joshua; Davis, Tracy; Lawson, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    This case study examines the differences in comments offered by asynchronous online writing center consultants to L1 and L2 speakers and examines the potential disconnects in consultant perceptions of their practice. The researchers collected and coded sample papers and interviewed participants to contextualize data from the quantitative portion…

  7. Designing Academic Writing Analytics for Civil Law Student Self-Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knight, Simon; Buckingham Shum, Simon; Ryan, Philippa; Sándor, Ágnes; Wang, Xiaolong

    2018-01-01

    Research into the teaching and assessment of student writing shows that many students find academic writing a challenge to learn, with legal writing no exception. Improving the availability and quality of timely formative feedback is an important aim. However, the time-consuming nature of assessing writing makes it impractical for instructors to…

  8. The Relationship between Academic Writing Experience and Academic Publishing for Graduate Physics Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hess, Steven Timothy Michael

    2012-01-01

    Writing for scientific publication represents an opportunity to interact with colleagues and make a positive contribution to the academic community. However, there is a growing concern regarding the ability of graduate students' to transfer writing skill sets learned at the graduate and undergraduate levels into professional settings. The main…

  9. Undergraduate ESL Students' Engagement in Academic Reading and Writing in Learning to Write a Synthesis Paper

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Ruilan; Hirvela, Alan

    2015-01-01

    As an important and a challenging source-based writing task, synthesizing offers rich opportunities to explore the connections between reading and writing. In this article, we report findings from a qualitative study of two Chinese students' learning experiences with academic synthesis writing in a university ESL composition course. Specifically,…

  10. "It's Not a Hobby": Reconceptualizing the Place of Writing in Academic Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Rowena

    2013-01-01

    The writing activities involved in research are not fully articulated in discussions of academic work. In this context, academics say they have to disengage from other tasks in order to write, which raises fundamental questions about the place of writing in academic work. A study designed to find out more about this disengagement showed that it…

  11. Investigating the Role of Identity in L2 Writing Using Electronic Bulletin Boards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spiliotopoulos, Valia; Carey, Steven

    2005-01-01

    Recent research has focused on the relationship between language and identity (Ivanic, 1998; Kanno & Norton, 2003). International students who come to Canada to learn English as a second language realize that to succeed in the academic community, they must be particularly adept at writing in English for academic purposes. This article…

  12. Why Academics Have a Hard Time Writing Good Grant Proposals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Porter, Robert

    2007-01-01

    When they are new to the grant game, even scholars with fine publishing records can struggle with proposal writing. Many are surprised to find that the writing style that made them successful as academics is not well suited to crafting a winning proposal. To succeed at grant writing, most researchers need to learn a new set of writing skills. This…

  13. Dynamic Assessment, Tutor Mediation and Academic Writing Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shrestha, Prithvi; Coffin, Caroline

    2012-01-01

    Supporting undergraduate students with their academic literacies has recently been a major focus in higher education in the UK. This paper explores the value of tutor mediation in the context of academic writing development among undergraduate business studies students in open and distance learning, following the dynamic assessment (DA) approach…

  14. The Best of Both Worlds? Towards an English for Academic Purposes/Academic Literacies Writing Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wingate, Ursula; Tribble, Christopher

    2012-01-01

    This article is a review of two dominant approaches to academic writing instruction in higher education, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which is used internationally, and Academic Literacies, which has become an influential model in the UK. The review was driven by a concern that Academic Literacies has been mainly focused on the situations…

  15. L1 vs L2 Writing: ESL Graduate Students' Perceptions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silva, Tony

    1992-01-01

    A classroom-based study is reported that explored English-as-a-Second Language graduate students' perceptions about (1) differences between writing in their native language and writing in English, and (2) how these difference should be reflected in ESL writing teachers' practices. (19 references) (Author/LB)

  16. A Comparative Study of Facebook vs. Paper-and-Pencil Writing to Improve L2 Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dizon, Gilbert

    2016-01-01

    Facebook has best leveraged the rapid technological and societal changes over the past decade to grow into the world's largest social-networking site (SNS). However, research of Facebook has lagged behind other Web 2.0 technologies, particularly in regards to investigating its efficacy versus a control group to improve L2 writing. This study,…

  17. Doing Academic Writing in Education: Connecting the Personal and the Professional

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richards, Janet C.; Miller, Sharon K.

    2005-01-01

    This clear, reader-friendly book is carefully designed to help readers gain confidence and acquire competence in their academic writing abilities. It focuses on real people as they write and actively involves readers in the writing process. The authors' innovative approach encourages reflection on how professional writing initiatives connect to…

  18. Improving English Language Learners' Academic Writing: A Multi-Strategy Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Challenge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marulanda Ángel, Nora Lucía; Martínez García, Juan Manuel

    2017-01-01

    The demands of the academic field and the constraints students have while learning how to write appropriately call for better approaches to teach academic writing. This research study examines the effect of a multifaceted academic writing module on pre-service teachers' composition skills in an English teacher preparation program at a medium sized…

  19. Articulate--Academic Writing, Refereeing Editing and Publishing Our Work in Learning, Teaching and Educational Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wisker, Gina

    2013-01-01

    Most work on writing and publication processes focuses on writing support for undergraduates or postgraduates writing in the disciplines, while work on academic identities frequently considers development as a university teacher. This essay consider the reviewing process for academics who write, whether doctoral students, researchers, teachers or…

  20. Why It Is so Hard for Academics to Write Textbooks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sternberg, Robert J.

    2017-01-01

    Although academics are accustomed to writing articles and books, they much less frequently write textbooks. When they do, they likely find it much harder to do well than they ever would have imagined. This difficulty is likely to surprise them, because they have considerable experience in writing research articles and in teaching. I argue in this…

  1. Angst about Academic Writing: Graduate Students at the Brink

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holmes, Barbara; Waterbury, Theresa; Baltrinic, Eric; Davis, Arielle

    2018-01-01

    This paper offers some insights into the anxieties graduate students bring into the classroom about academic or technical writing. In this qualitative study, a focus group of graduate students was utilized to describe the specific negative feelings, attitudes and experiences held about writing. Findings suggest that students were able to identify…

  2. Reprint 2007: Why Academics Have a Hard Time Writing Good Grants Proposals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Porter, Robert

    2017-01-01

    This paper discusses the contrasting perspectives of academic prose versus grant writing, and lists strategies grant specialists can use to help researchers break old habits and replace them with techniques better suited to the world of competitive grant proposals. [This article is a reprint of "Why Academics Have a Hard Time Writing Good…

  3. The Effectiveness of Adopting E-Readers to Facilitate EFL Students' Process-Based Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Hui-Chun; Young, Shelley Shwu-Ching

    2015-01-01

    English as Foreign Language (EFL) students face additional difficulties for academic writing largely due to their level of language competency. An appropriate structural process of writing can help students develop their academic writing skills. This study explored the use of the e-readers to facilitate EFL students' process-based academic…

  4. Translanguaging in English Academic Writing Preparation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adamson, John; Coulson, David

    2015-01-01

    We investigate translanguaging (i.e. the co-use of first and second languages) in a Content and Language Integrated Learning course, as a pragmatic means to promote the skill of young university students in extended critical academic writing. We aimed to prepare new undergraduate students (n = 180) for courses where partial English-medium…

  5. Democratizing Academic Writing: A Revision of an Experience of Writing an Autoethnographic Dissertation in Color

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Polanco, Marcela

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, I revise my experience of writing an autoethnographic (Ellis, 2004) dissertation in the field of family therapy as a Colombian mestiza. I discuss how I grappled with my writing, and, in the process, stumbled into matters of democratizing texts. I problematize male-dominant academic standards, telling of the tensions when maneuvering…

  6. Goal Orientations in an EFL Advanced Academic Writing Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dehghan, Farzaneh; Razmjoo, Seyyed Ayatollah

    2015-01-01

    Academic writing at advanced levels is the most important way of demonstrating one's expertise in a discipline. Developing this kind of competence is especially a challenging effort for students in foreign language contexts. Many factors may be involved in determining why some students are more and some are less motivated in writing successful,…

  7. Combined Training of One Cognitive and One Metacognitive Strategy Improves Academic Writing Skills.

    PubMed

    Wischgoll, Anke

    2016-01-01

    Academic writing is a challenging task. Expert writers apply various writing skills as they anticipate the reader's view of their text while paying attention to structure and content. Research in the high school setting shows that the acquisition of writing skills can be supported by single-strategy training. However, research in higher education is scarce. We tested whether the development of academic writing skills can also be effectively supported by training single strategies or even combined strategies. As metacognition is an important skill for advanced and adult learners, we focused in this study on the benefit of combined cognitive strategies with and without a metacognitive strategy. An experiment including three conditions was conducted (N = 60 German-speaking psychology undergraduates, M = 22.8, SD = 4.4), which lasted for three hours. Each group received a modeling intervention of a basic cognitive strategy on the application of text structure knowledge. Two groups received an additional modeling intervention with either a cognitive strategy treatment on text summarization or a metacognitive strategy treatment on self-monitoring the writing process. One group received no further strategy treatment. Prior knowledge and learning outcomes were measured with a specially developed test on academic writing skills. In addition, all participants wrote an abstract of an empirical article. We found that learners who received the additional self-monitoring strategy intervention benefited significantly more in terms of acquisition of academic writing skills and the quality of their texts than learners who did not receive this intervention. Thus, the results underline the importance of self-monitoring strategies in academic writing. Implications and further research opportunities are discussed.

  8. Combined Training of One Cognitive and One Metacognitive Strategy Improves Academic Writing Skills

    PubMed Central

    Wischgoll, Anke

    2016-01-01

    Academic writing is a challenging task. Expert writers apply various writing skills as they anticipate the reader’s view of their text while paying attention to structure and content. Research in the high school setting shows that the acquisition of writing skills can be supported by single-strategy training. However, research in higher education is scarce. We tested whether the development of academic writing skills can also be effectively supported by training single strategies or even combined strategies. As metacognition is an important skill for advanced and adult learners, we focused in this study on the benefit of combined cognitive strategies with and without a metacognitive strategy. An experiment including three conditions was conducted (N = 60 German-speaking psychology undergraduates, M = 22.8, SD = 4.4), which lasted for three hours. Each group received a modeling intervention of a basic cognitive strategy on the application of text structure knowledge. Two groups received an additional modeling intervention with either a cognitive strategy treatment on text summarization or a metacognitive strategy treatment on self-monitoring the writing process. One group received no further strategy treatment. Prior knowledge and learning outcomes were measured with a specially developed test on academic writing skills. In addition, all participants wrote an abstract of an empirical article. We found that learners who received the additional self-monitoring strategy intervention benefited significantly more in terms of acquisition of academic writing skills and the quality of their texts than learners who did not receive this intervention. Thus, the results underline the importance of self-monitoring strategies in academic writing. Implications and further research opportunities are discussed. PMID:26941671

  9. Saudi English-Major Undergraduates' Academic Writing Problems: A Taif University Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Khairy, Mohamed Ali

    2013-01-01

    This study attempted to investigate Saudi English-major undergraduates studying at Taif University to identify a) the types of academic writing Saudi English-major undergraduates carry out at English departments, b) Saudi English-major undergraduates' writing problems, c) the reasons behind Saudi English-major undergraduates' writing problems and…

  10. Writing Purposefully in Art and Design: Responding to Converging and Diverging New Academic Literacies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Melles, Gavin; Lockheart, Julia

    2012-01-01

    In disciplines with long histories in higher education, academic literacies, including writing practices, are less contested than in newer academic fields such as art and design. The relatively recent incorporation of such fields and schools into the university sector has required these fields to create academic writing practices consistent with…

  11. The Effect of Planning Sub-Processes on L2 Writing Fluency, Grammatical Complexity, and Lexical Complexity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Mark D.; Mercado, Leonardo; Acevedo, Anthony

    2012-01-01

    This study contributes to L2 writing research which seeks to tie predictions of the Limited Attentional Capacity Model (Skehan, 1998; Skehan & Foster, 2001) and Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001, 2005, 2011a, 2011b) to models of working memory in L1 writing (Kellogg, 1996). The study uses a quasi-experimental research design to investigate…

  12. A Case Study on the Effects of an L2 Writing Instructional Model for Blended Learning in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    So, Lee; Lee, Chung Hyun

    2013-01-01

    This case study explores EFL (English as a foreign language) students' perceptions toward a prototype of an instructional model for second language (L2) writing in blended learning and the effects of the model on the development of L2 writing skills in higher education. This model is primarily founded on the process-oriented writing approach…

  13. The Research Paper: From Personal to Academic Writing (Instructional Note).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malinowski, Patricia A.

    1990-01-01

    Describes a research project designed to take students from personal writing to academic writing requiring research and application of documentation skills. Explains that the project involves choosing a career, is divided into four parts, and is completed over a four- to five-week period. (MG)

  14. The Impact of Training Students How to Write Introductions for Academic Essays: An Exploratory, Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Gavin T. L.; Marshall, Jennifer C.

    2012-01-01

    Successful academic writing requires strong command of the rhetorical moves that orient the reader to the theme and substantive material of an academic essay. Effective control of the introduction leads to better overall writing. The goal of this study was to devise and evaluate a pedagogy for teaching the writing of academic essay introductions.…

  15. Implicit Theory of Writing Ability: Relationship to Metacognitive Strategy Knowledge and Strategy Use in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karlen, Yves; Compagnoni, Miriam

    2017-01-01

    Implicit theories about the nature of human attributes as either malleable or fixed influence how people perceive knowledge and approach different tasks. Two studies explored the relationship between implicit theory of writing ability, metacognitive strategy knowledge (MSK), and strategy use in the context of academic writing. The pre-study with N…

  16. Masters Level Graduate Student Writing Groups: Exploring Academic Identity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ruggles, Tosha M.

    2012-01-01

    This action research project explores masters level graduate student writing and academic identity during one semester in an interdisciplinary masters program. Informing this study is a two part theoretical framework including the Academic Literacy Model (Lea and Street) and Wenger's concept of identity. The purpose of this exploration was to…

  17. Effects of Interactive Chat versus Independent Writing on L2 Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tare, Medha; Golonka, Ewa M.; Vatz, Karen; Bonilla, Carrie L.; Crooks, Carolyn; Strong, Rachel

    2014-01-01

    This study examines the importance of interaction for second language (L2) acquisition by analyzing outcomes from two types of out-of-class activities. The study compared: (a) interactive homework, completed via text chat, and (b) individual homework, completed via independent writing. In a between-subjects design, participants in two…

  18. Assessing Second Language Writing in Academic Contexts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamp-Lyons, Liz, Ed.

    The articles contained in this volume on second language writing evaluation focus on the evaluation of academic English learned as a second language (ESL). Essays include: "Assessment by Misconception: Cultural Influences and Intellectual Traditions" (Brigid Ballard, John Clanchy); "Reading the World Differently: A Cross-Cultural Approach to…

  19. Working Smarter, Not Working Harder: Revisiting Teacher Feedback in the L2 Writing Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Icy

    2011-01-01

    Although second language (L2) teachers spend a significant amount of time marking students' writing, many of them feel that their efforts do not pay off. While students want teachers to give them feedback on their writing and value teacher feedback, they might experience feelings of frustration and confusion once they receive it. What is amiss in…

  20. Summary Writing in Academic Contexts: Implicating Meaning in Processes of Change

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hood, Susan

    2008-01-01

    The practice of summary writing from source texts has long been a core activity in academic writing programs. When described as precis writing, textbooks focusing on teaching this skill date back to the second half of the nineteenth century. In current guidelines, students are typically asked to demonstrate an understanding of the key meanings…

  1. Teaching Adolescent ELs to Write Academic-Style Persuasive Essays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramos, Kathleen

    2014-01-01

    The wide adoption of the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the U.S. has increased expectations for all teachers to prepare all learners to read and write in academic ways. More knowledge is needed about instructional approaches that may lead adolescent English learners (ELs) to meet this goal. Developing academic literacy practices…

  2. Effects of Task Complexity on L2 Writing Behaviors and Linguistic Complexity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Révész, Andrea; Kourtali, Nektaria-Efstathia; Mazgutova, Diana

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated whether task complexity influences second language (L2) writers' fluency, pausing, and revision behaviors and the cognitive processes underlying these behaviors; whether task complexity affects linguistic complexity of written output; and whether relationships between writing behaviors and linguistic complexity are…

  3. Student Beliefs and Attitudes about Authorial Identity in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pittam, Gail; Elander, James; Lusher, Joanne; Fox, Pauline; Payne, Nicola

    2009-01-01

    Authorial identity is the sense a writer has of themselves as an author and the textual identity they construct in their writing. This article describes two studies exploring psychology students' authorial identity in academic writing. A qualitative focus group study with 19 students showed that authorial identity was largely unfamiliar to…

  4. An Examination of How a Cross-Section of Academics Use Computer Technology when Writing Academic Papers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wood, Eileen; Willoughby, Teena; Specht, Jacqueline; Porter, Lisa

    2002-01-01

    Describes a study conducted at two Canadian universities that surveyed a cross-section of 361 faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students to assess computer availability, experience, attitudes toward computers, and use of computers while engaged in academic writing. Compares advantages and disadvantages of writing on a computer versus written,…

  5. Applying Cultural Project Based Learning to Develop Students' Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Irawati, Lulus

    2015-01-01

    Writing is considered to be the most demanding and difficult skill for many college students, since there are some steps to be followed such as prewriting, drafting, editing, revising and publishing. The interesting topic like culture including lifestyle, costume, and custom is necessary to be offered in Academic Writing class. Accordingly, this…

  6. Students' Perceptions of Academic Writing as a Mode of Communication

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Majidi, Mojdeh

    2005-01-01

    Adopting the social theory of writing and new rhetorical genre studies (Bakhtin, 1986; Dias, Freedman, Medway, & Pare, 1999; Freedman & Medway, 1994; Miller, 1984/1994) as the theoretical framework in this study I made an attempt to explore graduate students' perceptions of academic writing as a mode of communication in academia. I interviewed…

  7. Exploring the Use of Focused Freewriting in Developing Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Linda Y.

    2007-01-01

    Focused freewriting, broadly defined as writing without stopping and editing about a specific topic, has been viewed and used as a powerful tool for developing student writing in a wide spectrum of educational contexts. This study aimed to further explore the use of focused freewriting in the context of promoting students' academic skills…

  8. Assessing Syntactic Sophistication in L2 Writing: A Usage-Based Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kyle, Kristopher; Crossley, Scott

    2017-01-01

    Over the past 45 years, the construct of syntactic sophistication has been assessed in L2 writing using what Bulté and Housen (2012) refer to as absolute complexity (Lu, 2011; Ortega, 2003; Wolfe-Quintero, Inagaki, & Kim, 1998). However, it has been argued that making inferences about learners based on absolute complexity indices (e.g., mean…

  9. Genre and Second-Language Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paltridge, Brian

    2014-01-01

    The term "genre" first came into the field of second-language (L2) writing and, in turn, the field of English for specific purposes (ESP) in the 1980s, with the research of John Swales, first carried out in the UK, into the introduction section of research articles. Other important figures in this area are Tony Dudley-Evans, Ann Johns…

  10. Linguistic Features of Humor in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skalicky, Stephen; Berger, Cynthia M.; Crossley, Scott A.; McNamara, Danielle S.

    2016-01-01

    A corpus of 313 freshman college essays was analyzed in order to better understand the forms and functions of humor in academic writing. Human ratings of humor and wordplay were statistically aggregated using Factor Analysis to provide an overall "Humor" component score for each essay in the corpus. In addition, the essays were also…

  11. Write to the Top! How to Become a Prolific Academic

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, W. Brad; Mullen, Carol A.

    2007-01-01

    This concise guide to writing is designed to help any academic become not only productive but truly prolific. It is a pithy, no-nonsense, no-excuses guide to maximizing the quality and quantity of scholarly output. The authors offer an accessible overview of the art of writing efficiently and effectively, provide a one-stop source for the nuts and…

  12. Academic Writing: Supporting Faculty in a Critical Competency for Success

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dankoski, Mary E.; Palmer, Megan M.; Banks, Julianna; Brutkiewicz, Randy R.; Walvoord, Emily; Hoffmann-Longtin, Krista; Bogdewic, Stephen P.; Gopen, George D.

    2012-01-01

    All faculty regardless of discipline or school need to be highly competent at writing for an academic audience. The "publish or perish" pressure is alive and well for academic advancement, publications, and external grant funding. Yet few faculty, particularly in the health professions and sciences, receive formal training on the craft…

  13. Embedded academic writing support for nursing students with English as a second language.

    PubMed

    Salamonson, Yenna; Koch, Jane; Weaver, Roslyn; Everett, Bronwyn; Jackson, Debra

    2010-02-01

    This paper reports a study which evaluated a brief, embedded academic support workshop as a strategy for improving academic writing skills in first-year nursing students with low-to-medium English language proficiency. Nursing students who speak English as a second language have lower academic success compared with their native English-speaking counterparts. The development of academic writing skills is known to be most effective when embedded into discipline-specific curricula. Using a randomized controlled design, in 2008 106 students pre-enrolled in an introductory bioscience subject were randomized to receive either the intervention, a 4-day embedded academic learning support workshop facilitated by two bioscience (content) nursing academics and a writing and editing professional, or to act as the control group. The primary focus of the workshop was to support students to work through a mock assignment by providing progressive feedback and written suggestions on how to improve their answers. Of the 59 students randomized to the intervention, only 28 attended the workshop. Bioscience assignment results were analysed for those who attended (attendees), those randomized to the intervention but who did not attend (non-attendees), and the control group. Using anova, the results indicated that attendees achieved statistically significantly higher mean scores (70.8, sd: 6.1) compared to both control group (58.4, sd: 3.4, P = 0.002) and non-attendees (48.5, sd: 5.5, P = 0.001). A brief, intensive, embedded academic support workshop was effective in improving the academic writing ability of nursing students with low-to-medium English language proficiency, although reaching all students who are likely to benefit from this intervention remains a challenge.

  14. Action Research and Academic Writing: A Conversation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winter, Richard; Badley, Graham

    2007-01-01

    Here is a conversation between two former colleagues about action research and academic writing. Richard Winter opens the discussion with a series of reflections on his work as an action researcher. These reflections include the key argument that action research is a noble cause because it is relevant to working life, has a practical impact and…

  15. The Impact of Canadian Social Discourses on L2 Writing Pedagogy in Ontario

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalan, Amir

    2013-01-01

    This paper attempts to illustrate the impact of Canadian social, political, and academic discourses on second language writing pedagogy in Ontario schools. Building upon the views that regard teacher knowledge as teachers' sociocultural interactions and lived experiences, and not merely intellectual capabilities gained within teacher preparation,…

  16. Turnitin and Peer Review in ESL Academic Writing Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Jinrong; Li, Mimi

    2018-01-01

    Despite the benefits of peer review, there are still challenges that need to be addressed to make it more effective for L2 students. With the development of technology, computer-mediated peer review has captured increasing attention from L2 writing researchers and instructors. While Turnitin is known for its use in detecting plagiarism, its newly…

  17. Write on the Edge: Using a Chemistry Corpus to Develop Academic Writing Skills Resources for Undergraduate Chemists

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruce, M. L.; Coffer, P. K.; Rees, S.; Robson, J. M.

    2016-01-01

    Many undergraduate students find the production of an extended piece of academic writing challenging. This challenge is more acute in the sciences where production of extended texts is infrequent throughout undergraduate studies. This paper reports the development of a new English for Academic Purposes (EAP) workshop and associated resources for…

  18. Superordinate Precision: An Examination of Academic Writing Among Bilingual Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students.

    PubMed

    Scott, Jessica A; Hoffmeister, Robert J

    2018-04-01

    Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an important role in the reading proficiency of DHH students in middle and high school. The current study expands this research to investigate academic English by examining student proficiency with a sub-skill of academic writing called superordinate precision, the taxonomical categorization of a term. Currently there is no research that examines DHH students' proficiency with superordinate precision. Middle and high school DHH students enrolled in bilingual schools for the deaf were assessed on their ASL proficiency, academic English proficiency, reading comprehension, and use of superordinate precision in definitions writing. Findings indicate that student use of superordinate precision in definitions writing was correlated with ASL proficiency, reading comprehension, and academic English proficiency. It is possible that degree of mastery of superordinate precision may indicate a higher overall level of proficiency with academic English. This may have important implications for assessment of and instruction in academic English literacy.

  19. "By-Products": The Added Value of Academic Writing Instruction for Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perpignan, Hadara; Rubin, Bella; Katznelson, Helen

    2007-01-01

    We previously defined the "by-products" of academic writing instruction as "affective and social changes perceived by students, "along with" changes in their writing, reflected in interpersonal and intrapersonal behaviors carried over into other spheres of their lives" [Katznelson, Perpignan, & Rubin, 2001. What…

  20. A Model of Research Paper Writing Instructional Materials for Academic Writing Course: "Needs & Documents Analysis and Model Design"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ghufron, M. Ali; Saleh, Mursid; Warsono; Sofwan, Ahmad

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed at designing a model of instructional materials for Academic Writing Course focusing on research paper writing. The model was designed based on the Curriculum at the English Education Study Program, Faculty of Language and Art Education of IKIP PGRI Bojonegoro, East Java, Indonesia. This model was developed in order to improve…

  1. The Consequences of Integrating Faith into Academic Writing: Casuistic Stretching and Biblical Citation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ringer, Jeffrey M.

    2013-01-01

    This essay considers how a male evangelical Christian in a first-year writing (FYW) course at a state university negotiates his identity in his academic writing for a non-Christian audience. It focuses on how "Austin" casuistically stretches a biblical text to accommodate his audience's pluralistic perspective. Austin's writing thus provides a…

  2. The Influence of Students' L1 and Spoken English in English Writing: A Corpus-Based Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prihantoro

    2016-01-01

    Academic writing requires both style and grammatical correctness; however, efforts in improving the quality of English academic writing by non-native students have been focused on grammar. Structures observed in this study were grammatically correct, but considered unnatural in academic writing genre. This research involves a group of non-native…

  3. Teaching Scientific/Academic Writing in the Digital Age

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peretz, Arna

    2005-01-01

    This paper describes a graduate-level scientific/academic writing course for non-native speakers (NNS) of English at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Israel, which is taught in a technology-enhanced or blended learning environment. The use and integration of electronic discourses, such as email and Powerpoint, on-screen marking…

  4. Connecting Reading and Writing Using Children's Literature in the University L2 Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leal, Priscila

    2015-01-01

    This article investigates the potential benefits of using children's literature in adult second language (L2) classrooms. A short-term, intensive university course for English reading and writing was designed incorporating children's literature into the curriculum. The author describes the course and discusses how children's literature can be used…

  5. International Graduate Students' Academic Writing Practices in Malaysia: Challenges and Solutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on the challenges faced by non-native English speaking international graduate students in their academic writing practices while they studied at a university in Malaysia as well as the solutions they employed when faced with the challenges. Academic Literacies Questionnaire was used to collect data. Based on 131 participants,…

  6. Mastering Academic Language: Organization and Stance in the Persuasive Writing of High School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uccelli, Paola; Dobbs, Christina L.; Scott, Jessica

    2013-01-01

    Beyond mechanics and spelling conventions, academic writing requires progressive mastery of advanced language forms and functions. Pedagogically useful tools to assess such language features in adolescents' writing, however, are not yet available. This study examines language predictors of writing quality in 51 persuasive essays produced by high…

  7. Writing Strategy Instruction: Its Impact on Writing in a Second Language for Academic Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Silva, Radhika

    2015-01-01

    Writing for academic purposes in a second/foreign language is a major challenge faced by many students at both secondary and tertiary levels. This suggests that displaying content knowledge and understanding of a subject through a second language is a very complex process. This article discusses the findings of a longitudinal intervention study…

  8. Ethnography as Method, Methodology, and "Deep Theorizing" Closing the Gap between Text and Context in Academic Writing Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lillis, Theresa

    2008-01-01

    This article critically explores the value of ethnography for enhancing context-sensitive approaches to the study of academic writing. Drawing on data from two longitudinal studies, student writing in the United Kingdom and professional academic writing in Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, and Portugal, the author illustrates the different contributions…

  9. Creating an Oasis: Some Insights into the Practice and Theory of a Successful Academic Writing Group

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wardale, D.; Hendrickson, T.; Jefferson, T.; Klass, D.; Lord, L.; Marinelli, M.

    2015-01-01

    Academic writing groups are acknowledged as a successful approach to increasing research publication output and quality. However, the possible links between the formation and ongoing utilisation of writing groups and improvements in scholarly written research outputs remain relatively undertheorised. In this article, we draw on academic writing…

  10. An online academic writing and publishing skills course: Help Syrians find their voice

    PubMed Central

    Sabouni, Ammar; Chaar, Abdelkader; Bdaiwi, Yamama; Masrani, Abdulrahman; Abolaban, Heba; Alahdab, Fares; Firwana, Belal; Al-Moujahed, Ahmad

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: A group of Arab-American physicians and researchers in the United States organized a blended online course in academic writing and publishing in medicine targeting medical students and physicians in war-torn Syria. This was an effort to address one of the reasons behind the poor quantity and quality of scientific research papers in Syria and the Arab region. In this paper, we report on the design, conduct, and outcome of this course and attempt to evaluate its effectiveness. Methods: The educational intervention was a 2-month blended online course. We administered a questionnaire to assess satisfaction and self-reported improvement in knowledge, confidence, and skills of academic writing and publishing. Results: The course succeeded in reaching more than 2588 physicians and medical students from the region; 159 of them completed most of the course. Eighty-three percent of the participants felt that they were confident enough to write an academic paper after the course and 95% felt the learning objectives were achieved with an average student satisfaction of 8.4 out of 10. Conclusion: Physicians in Syria and neighboring countries are in need of training to become an active part of the global scientific community and to document and communicate the crisis their countries are going through from a medical perspective. Low-cost online educational initiatives help respond, at least partially, to those needs. PMID:28791242

  11. Mentor Texts and the Coding of Academic Writing Structures: A Functional Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Escobar Alméciga, Wilder Yesid; Evans, Reid

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the present pedagogical experience was to address the English language writing needs of university-level students pursuing a degree in bilingual education with an emphasis in the teaching of English. Using mentor texts and coding academic writing structures, an instructional design was developed to directly address the shortcomings…

  12. The Use and Misuse of Academic Words in Writing: Analyzing the Writing of Secondary English Learners and Redesignated Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cons, Andrea Marie

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the specific ways secondary English learners (ELs) and redesignated fluent English-proficient learners (RFEPs) use academic vocabulary that assesses interpretive reading and analytical writing ability. The research examines how ELs and RFEPs, formerly ELs, differ in use and misuse of academic words. The study extends…

  13. Promoting Writing for Research: The "Writing Retreat" Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singh, R. J.

    2012-01-01

    Research papers take a long time to write and in an academic environment where the "publish or perish" clause applies, writing retreats are a way of creating time and space to write academic articles in a concentrated period of time. This article examines ways in which academics can write more articles for publication. In particular it…

  14. Written Corrective Feedback in L2 Writing: Connors & Lunsford (1988); Lunsford & Lunsford (2008); Lalande (1982) Dana Ferris

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferris, Dana

    2015-01-01

    Written corrective feedback (CF) has been the most heavily researched topic in second language (L2) writing over the past 20 years. As a recent research timeline article in this journal (Ferris 2012; see also Bitchener & Ferris 2012) shows, studies of error correction in student writing have crossed disciplines (composition and rhetoric,…

  15. Reading and Writing as Academic Literacy in EAP Program of Indonesian Leaners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solikhah, Imroatus

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates academic literacy imposed in reading and writing for academic purposes in the EAP program. This study uses descriptive design elaborating data from curriculum documents and interviews. Involving 45 participants from IAIN Surakarta and Veteran University, data were analyzed using constant-comparison and inductive analysis…

  16. Leveraging the Potential of Peer Feedback in an Academic Writing Activity through Sense-Making Support

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wichmann, Astrid; Funk, Alexandra; Rummel, Nikol

    2018-01-01

    The act of revising is an important aspect of academic writing. Although revision is crucial for eliminating writing errors and producing high-quality texts, research on writing expertise shows that novices rarely engage in revision activities. Providing information on writing errors by means of peer feedback has become a popular method in writing…

  17. A Creative Approach to the Research Paper: Combining Creative Writing with Academic Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blue, Tim

    2006-01-01

    This article describes a combination of a research essay and a creative writing assignment that encourages rigorous academic research while allowing students to get "outside the box" of traditional academic research papers. This assignment has five steps. The first two steps offer the chance to introduce academic research along with summary and…

  18. British Students' Academic Writing: Can Academia Help Improve the Writing Skills of Tomorrow's Professionals?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sultan, Nabil

    2013-01-01

    The problem of poor academic writing among British university students is a major cause of concern for universities and their tutors; and it is also of concern to employers struggling to recruit individuals able to communicate clearly and accurately. This article reports on a study designed to highlight some of the reasons for the lack of writing…

  19. The Development and Use of Cohesive Devices in L2 Writing and Their Relations to Judgments of Essay Quality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crossley, Scott A.; Kyle, Kristopher; McNamara, Danielle S.

    2016-01-01

    An important topic in writing research has been the use of cohesive features. Much of this research has focused on local and text cohesion. The few studies that have studied global cohesion have been restricted to first language writing. This study investigates the development of local, global, and text cohesion in the writing of 57 language (L2)…

  20. Academic essay writing in the first person: a guide for undergraduates.

    PubMed

    Hamill, C

    In this article, Conal Hamill aims to contribute to the on-going debate about the appropriate use of first person writing in academic nursing assignments and provide guidance for nursing undergraduates.

  1. Investigating the Interactions among Genre, Task Complexity, and Proficiency in L2 Writing: A Comprehensive Text Analysis and Study of Learner Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Hyung-Jo

    2017-01-01

    In this study, I explored the interactions among genre, task complexity, and L2 proficiency in learners' writing task performance. Specifically, after identifying the lack of valid operationalizations of genre and task dimensions in L2 writing research, I examined how genre functions as a task complexity variable, and how learners' perceptions and…

  2. Gender Differences in Academic Achievement: Is Writing an Exception to the Gender Similarities Hypothesis?

    PubMed

    Reynolds, Matthew R; Scheiber, Caroline; Hajovsky, Daniel B; Schwartz, Bryanna; Kaufman, Alan S

    2015-01-01

    The gender similarities hypothesis by J. S. Hyde ( 2005 ), based on large-scale reviews of studies, concludes that boys and girls are more alike than different on most psychological variables, including academic skills such as reading and math (J. S. Hyde, 2005 ). Writing is an academic skill that may be an exception. The authors investigated gender differences in academic achievement using a large, nationally stratified sample of children and adolescents ranging from ages 7-19 years (N = 2,027). Achievement data were from the conormed sample for the Kaufman intelligence and achievement tests. Multiple-indicator, multiple-cause, and multigroup mean and covariance structure models were used to test for mean differences. Girls had higher latent reading ability and higher scores on a test of math computation, but the effect sizes were consistent with the gender similarities hypothesis. Conversely, girls scored higher on spelling and written expression, with effect sizes inconsistent with the gender similarities hypothesis. The findings remained the same after controlling for cognitive ability. Girls outperform boys on tasks of writing.

  3. Caught between Two Stools? Academic Writing in "New" Vocational Disciplines in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strauss, Pat

    2017-01-01

    "New" vocational disciplines often struggle for acceptance in the academy. The marginalising of these disciplines impacts on their teaching and learning environment often to the detriment of staff and students. This study focuses both on the role academic writing plays in this marginalisation and how the teaching of such writing is…

  4. Deliberate False Provisions: The Use and Usefulness of Models in Learning Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Macbeth, Karen P.

    2010-01-01

    Although models have been a mainstay of academic writing pedagogy for centuries, a recurrent critique has been that they control or limit student writing and misrepresent the affairs they claim to model. These insufficiencies notwithstanding, models are ubiquitous in the ordinary, practical world, and their usefulness to novices can easily go…

  5. Talking about Writing: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adolescents' Socialization into Academic Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilliland, Elizabeth A.

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation describes and analyzes the academic language socialization of culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents through a multi-case ethnographic study of high school writing instruction in California. I argue that there is a significant gap between the norms for writing in English language development classes and those in the…

  6. The Space Between: Pedagogic Collaboration between a Writing Centre and an Academic Department

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mckay, Tracey Morton; Simpson, Zachary

    2013-01-01

    The expectations placed on students with respect to appropriate academic writing may hinder successful participation in Higher Education. Full participation is further complicated by the fact that each discipline within the University constitutes its own community of practice, with its own set of literacy practices. While Writing Centres aim to…

  7. Measurements of Development in L2 Written Production: The Case of L2 Chinese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiang, Wenying

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates measures for second language (L2) writing development. A T-unit, which has been found the most satisfactory unit of analysis for measuring L2 development in English, is extended to measure L2 Chinese writing development through a cross-sectional design in this study. Data were collected from three L2 Chinese learner groups…

  8. The Use of Academic Words in the Analytical Writing of Secondary English Learners and Native English Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cons, Andrea M.

    2013-01-01

    This study explores the following research question: How do secondary English learners (ELs) and Re-designated fluent English proficient students (RFEPs) use academic words in analytical writing in comparison to native English speakers (NESs)? It highlights previously overlooked differences in academic word use in the writing of students who are…

  9. Critical Argument and Writer Identity: Social Constructivism as a Theoretical Framework for EFL Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKinley, Jim

    2015-01-01

    This article makes the argument that we need to situate student's academic writing as socially constructed pieces of writing that embody a writer's cultural identity and critical argument. In support, I present and describe a comprehensive model of an original English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing analytical framework. This article explains…

  10. Writing II for 2nd Year EFL Student Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdallah, Mahmoud M. S.

    2015-01-01

    Writing is a very important skill that should be mastered properly by university students, especially pre-service language teachers (e.g. EFL student teachers). In order to present their ideas efficiently in the context of their academic study, they have to be trained well on how to write meaningful pieces (e.g. essays, academic reports,…

  11. High Schoolers' Views on Academic Integrity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bacha, Nahla Nola; Bahous, Rima; Nabhani, Mona

    2012-01-01

    The issue of academic integrity in cheating on exams and plagiarising in writing is not a new one. All schools need to address this problem and some more than others. In the L2 context, the issues become more complex as non-native students need to adhere to the "culture of learning" of a Western model of academic integrity if they are to…

  12. Three ESL Students Writing a Policy Paper Assignment: An Activity-Analytic Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Yongyan

    2013-01-01

    How university students write from sources has been an issue of long-standing interest among researchers of advanced academic literacy. Previous research in this regard in the context of L2 writing has tended to focus on novices' textual borrowing; less attention has been given to exploring the potential light that theories from other intellectual…

  13. The confounding factors leading to plagiarism in academic writing and some suggested remedies: A systematic review.

    PubMed

    Guraya, Salman Yousuf; Guraya, Shaista Salman

    2017-05-01

    There is a staggering upsurge in the incidence of plagiarism of scientific literature. Literature shows divergent views about the factors that make plagiarism reprehensible. This review explores the causes and remedies for the perennial academic problem of plagiarism. Data sources were searched for full text English language articles published from 2000 to 2015. Data selection was done using medical subject headline (MeSH) terms plagiarism, unethical writing, academic theft, retraction, medical field, and plagiarism detection software. Data extraction was undertaken by selecting titles from retrieved references and data synthesis identified key factors leading to plagiarism such as unawareness of research ethics, poor writing skills and pressure or publish mantra. Plagiarism can be managed by a balance among its prevention, detection by plagiarism detection software, and institutional sanctions against proven plagiarists. Educating researchers about ethical principles of academic writing and institutional support in training writers about academic integrity and ethical publications can curtail plagiarism.

  14. Academic Writing in the Business School: The Genre of the Business Case Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nathan, Philip

    2013-01-01

    The writing of business case reports is a common requirement for students on academic business programmes and presents significant challenges for both native and non-native speaker students. In order to support the development of pedagogical practice in the teaching of case report writing, this paper reports a genre-based study of a corpus of 53…

  15. Outcome Measure of L2 Writing as a Mediator of the Effects of Corrective Feedback on Students' Ability to Write Accurately

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riazantseva, Anastasia

    2012-01-01

    This study used longitudinal data and a pre-post test design to examine the effect of the outcome measure of L2 writing on the accuracy rates of thirty-two international graduate students enrolled in a semester-long content-based EAP course. As part of the coursework, the students completed weekly written assignments on which they received weekly…

  16. Writing Abilities Longitudinally Predict Academic Outcomes of Adolescents with ADHD

    PubMed Central

    Molitor, Stephen J.; Langberg, Joshuah M.; Bourchtein, Elizaveta; Eddy, Laura D.; Dvorsky, Melissa R.; Evans, Steven W.

    2016-01-01

    Students with ADHD often experience a host of negative academic outcomes and deficits in reading and mathematics abilities contribute to these academic impairments. Students with ADHD may also have difficulties with written expression but there has been minimal research in this area and it is not clear whether written expression abilities uniquely contribute to the academic functioning of students with ADHD. The current study included a sample of 104 middle school students diagnosed with ADHD (grades 6–8). Participants were followed longitudinally to evaluate whether written expression abilities at baseline predicted student GPA and parent ratings of academic impairment 18 months later, after controlling for reading ability and additional relevant covariates. Written expression abilities longitudinally predicted both academic outcomes above and beyond ADHD and ODD symptoms, medication use, reading ability, and baseline values of GPA and parent-rated academic impairment. Follow-up analyses revealed that no single aspect of written expression was demonstrably more impactful on academic outcomes than the others, suggesting that writing as an entire process should be the focus of intervention. PMID:26783650

  17. Difficulties in Academic Writing: From the Perspective of King Saud University Postgraduate Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al Fadda, Hind

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine what difficulties King Saud University students encounter when learning to write academic English and to differentiate between students' learning needs and objectives. The sample consisted of 50 postgraduate students enrolled in King Saud University during the academic year 2009-2010. Analysis of the data…

  18. Academic Boot Camp for the Writing of Psychology Research Reports

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skues, Jason L.; Wise, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    Herein, we describe the implementation of, and responses to, a structured writing workshop in the form of an academic boot camp. Participants were 42 undergraduate psychology students from a medium-sized Australian university who were completing their major assignment for the semester. A majority of the students expressed satisfaction with the…

  19. Academic Writing in Context: Implications and Applications. Papers in Honour of Tony Dudley-Evans.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hewings, Martin, Ed.

    The papers in this volume were collected to honor T. Dudley-Evans on his retirement from the University of Birmingham. They explore a number of themes of current interest to those engaged in English language teaching and academic writing. The papers are: (1) Introduction (Martin Hewings); (2) Distance and Refined Selves: Educational Tensions in…

  20. Academic Writing for Graduate-Level English as a Second Language Students: Experiences in Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sidman-Taveau, Rebekah; Karathanos-Aguilar, Katya

    2015-01-01

    Graduate-level ESL students in Education are future multicultural educators and promising role models for our diverse K-12 students. However, many of these students struggle with academic English and, in particular, writing. Yet little research or program development addresses the specific writing-support needs of this group. This article shares…

  1. Ethical and Unethical Methods of Plagiarism Prevention in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bakhtiyari, Kaveh; Salehi, Hadi; Embi, Mohamed Amin; Shakiba, Masoud; Zavvari, Azam; Shahbazi-Moghadam, Masoomeh; Ebrahim, Nader Ale; Mohammadjafari, Marjan

    2014-01-01

    This paper discusses plagiarism origins, and the ethical solutions to prevent it. It also reviews some unethical approaches, which may be used to decrease the plagiarism rate in academic writings. We propose eight ethical techniques to avoid unconscious and accidental plagiarism in manuscripts without using online systems such as Turnitin and/or…

  2. Exploring Barriers and Solutions to Academic Writing: Perspectives from Students, Higher Education and Further Education Tutors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Itua, Imose; Coffey, Margaret; Merryweather, David; Norton, Lin; Foxcroft, Angela

    2014-01-01

    Staff and student perceptions of what constitutes good academic writing in both further and higher education often differ. This is reflected in written assignments which frequently fall below the expected standard. In seeking to develop the writing skills of students and propose potential solutions to writing difficulties, a study was conducted in…

  3. Merging a Metalinguistic Grammar Approach with L2 Academic Process Writing: ELLs in Community College

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Camhi, Paul J.; Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein

    2008-01-01

    This action research study evaluates a classroom approach incorporating a reflective, metacognitive component within a second language process-oriented writing environment. Inspired by the literature and developed by the first author, this approach seeks to provide English language learners (ELLs) with a command of metalinguistic principles…

  4. Reviewing to Learn: Graduate Student Participation in the Professional Peer-Review Process to Improve Academic Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chittum, Jessica R.; Bryant, Lauren H.

    2014-01-01

    Although expectations for graduate students' writing abilities are high, their actual writing skills are often subpar (Cuthbert & Spark, 2008; Singleton-Jackson, Lumsden, & Newson, 2009), even though academic writing is considered integral to graduate education and necessary for career preparedness (e.g., Mullen, 2006; Stevens, 2005).…

  5. Writing abilities longitudinally predict academic outcomes of adolescents with ADHD.

    PubMed

    Molitor, Stephen J; Langberg, Joshua M; Bourchtein, Elizaveta; Eddy, Laura D; Dvorsky, Melissa R; Evans, Steven W

    2016-09-01

    Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience a host of negative academic outcomes, and deficits in reading and mathematics abilities contribute to these academic impairments. Students with ADHD may also have difficulties with written expression, but there has been minimal research in this area and it is not clear whether written expression abilities uniquely contribute to the academic functioning of students with ADHD. The current study included a sample of 104 middle school students diagnosed with ADHD (Grades 6-8). Participants were followed longitudinally to evaluate whether written expression abilities at baseline predicted student grade point average (GPA) and parent ratings of academic impairment 18 months later, after controlling for reading ability and additional relevant covariates. Written expression abilities longitudinally predicted both academic outcomes above and beyond ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, medication use, reading ability, and baseline values of GPA and parent-rated academic impairment. Follow-up analyses revealed that no single aspect of written expression was demonstrably more impactful on academic outcomes than the others, suggesting that writing as an entire process should be the focus of intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. Automated Writing Evaluation for Non-Native Speaker English Academic Writing: The Case of IADE and Its Formative Feedback

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cotos, Elena

    2010-01-01

    This dissertation presents an innovative approach to the development and empirical evaluation of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) technology used for teaching and learning. It introduces IADE (Intelligent Academic Discourse Evaluator), a new web-based AWE program that analyzes research article Introduction sections and generates immediate,…

  7. Reconsiderations: We Got the Wrong Gal--Rethinking the "Bad" Academic Writing of Judith Butler

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Birkenstein, Cathy

    2010-01-01

    It is hard to think of a writer whose work has been more prominently upheld as an example of bad academic writing than the philosopher and literary theorist Judith Butler. In 1998, Butler was awarded first prize in the annual Bad Writing Contest established by the journal "Philosophy and Literature," and early in 1999, was lampooned in an…

  8. Teaching Writing within the Disciplines: A Viable Approach for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Instructors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leopold, Lisa

    2011-01-01

    This case study of an adjunct-model English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course linked to a policy-analysis course describes an effective approach for putting "specificity" into practice in EAP curriculum design. The rationale for interdisciplinary collaboration, the positive learning outcomes from the EAP writing course, the…

  9. Open and Anonymous Peer Review in a Digital Online Environment Compared in Academic Writing Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Razi, Salim

    2016-01-01

    This study compares the impact of "open" and "anonymous" peer feedback as an adjunct to teacher-mediated feedback in a digital online environment utilising data gathered on an academic writing course at a Turkish university. Students were divided into two groups with similar writing proficiencies. Students peer reviewed papers…

  10. Strengthening Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bodnar, Julie R.; Petrucelli, Susan L.

    2016-01-01

    Underprepared students often need assistance building writing skills and maintaining confidence in their abilities and potential. The authors share the philosophy, pedagogy, and experience of freshman developmental education and the writing center at a four-year, private, not-for-profit urban college. They describe high-impact educational…

  11. Diagnosing University Students' Academic Writing in English: Is Cognitive Diagnostic Modelling the Way Forward?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Xie, Qin

    2017-01-01

    The study utilised a fine-grained diagnostic checklist to assess first-year undergraduates in Hong Kong and evaluated its validity and usefulness for diagnosing academic writing in English. Ten English language instructors marked 472 academic essays with the checklist. They also agreed on a Q-matrix, which specified the relationships among the…

  12. Competence in Lexical Boosters and Nativeness in Academic Writing of English: The Possible Relation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demir, Cüneyt

    2017-01-01

    Boosters are an important metadiscourse device for writers because it creates an emphatic impression in the reader. In addition, the competence of metadiscourse devices such as boosters is crucial in having native-fluency in academic writing. Therefore, this avoidance of using boosters may spawn foreignness in non-native writers' academic texts.…

  13. Concordancers and Dictionaries as Problem-Solving Tools for ESL Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Choongil

    2016-01-01

    The present study investigated how 6 Korean ESL graduate students in Canada used a suite of freely available reference resources, consisting of Web-based corpus tools, Google search engines, and dictionaries, for solving linguistic problems while completing an authentic academic writing assignment in English. Using a mixed methods design, the…

  14. Graduate Students' Needs and Preferences for Written Feedback on Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this research is to examine graduate students' needs and preferences for written feedback on academic writing from their lecturers and thesis supervisors. Quantitative method via survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 21 respondents. The data collection involved Master and Doctorate students at a tertiary level institution…

  15. Collaborative Writing among Second Language Learners in Academic Web-Based Projects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kessler, Greg; Bikowski, Dawn; Boggs, Jordan

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates Web-based, project oriented, many-to-many collaborative writing for academic purposes. Thirty-eight Fulbright scholars in an orientation program at a large Midwestern university used a Web-based word processing tool to collaboratively plan and report on a research project. The purpose of this study is to explore and…

  16. Stigma, Tensions, and Apprehension: The Academic Writing Experience of International Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maringe, Felix; Jenkins, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: This paper examines the experiences of engaging with academic writing of international doctoral students in the schools of humanities and education at a UK university. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the real accounts of international students whose cultural and language backgrounds are often marginalised and considered, not as…

  17. A Case Study into the Writing of Chinese Postgraduate Students in a UK Academic Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lan, Feng

    2015-01-01

    This case study explores the problematic issues in academic writing of three Chinese postgraduate students studying in UK academic environment. It aims to attempt to identify mismatches in lecturer and postgraduate student expectations and to understand the reasoning behind these mismatches from the students' perspective. This study was carried…

  18. Disciplinary Epistemologies, Generic Attributes and Undergraduate Academic Writing in Nursing and Midwifery

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gimenez, Julio

    2012-01-01

    Generic attributes such as "holding a critical stance", "using evidence to support claims", and "projecting an impersonal voice" are central to disciplinary academic writing in higher education. These attributes, also referred to as "skills", have for a long time been conceptualised as transferable in that…

  19. Lexical Bundles in the Academic Writing of Advanced Chinese EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wei, Yaoyu; Lei, Lei

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated the use of lexical bundles in the academic writing of advanced Chinese EFL learners. A corpus of doctoral dissertations by the learners and a corpus of published journal articles by professional writers were collected for the study. Four-word lexical bundles in the two corpora were identified and analysed. Results…

  20. An Interview Study of Learner Motivation and Learner Involvement in Mandatory College-Level Academic Writing Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vanniarajan, Swathi M.

    2011-01-01

    Scholarship in applied linguistics has not sufficiently addressed learner motivation in mandatory writing classes in postsecondary settings. The data collected through short interviews from 20 students enrolled in a mandatory academic writing program at the junior/senior level in a California State University indicated that learner motivation in…

  1. Graduate Students as Academic Writers: Writing Anxiety, Self-Efficacy and Emotional Intelligence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huerta, Margarita; Goodson, Patricia; Beigi, Mina; Chlup, Dominique

    2017-01-01

    Researchers interested in psychological factors affecting writers in higher-education institutions, or academic writers, are concerned with internal variables affecting writing productivity; however few empirical studies explore these factors with samples of students who are in the process of earning master's or doctoral degrees (i.e., graduate…

  2. Deconstructing Attitudes towards Plagiarism of Japanese Undergraduates in EFL Academic Writing Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teeter, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    In this study, a qualitative analysis of 276 first-year Japanese university science major responses to plagiarism to deconstruct prevailing generalizations regarding the incidence of plagiarism by Japanese university students. These students were enrolled in a compulsory yearlong English academic writing course. While utilizing a contextualized…

  3. Transforming and Constructing Academic Knowledge through Online Peer Feedback in Summary Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Yu-Fen

    2016-01-01

    Recognizing that graduate students seldom have the opportunity to participate collaboratively, either in providing or receiving feedback to improve their academic writing skills, this study reports on the design of a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) system used to investigate how graduate students transform and construct their…

  4. Promoting critical thinking and academic writing skills in nurse education.

    PubMed

    Borglin, Gunilla

    2012-07-01

    Although academic skills, conceptualised as writing and critical thinking, are a vital part of university studies, research indicates that many students leave without having mastered these skills effectively. This research also reflects on nursing students. Nursing could also be said to be hampered by a number of complex educational challenges that are likely to impact on the academic socialisation process in general. These challenges include being a relatively 'young' academic discipline, the 'theory-practice' divide, a knowledge bed lying on a complex intersection of two 'antithetical sciences' and, at least in the Scandinavian countries, an increasing number of nurse educators with a PhD in nursing science but with limited time to develop their own teaching skills. In combination, these challenges have the potential to act as stumbling blocks, both from a teaching and learning perspective. I would suggest that a departure in teaching from theoretical educational models, such as Lea and Street's 'academic literacies model,' including skills, socialisation and academic literacy models simultaneously, could be one of several ways forward to create a learning environment that takes these issues into account. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Revisiting Fluctuations in L2 Article Choice in L1-Korean L2-English Learners.

    PubMed

    Sarker, Bijon K; Baek, Seunghyun

    2017-04-01

    The current study investigated the distinction of L2 (second language) English article choice sensitivity in fifty-three L1-Korean L2-English learners in semantic contexts. In the context of English as a foreign language, the participants were divided into two groups based on grammatical ability as determined by their performance on a cloze test. In addition, a forced-choice elicitation test and a writing production test were administered to assess, respectively, the participants' receptive and productive article choice abilities. Regardless of grammatical ability, the results disclosed the overuse of the indefinite a in the [[Formula: see text]definite, -specific] context and the definite the in the [-definite, [Formula: see text]specific] context on the forced-choice elicitation test. In the [[Formula: see text]definite, [Formula: see text]specific] and [-definite, -specific] contexts, however, the overuse of either the indefinite a or the definite the, respectively, was less likely. Furthermore, it was revealed on the writing test that the participants more accurately used the definite the than the indefinite a, and they were also found to unreasonably omit more articles than to add or substitute articles on the writing production test. The findings across the two tests indicate that L1-Korean L2-English learners are more likely to have intrinsic difficulties transferring their L1 noun phrase (NP) knowledge to L2 NP knowledge owing to structural discrepancies and complex interfaces between L1 NPs and L2 NPs with respect to syntactic, semantic and pragmatic/discourse language subsystems.

  6. Laying the Foundation for Successful Non-Academic Writing: Professional Communication Principles in the K-5 Curricula of the McKinney Independent School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trevino, Marlea

    2009-01-01

    Traditionally, K-5 students' writing has had a primarily academic aim--to help students master concepts and express themselves. Even if students take a professional writing course later, they typically do not have the opportunity to practice--over the long period of time mastery requires--the non-academic writing skills they will be required to…

  7. Nursing students' understanding of critical thinking and appraisal and academic writing: a descriptive, qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Borglin, Gunilla; Fagerström, Cecilia

    2012-11-01

    In Sweden, regulations from the National Agency for Higher Education advocate an education that equips students with independence as well as critical, problem-based thinking, i.e. academic literacy skills. However, some research findings indicate that students may leave higher education without mastering these skills effectively. As part of quality-assuring a nursing programme at a university college in south-east Sweden we explored the nursing student's view of crucial academic literacy skills, such as critical thinking and appraisal and academic writing, by conducting a descriptive, qualitative study. Informants were recruited through an advertisement posted on the university's e-learning tool. Eight focused interviews were conducted during autumn 2010. The transcribed interviews were analysed - inspired by content analysis - and two categories became apparent: constantly questioning and formality before substance. The latter revealed a gap between the student's perception of academic writing and that of the educators, thus implying that nursing students might not be equipped with the tools they need to develop within academia. We suggest that students could benefit in their academic endeavours from theoretical educational models that integrate several academic skills simultaneously and which could be incorporated into the development of syllabuses and curriculums. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Action Research: Applying a Bilingual Parallel Corpus Collocational Concordancer to Taiwanese Medical School EFL Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reynolds, Barry Lee

    2016-01-01

    Lack of knowledge in the conventional usage of collocations in one's respective field of expertise cause Taiwanese students to produce academic writing that is markedly different than more competent writing. This is because Taiwanese students are first and foremost English as a Foreign language (EFL) readers and may have difficulties picking up on…

  9. Technology to Support Writing by Students with Learning and Academic Disabilities: Recent Research Trends and Findings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peterson-Karlan, George R.

    2011-01-01

    The trends and findings from a descriptive analysis of 25 years of research studies examining the effectiveness of technology to support the compositional writing of students with learning and academic disabilities are presented. A corpus of 85 applied research studies of writing technology effectiveness was identified from among 249 items in the…

  10. Exploring L2 Writing Conferences: Discourse and Effects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ji, Soohyon

    2017-01-01

    One-to-one writing conferences, which allow maximized individualized interaction between student-writers and teacher-readers, are widely adopted teaching practices in composition classrooms. One of the most frequently mentioned benefits of writing conferences is that individual sessions between a teacher and student allows and promotes individual…

  11. An International Journal's Attempts to Address Inequalities in Academic Publishing: Developing a Writing for Publication Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lillis, Theresa; Magyar, Anna; Robinson-Pant, Anna

    2010-01-01

    Scholars around the world are under increasing pressure to publish in English, in Anglophone centre journals. At the same time, research on professional academic writing indicates that scholars from outside Anglophone centre contexts face considerable obstacles in getting their academic work published in such journals, relating to material and…

  12. Perspectives of EFL Doctoral Students on Challenges of Citations in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jomaa, Nayef Jomaa; Bidin, Siti Jamilah

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Citation is vital in academic writing but particularly challenging for novice writers who use English as a second or foreign language. While much is known about citations types and functions, scarce knowledge is available about what makes citing a complicated procedure. Hence, this study explores the difficulties in citing and integrating…

  13. Linking Adverbials in Academic Writing on Applied Linguistics by Chinese Doctoral Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lei, Lei

    2012-01-01

    The present paper reports an investigation into the use of linking adverbials in the academic writing of Chinese doctoral students. The learner corpus used in the present study is composed of 20 applied linguistics doctoral dissertations. We also compiled a control corpus of 120 published articles in six international journals of applied…

  14. Lexical Bundles and the Construction of an Academic Voice in Business Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mhedhbi, Malek

    2014-01-01

    Most previous studies on disciplinary academic writing focused on the structures in research articles or linguistic realizations of each move (Lau, 2004; Hyland, 2000). Few have been conducted to address the interpersonal aspect of disciplinary discourse texts. The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of lexical bundles' (LBs) awareness…

  15. Academic Writing at the Graduate Level: Improving the Curriculum through Faculty Collaboration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bair, Mary A.; Mader, Cynthia E.

    2013-01-01

    This article describes a collaborative self-study undertaken to identify the source of academic writing difficulties among graduate students and find ways to address them. Ten faculty members in a college of education came together to define the problem and to analyze data gleaned from faculty and student surveys, course documents, course…

  16. "I Ain't Changing Anything": A Case-Study of Successful Generation 1.5 Immigrant College Students' Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riazantseva, Anastasia

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this case-study was to understand the relationship between success in college and L2 academic writing of three Generation 1.5 Russian-speaking middle-class college students and to describe the factors that could have contributed to the levels of academic literacy that these students developed. The following research questions were…

  17. Facilitating L2 Writers' Interpretation of Source Texts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Doolan, Stephen M.; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, Shannon

    2016-01-01

    Student success in higher education often involves the effective integration of source texts into students' writing (Horowitz, 1986); therefore, advanced second language (L2) students are particularly well served by effective reading-to-write instruction. Teaching L2 students to write from sources is challenging because of several issues,…

  18. Voices of Chinese Post-­80s Students in English Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Que, Hua; Li, Xuemei

    2015-01-01

    This study looks into the changing voice of Chinese Post-80s' students in English academic writing. Data were collected qualitatively through interviews with four Chinese Post-80s overseas graduate students and through an examination of their English essays with a focus on discursive features. Findings indicate that Chinese Post-80s' voice is…

  19. Tutor Feedback on Draft Essays: Developing Students' Academic Writing and Subject Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Court, Krista

    2014-01-01

    Providing feedback on draft essays is an accepted means of enacting a social-constructivist approach to assessment, aligning with current views on the value of formative feedback and assessment for learning (AFL). However, the use of this process as a means of improving not only content but also students' academic writing skills has not been…

  20. EFL Students' Attitudes towards Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abadikhah, Shirin; Aliyan, Zahra; Talebi, Seyed Hassan

    2018-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to investigate EFL university students' attitude towards self-regulated learning strategies in writing academic papers. A further aim of the study was to compare the attitudes of two groups of university students (third and fourth years) in the employment of self-regulated learning strategies to find out whether…

  1. L2 Academic Discourse Socialization through Oral Presentations: An Undergraduate Student's Learning Trajectory in Study Abroad

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kobayashi, Masaki

    2016-01-01

    The present study provides an in-depth, longitudinal account of an undergraduate student's L2 discourse socialization in an academic exchange program in Canada. By invoking Rogoff's (1995) notion of participatory appropriation, this qualitative case study examined an L2 student's task-related strategies and performance as they evolved over time in…

  2. The role of research-article writing motivation and self-regulatory strategies in explaining research-article abstract writing ability.

    PubMed

    Lin, Ming-Chia; Cheng, Yuh-Show; Lin, Sieh-Hwa; Hsieh, Pei-Jung

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of research-article writing motivation and use of self-regulatory writing strategies in explaining second language (L2) research-article abstract writing ability, alongside the L2 literacy effect. Four measures were administered: a L2 literacy test, a research abstract performance assessment, and inventories of writing motivation and strategy. Participants were L2 graduate students in Taiwan (N=185; M age=25.8 yr., SD=4.5, range=22-53). Results of structural equation modeling showed a direct effect of motivation on research-article writing ability, but no direct effect of strategy or indirect effect of motivation via strategy on research-article writing ability, with L2 literacy controlled. The findings suggest research-article writing instruction should address writing motivation, besides L2 literacy.

  3. Processfolio: Uniting Academic Literacies and Critical Emancipatory Action Research for Practitioner-Led Inquiry into EAP Writing Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pearson, Jayne

    2017-01-01

    This article reports on the design and implementation of an alternative form of writing assessment in a UK English for Academic Purposes (EAP) pre-sessional course. The assessment, termed processfolio, was a response to research inquiry into how writing assessment in a local context negated student agency and inculcated disempowering models of…

  4. Making Sense of Power Relations in a Malaysian English-as-a-Second-Language Academic Writing Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abraham, Alison

    2014-01-01

    The role of power in an English-as-a-second-language classroom has yet to be fully explored by an action research practitioner, especially in a Malaysian higher education setting. This study aims to contribute to this gap by working within an academic literacies perspective to teaching academic writing, which propagates the understanding of…

  5. Investigating Transfer of Academic Proficiency among Trilingual Immigrant Students: A Holistic Tri-Directional Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haim, Orly

    2015-01-01

    The study addresses the degree of transfer of literacy dimensions of academic proficiency (AP), that is, reading comprehension and writing, across three languages--Russian (L1), Hebrew (L2), and English (L3)--and investigates whether a common conceptual source underlies the linguistic and cognitive operations of the trilingual learner (Grosjean,…

  6. Understanding and Evaluating L2 Personal Letter Writing: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Analysis of Student Texts in German

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crane, Cori

    2016-01-01

    Adopting a genre lens informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (cf. Halliday & Matthiessen, [Halliday, M. A. K., 2004]; Martin & Rose, [Martin, J. R., 2008]), this paper explores the text-structural and lexico-grammatical choices that second language (L2) writers of German make in personal letter writing. Close analysis of two student…

  7. The Relationship among Strategic Writing Behavior, Writing Motivation, and Writing Performance with Young, Developing Writers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, Steve; Harris, Karen R.; Kiuhara, Sharlene A.; Fishman, Evan J.

    2017-01-01

    Our study tested whether learning is shaped by fundamental cognitive and motivational forces in the academic domain of writing. We examined whether strategic writing behavior and motivation (attitudes toward writing and self-efficacy) made a statistically significant and unique contribution to the prediction of writing quality and number of words…

  8. Using Wikipedia and Conceptual Graph Structures to Generate Questions for Academic Writing Support

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Ming; Calvo, R. A.; Aditomo, A.; Pizzato, L. A.

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we present a novel approach for semiautomatic question generation to support academic writing. Our system first extracts key phrases from students' literature review papers. Each key phrase is matched with a Wikipedia article and classified into one of five abstract concept categories: Research Field, Technology, System, Term, and…

  9. Self-Regulated Strategic Writing for Academic Studies in an English-Medium-Instruction Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Jingjing; Gao, Xuesong

    2018-01-01

    This study explored the processes of utilization of resources in secondary students' self-regulated strategic writing for academic studies in an English as medium of instruction context in Hong Kong. Drawing on multiple data sources collected through the observation of lessons, stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews, the study examined…

  10. Enhancing the research and publication efforts of health sciences librarians via an academic writing retreat.

    PubMed

    Bullion, John W; Brower, Stewart M

    2017-10-01

    This case study describes the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association (SCC/MLA) initiative to develop an academic writing retreat for members who sought the necessary time and support to advance their research projects toward publication. SCC/MLA staged a dedicated writing retreat to coincide with the organization's 2012, 2013, and 2014 annual meetings. Each cohort met over two days to write and to workshop their peers' manuscripts. Organizers distributed an online survey one month after each retreat to evaluate attendees' perceptions. Three years' worth of writing retreats yielded fourteen peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter. Participants indicated that the retreat helped them meet or exceed their writing goals by offering protected time and a setting conducive to productivity. The format of the retreat is cost effective and easily adaptable for fellow professionals who wish to organize a formal event as a conference offering or simply support a writing group at their home institutions. In SCC/MLA, the retreat revitalized interest in writing and demystified the scholarly publication process.

  11. Teaching Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tomas, Z.; Kostka, I.; Mott-Smith, J. A.

    2013-01-01

    The authors of "Teaching Writing" draw on their years of teaching and their knowledge of theory and research to present major concepts in teaching L2 writing. These concepts encompass how cultural differences affect the writing class, planning instruction, text-based writing, writing strategies, modeling, and responding to student…

  12. Examining the Impact of L2 Proficiency and Keyboarding Skills on Scores on TOEFL-iBT Writing Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barkaoui, Khaled

    2014-01-01

    A major concern with computer-based (CB) tests of second-language (L2) writing is that performance on such tests may be influenced by test-taker keyboarding skills. Poor keyboarding skills may force test-takers to focus their attention and cognitive resources on motor activities (i.e., keyboarding) and, consequently, other processes and aspects of…

  13. The Effects of Writing to Learn (WTL) on Academic Achievement and Attitude to Lesson in English Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Incirci, Ayhan; Parmaksiz, Ramazan Sükrü

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of applying the writing letter activity of writing to learn strategies on the English Language Academic Achievement and Attitude level of 11th grade students. The research was carried out with 84 students (43 male, 41 female) at one of the state schools in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Mixed…

  14. Negotiating Voice Construction between Writers and Readers in College Writing: A Case Study of an L2 Writer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jwa, Soomin

    2018-01-01

    Voice is co-constructed, a result of the "text-mediated interaction between the writer and the reader." The present study, using the context of U.S. college writing, explores the complicated process by which an L2 novice writer--one who has a growing awareness of, yet peripheral access to, discourse practices--constructs a voice. Through…

  15. A Study in Enhancing L2 Learners' Utility with Written Academic Formulaic Sequences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Lewis

    2017-01-01

    Intervention exercises have tended to be limited to restricted controlled output in studies related to second language (L2) learners' acquisition of written academic formulaic sequences (FSs), while measurement of use has been drawn from freer output (AlHassan & Wood, 2015; Jones & Haywood, 2004; Peters & Pauwels, 2015). The current…

  16. Threshold to Transfer Writing Skills from L1 to L2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ito, Fumihiko

    2009-01-01

    Background: It has been hypothesized that L2 (second language) readers are not able to draw on their L1 (first language) reading skills for the successful development of L2 reading skills until they develop a certain proficiency in L2 because a lack of proficiency blocks transfer of L1 reading skills to the reading of L2 texts. This minimum degree…

  17. Big Questions, Small Works, Lots of Layers: Documentary Video Production and the Teaching of Academic Research and Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Halbritter, Bump; Blon, Noah; Creighton, Caron

    2011-01-01

    Documentary movie making is not academic writing. Nor is it traditional academic research. However, I have found it to be a remarkable vehicle for teaching both of these things...each semester I am amazed and humbled by the creativity and sincerity that my students bring to their work.

  18. The "'Grammar Correction' Debate in L2 Writing": Where Are We, and Where Do We Go from Here?--(And What Do We Do in the Meantime ...?)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferris, Dana R.

    2004-01-01

    The efficacy of teacher error/grammar correction in second language writing classes has been the subject of much controversy, including a published debate in an earlier volume of this journal [J. Second Language Writing 8 (1999) 1; J. Second Language Writing 8 (1999) 111]. In this paper, the state-of-the-art in error correction research in L2

  19. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics in Academic Writing Development: An Example from Film Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donohue, James P.

    2012-01-01

    On film studies courses, students are asked to treat as objects of study the same films which they may more commonly experience as entertainment. To explore the role of academic writing in this, an action research project was carried out on a university film studies course using a systemic functional linguistics approach. This paper presents a key…

  20. Using the Science Writing Heuristic in the General Chemistry Laboratory to Improve Students' Academic Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poock, Jason R.; Burke, K. A.; Greenbowe, Thomas J.; Hand, Brian M.

    2007-01-01

    The analysis describes the effects of using the science writing heuristic (SWH) in the general chemistry laboratory on the students' academic performance. The technique has found to be extremely important factor in a student's learning process and achievement in science.

  1. Development and Usability Test of an e-Learning Tool for Engineering Graduates to Develop Academic Writing in English: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Chih-Chung; Liu, Gi-Zen; Wang, Tzong-I

    2017-01-01

    Many non-native English speaking (NNES) graduates are required to write academic papers in English; consequently, recent research in the past decade has been devoted to investigating the usefulness of genre-based Writing Instructions (GBWI) on learners' writing cultivation. There is little specific guidance, however, on how GBWI can be employed in…

  2. International EFL/ESL Master Students' Adaptation Strategies for Academic Writing Practices at Tertiary Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar

    2017-01-01

    The present research provides insights into the different forms of adaptation strategies employed by international graduate students to overcome the challenges faced in the academic writing practices and gain access to their disciplinary communities of practice at Master's level. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured in-depth…

  3. Metadiscourse Repertoire of L1 Mandarin Undergraduates Writing in English: A Cross-Contextual, Cross-Disciplinary Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Ting; Wharton, Sue

    2012-01-01

    This article presents a qualitative, comparative study of metadiscourse in the academic writing of two groups of undergraduate students working in two different disciplines. The groups of students were: 1) Native speakers of Mandarin studying in China through the medium of English; 2) Native speakers of Mandarin studying in the UK through the…

  4. "I Just Started Writing": Toward Addressing Invisibility, Silence, and Mortality among Academically High-Achieving Black Male Secondary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Everett, Sakeena

    2016-01-01

    Many Black male students in our nation's schools feel like teachers do not see them for who they are or who they hope to become. In an academic enrichment writing course, high-achieving Black male secondary students utilized metaphor to imagine new realities for themselves. This article examines a Black male student's narrative writing to capture…

  5. Perceptions and Writing Experiences of Nursing Students: A Mixed Methods Exploration of Writing Self-Efficacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sprenger, Lori

    2013-01-01

    The investigated research problem was the need to identify the facilitators and barriers to competent academic writing by examining writing self-efficacy and academic writing experiences of entry-level BSN students. The study's participants included entry-level bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students in a Midwestern state. The mixed methods…

  6. Hidden Treasures in Theological Education: The Writing Tutor, the Spiritual Director, and Practices of Academic and Spiritual Mentoring

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yaghjian, Lucretia B.

    2013-01-01

    Mentoring is an important but often overlooked resource in theological education and students' academic and spiritual formation. This essay profiles the mentoring practices and postures of the writing tutor and the spiritual director as exemplars of academic and spiritual mentoring. An extended probe of this analogy affirms the integration of…

  7. Linguistic Markers of Stance in Early and Advanced Academic Writing: A Corpus-Based Comparison

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aull, Laura L.; Lancaster, Zak

    2014-01-01

    This article uses corpus methods to examine linguistic expressions of stance in over 4,000 argumentative essays written by incoming first-year university students in comparison with the writing of upper-level undergraduate students and published academics. The findings reveal linguistic stance markers shared across the first-year essays despite…

  8. EFL Doctoral Students' Conceptions of Authorial Stance in Academic Research Writing: An Exploratory Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Peichin

    2016-01-01

    English as foreign language (EFL) writers are often found to have weaker control of their academic writing, among which presenting an effective authorial stance has been reported as particularly challenging (Hyland, 1998a; Schleppegrell, 2004). In particular, student writers tended to deploy a stronger stance and be less effective with tentative…

  9. On the Viable Linkages between Extroversion/Introversion and Academic Iranian EFL Learners' Writing Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alavinia, Parviz; Hassanlou, Adel

    2014-01-01

    The current study was aimed at investigating the relationship between academic Iranian EFL learners' extroversion/introversion and their writing performance. The participants of the study were some 52 BA learners majoring in English language literature in Urmia and Tabriz state universities. The chosen sample comprised of both males and females…

  10. The Write Stuff

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Carol Booth; Scarcella, Robin; Matuchniak, Tina

    2016-01-01

    Expectations for high-level academic writing, especially in the Common Core era, have never been higher. Middle school and high school students are being asked to do close readings of complex texts and then respond in writing using academic discourse. This is a challenging task for many students, but perhaps none as great as for English language…

  11. Modeling the Development of L1 and EFL Writing Proficiency of Secondary School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schoonen, Rob; van Gelderen, Amos; Stoel, Reinoud D.; Hulstijn, Jan; de Glopper, Kees

    2011-01-01

    This longitudinal study investigates the development of writing proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL), in contrast to the development of first language (L1) writing proficiency in Dutch L1, in a sample of almost 400 secondary school students in the Netherlands. Students performed several writing tasks in both languages in three…

  12. An Exploration of Language Anxiety in L2 Academic Context for Chinese International Students in U.S. Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Qing

    2013-01-01

    This mix-methods study examined the language anxiety levels that the Chinese international students perceived in second language (L2) academic context at four universities in the northeastern region of the United States of America; it explored the impact of language anxiety that these students perceived on their academic learning; it also…

  13. The Effects of Using a Critical Thinking Graphic Organizer to Improve Connecticut Academic Performance Test Interdisciplinary Writing Assessment Scores

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Higgins, Patrick D.

    2012-01-01

    Effective communication skills are a vital component of student academic achievement and success, yet students often struggle with them. This study utilized an organizational writing graphic organizer based on a critical thinking model to determine the impact of its use on the persuasive writing scores of 9th-grade students. A sample of…

  14. The Effects of Utilizing Corpus Resources to Correct Collocation Errors in L2 Writing--Students' Performance, Corpus Use and Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Yi-ju

    2016-01-01

    Data-Driven Learning (DDL), in which learners "confront [themselves] directly with the corpus data" (Johns, 2002, p. 108), has shown to be effective in collocation learning in L2 writing. Nevertheless, there have been only few research studies of this type examining the relationship between English proficiency and corpus consultation.…

  15. Writing for Publication.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Bill

    1991-01-01

    Students at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville, Tennessee do every kind of writing, have won numerous writing awards, and have published everything from chapbooks to articles in national literary magazines. According to the creative writing teacher, students are first taught to write about things they know--to go back to their own…

  16. Why Do You Write? Creative Writing and the Reflective Teacher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hains-Wesson, Rachael

    2013-01-01

    In this article, the author asserts that whether we write creatively or academically (or both) it takes time to understand the reasons why we "want" to write, and the more we write, the more we fully begin to appreciate why we have to write in the ?rst place. From an early age, nearly every day, Rachel Hains-Wesson actively participated in…

  17. Displaying Critical Thinking in EFL Academic Writing: A Discussion of Japanese to English Contrastive Rhetoric

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKinley, Jim

    2013-01-01

    This article provides an examination of the literature on issues surrounding the problems Japanese university students face in learning critical argument in their English academic writing courses. Japanese students' critical thinking skills are criticized as not fostered in their university education, perhaps due to Confucian education ideals,…

  18. Pain and Pleasure in Short Essay Writing: Factors Predicting University Students' Writing Anxiety and Writing Self-Efficacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martinez, Christy Teranishi; Kock, Ned; Cass, Jeffrey

    2011-01-01

    Since the inception of the Writing Across the Curriculum movement more than 30 years ago, scholars have explored ways of enhancing students' writing performance. Faculty members across disciplines are often challenged by students' resistance to writing; resistance that may stem from anxiety, poor academic performance, and lack of recognition that…

  19. "Writing My First Academic Article Feels Like Dancing around Naked": Research Development for Higher Education Lecturers Working in Further Education Colleges

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Turner, Rebecca; Brown, Tony; Edwards-Jones, Andrew

    2014-01-01

    Growing emphasis on research output has spawned initiatives to enhance writing practices, often targeted at groups less familiar with academic research practices. This paper discusses a collaborative writing group project for higher education lecturers working in further education colleges. Participants had previously undertaken funded pedagogic…

  20. A Trilingual Teaching Model for Developing Academic Literacy Skills in Classical Arabic (L1), Hebrew (L2) and English (FL) in Southern Israel

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hauptman, Sara; Mansur, Fuaz; Tal, Rachel

    2008-01-01

    Developing academic literacy skills in Classical Arabic (L1), Hebrew (L2) and English (FL) among 10th-grade Bedouin students in Southern Israel is of central importance, in light of the country's policies regarding trilingual education for this sector. This paper presents the findings of research which examined the impact of a teaching model where…

  1. English Majors' Self-Regulatory Control Strategy Use in Academic Writing and Its Relation to L2 Motivation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Csizér, Kata; Tankó, Gyula

    2017-01-01

    Apart from L2 motivation, self-regulation is also increasingly seen as a key variable in L2 learning in many foreign language learning contexts because classroom-centered instructive language teaching might not be able to provide sufficient input for students. Therefore, taking responsibility and regulating the learning processes and positive…

  2. Impact of Writing Proficiency and Writing Center Participation on Academic Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Given that there exists in the literature relatively little research into the effectiveness of writing centers at universities, the purpose of this paper is to show the impact of university writing centers on first-year business seminar student writing. Design/methodology/approach: This quantitative study involved 315 first-year…

  3. Creative Writing and Schiller's Aesthetic Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howarth, Peter

    2007-01-01

    For academics committed to the idea of an all-round aesthetic education, one of the great successes of the last thirty years has been the tremendous expansion of creative writing classes. Despite the dramatic expansion of creative writing as an academic discipline, the methods, ideals, and values of creative writing workshops have very often been…

  4. Bullshit in Academic Writing: A Protocol Analysis of a High School Senior's Process of Interpreting "Much Ado about Nothing"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smagorinsky, Peter; Daigle, Elizabeth Anne; O'Donnell-Allen, Cindy; Bynum, Susan

    2010-01-01

    This article reports a study of one high school senior's process of academic bullshitting as she wrote an analytic essay interpreting Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing." The construct of bullshit has received little scholarly attention; although it is known as a common phenomenon in academic speech and writing, it has rarely been the subject…

  5. Writing the Ties that Bind: Service-Learning in the Writing Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, David D.; Julier, Laura

    1995-01-01

    The Service Learning Writing Project at Michigan State University links service-learning and writing instruction. Students read and discuss American literary and historical texts, write academic analyses of ideas, and practice peer editing and revision in small workshops, while working in service placements in community and nonprofit…

  6. How Does the Science Writing Heuristic Approach Affect Students' Performances of Different Academic Achievement Levels? A Case for High School Chemistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kingir, Sevgi; Geban, Omer; Gunel, Murat

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), known as an argumentation-based science inquiry approach, on Grade 9 students' performance on a post-test in relation to their academic achievement levels. Four intact classes taught by 2 chemistry teachers from a Turkish public high school were selected for the study; one…

  7. Collaborative Writing Support Tools on the Cloud

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Calvo, R. A.; O'Rourke, S. T.; Jones, J.; Yacef, K.; Reimann, P.

    2011-01-01

    Academic writing, individual or collaborative, is an essential skill for today's graduates. Unfortunately, managing writing activities and providing feedback to students is very labor intensive and academics often opt out of including such learning experiences in their teaching. We describe the architecture for a new collaborative writing support…

  8. Metacognition in Student Academic Writing: A Longitudinal Study of Metacognitive Awareness and Its Relation to Task Perception, Self-Regulation, and Evaluation of Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Negretti, Raffaella

    2012-01-01

    This article proposes a novel approach to the investigation of student academic writing. It applies theories of metacognition and self-regulated learning to understand how beginning academic writers develop the ability to participate in the communicative practices of academic written communication and develop rhetorical consciousness. The study…

  9. Reducing Unintentional Plagiarism amongst International Students in the Biological Sciences: An Embedded Academic Writing Development Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Divan, Aysha; Bowman, Marion; Seabourne, Anna

    2015-01-01

    There is general agreement in the literature that international students are more likely to plagiarise compared to their native speaker peers and, in many instances, plagiarism is unintentional. In this article we describe the effectiveness of an academic writing development programme embedded into a Biological Sciences Taught Masters course…

  10. College Writing: A Personal Approach to Academic Writing. Third Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fulwiler, Toby

    The affirmation of individual creativity in writing is what sets this book apart from other process-oriented rhetorics. Conversational in tone, the book's third edition boasts a writer-to-writer perspective that will put students at ease. The book "walks" students through the main elements of writing from discovery and research to…

  11. Student-Teachers across the Curriculum Learn to Write Feedback: Does It Reflect on Their Writing?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cohen-sayag, Esther

    2016-01-01

    The study examined the connection between writing competency and writing feedback experiences through academic writing course for student-teachers across the curriculum. The aims of the course were to prepare student-teachers to their role as writing facilitators and to improve their writing. Experimental and control group differed in course plan…

  12. Research Leadership in Writing for Publication: A Theoretical Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Rowena; Steckley, Laura; MacLeod, Iain

    2012-01-01

    Academics experience difficulty in managing competing tasks, particularly in relation to writing for publication. In a study conducted on a writing retreat, analysis of data obtained from academic writers revealed that facilitative leadership provided at a writing retreat was central to managing task complexity and writing-related anxiety. The…

  13. Scaffolding Assignments: Analysis of Assignmentor as a Tool to Support First Year Students' Academic Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silva, Pedro

    2017-01-01

    There are several technological tools which aim to support first year students' challenges, especially when it comes to academic writing. This paper analyses one of these tools, Wiley's AssignMentor. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework was used to systematise this analysis. The paper showed an alignment between the tools'…

  14. Whose Job Is It? Exploring Subject Tutor Roles in Addressing Students' Academic Writing via Essay Feedback

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Court, Krista; Johnson, Helen

    2016-01-01

    Strong arguments have been forwarded for embedding academic writing development into the UK higher education curriculum and for subject tutors to facilitate this development (Hyland, 2000; Lea & Street, 2006; Monroe, 2003; Wingate, 2006). This small-scale case study explores subject tutors' practices and beliefs with regard to the provision of…

  15. Creating a Macrostructure in Academic Writing: Contributions of Tutor-Tutee Interaction When Performing a Text Revision

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horowitz, Rosalind; Wilburn, Marcy

    2017-01-01

    This article examines how students develop an effective macrostructure with supporting arguments in academic writing. We base the study on theory developed about macrostructures. The study focuses on components of macrostructure-building through tutor-tutee dialogic communication. We draw from work on the role of speech for and within written…

  16. The Effect of Concept Mapping on L2 Writing Performance: Examining Possible Effects of Trait-Level Writing Anxiety

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Machida, Naoko; Dalsky, David J.

    2014-01-01

    Research on anxiety in a foreign language-learning context is well-documented; however, few studies have directly focused on anxiety occurring within writing contexts despite the fact that writing anxiety is known to affect students' learning. The present study examined the effectiveness of concept mapping considering students' writing anxiety.…

  17. Writing, Literacy and Technology: Toward a Cyborg Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Gary A.

    1996-01-01

    Presents an interview with feminist social critic Donna Haraway about her call for "cyborg writing," writing that replaces the idea of an authoritative or dominant story with an acknowledgment of the wide range of narratives to be told in science, technology, and other areas. Also questions Haraway about activism for academics, particularly as it…

  18. Supporting the Thesis Writing Process of International Research Students through an Ongoing Writing Group

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Linda Y.; Vandermensbrugghe, Joelle

    2011-01-01

    Evidence from research suggests writing support is particularly needed for international research students who have to tackle the challenges of thesis writing in English as their second language in Western academic settings. This article reports the development of an ongoing writing group to support the thesis writing process of international…

  19. Students' Use of Evaluative Language in L2 English to Talk and Write about History in a Bilingual Education Programme

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morton, Tom; Llinares, Ana

    2018-01-01

    This article reports on a four-year longitudinal study which investigates students' use of evaluative language in English as a second language (L2) to talk and write about history in a bilingual education programme. We focus on how four students use linguistic resources to adopt a stance to the content they are learning and develop an…

  20. Student Writing in a Talent Development Program: Sanctuary and Academic Site of the "Personally Humane"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paley, Karen Surman

    2008-01-01

    The author had the pleasure of being in an academic setting where students of color were in the majority. That was the summer of 2004 as she observed African-American Literature 1900-Present, a writing intensive class in the Special Program in Talent Development (SPTD) at the University of Rhode Island (URI). The author wants to tell the story of…

  1. Sources of L2 Writing Apprehension: A Study of Egyptian University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdel Latif, Muhammad M.

    2015-01-01

    High levels of apprehension cause students to have writing difficulties. This study attempted to identify the sources of Egyptian university students' English writing apprehension. The study made use of both quantitative and qualitative data. The scores of 57 students on a writing apprehension scale were compared to their scores on another scale…

  2. Negotiating the Challenge of Collaborative Writing: Learning from One Writing Group's Mutiny

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nairn, Karen; Cameron, Jenny; Anakin, Megan; Juntrasook, Adisorn; Wass, Rob; Sligo, Judith; Morrison, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    With continuing pressure to publish or perish, interventions such as writing groups are increasingly part of the academic landscape. In this paper, we discuss our writing group's experiment with collaborative writing, which came unstuck as simmering concerns led to a mutiny within the group. The mutiny provided insights into tensions that are…

  3. Discourse Connectives in L1 and L2 Argumentative Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hu, Chunyu; Li, Yuanyuan

    2015-01-01

    Discourse connectives (DCs) are multi-functional devices used to connect discourse segments and fulfill interpersonal levels of discourse. This study investigates the use of selected 80 DCs within 11 categories in the argumentative essays produced by L1 and L2 university students. The analysis is based on the International Corpus Network of Asian…

  4. Plagiarism in Second-Language Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pecorari, Diane; Petric, Bojana

    2014-01-01

    Plagiarism is a broad and multidisciplinary field of study, and within second-language (L2) writing, research on the topic goes back to the mid-1980s. In this review article we first discuss the received view of plagiarism as a transgressive act and alternative understandings which have been presented in the L1 and L2 writing literature. We then…

  5. Mentoring disadvantaged nursing students through technical writing workshops.

    PubMed

    Johnson, Molly K; Symes, Lene; Bernard, Lillian; Landson, Margie J; Carroll, Theresa L

    2007-01-01

    Recent studies have identified a problematic gap for nursing students between terse clinical writing and formal academic writing. This gap can create a potential barrier to academic and workplace success, especially for disadvantaged nursing students who have not acquired the disciplinary conventions and sophisticated writing required in upper-level nursing courses. The authors demonstrate the need for writing-in-the-discipline activities to enhance the writing skills of nursing students, describe the technical writing workshops they developed to mentor minority and disadvantaged nursing students, and provide recommendations to stimulate educator dialogue across disciplines and institutions.

  6. Written Corrective Feedback in IELTS Writing Task 2: Teachers' Priorities, Practices, and Beliefs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pearson, William S.

    2018-01-01

    Teacher corrective feedback is widely recognised as integral in supporting developing L2 writers. The potentially high pressure IELTS test preparation classroom presents a context where feedback has not yet been extensively studied. Consequently, teachers' approaches to corrective feedback on Writing Task 2, the essay component of IELTS Writing,…

  7. Helping Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder Express Their Thoughts and Knowledge in Writing: Tips and Exercises for Developing Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geither, Elise; Meeks, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    When it comes to academic work, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have the required knowledge but struggle to get their thoughts down in writing. This is a practical guide to teaching and improving writing skills in students with ASD to meet academic writing standards and prepare for the increased expectations of higher education.…

  8. Effect of Instruction on ESL Students' Synthesis Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Cui

    2013-01-01

    Synthesis writing has become the focus of much greater attention in the past 10 years in L2 EAP contexts. However, research on L2 synthesis writing has been limited, especially with respect to treatment studies that relate writing instruction to the development of synthesis writing abilities. To address this research gap, the present study…

  9. Impact of Self-Regulatory Influences on Writing Course Attainment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zimmerman, Barry J.; Bandura, Albert

    1994-01-01

    Using path analysis, studied the role of self-efficacy beliefs concerning academic attainment and regulation of writing, academic goals, and self-standards in writing-course attainment of 95 college freshmen. Different facets of perceived self-efficacy played a key role in writing-course attainment. (SLD)

  10. Blog-Integrated Writing with Blog-Buddies: EAP Learners' Writing Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Asoodar, Maryam; Atai, Mahmood Reza; Vaezi, Shahin

    2016-01-01

    This article reports a mixed-method research probing the effect of utilizing a blog-buddy system on English for academic purposes learners' writing performance. Sixty Iranian undergraduate engineering students at Iran University of Science and Technology Virtual Campus participated in this study. Our analysis of the students' writings indicated…

  11. Teaching Writing for Keeps

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alber-Morgan, Sheila R.; Hessler, Terri; Konrad, Moira

    2007-01-01

    Proficiency with written expression is critical for students' academic success. Unfortunately, writing presents a challenge for both students and teachers. Recent data suggest that many students in U.S. schools fail to meet even the most basic writing standards. And even when students receive effective (i.e., evidence-based) writing instruction,…

  12. The College Writing Center: Best Practices, Best Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moberg, Eric

    2010-01-01

    Lifelong learning is a must in our information age, especially in the worldwide recession that began in 2008. In order to gain the most from their education, adult learners in any subject, major, program, or school must master the basics of academic reading and academic writing. Towards this end, writing tutors and writing centers offer…

  13. Reading-Writing Integrated Tasks, Comprehensive Corrective Feedback, and EFL Writing Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Xiaoyan

    2017-01-01

    The study examines whether there is any difference between the effects of a reading-writing integrated task and comprehensive corrective feedback (CF) on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' writing development, and whether the input language in the integrated task makes a difference in L2 writing development over time and the language…

  14. The Role of Reading Strategies in Integrated L2 Writing Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plakans, Lia

    2009-01-01

    Integrated second-language writing tasks elicit writing performances that involve other abilities such as reading or listening. Thus, understanding the role of these other abilities is necessary for interpreting performance on such tasks. This study used an inductive analysis of think-aloud protocol data and interviews to uncover the reading…

  15. A Qualitative Study into L2 Writing Strategies of University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raoofi, Saeid; Chan, Swee Heng; Mukundan, Jayakaran; Rashid, Sabariah Md

    2014-01-01

    This study reports on an investigation into writing strategies of Malaysian university students learning English as a second language. Qualitative data were collected from 21 undergraduate university students aged 19 to 21. The students interviewed reported using a variety of writing strategies. It was also found that all of the participants…

  16. Vocabulary Knowledge and Vocabulary Use in Second Language Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Mark D.; Acevedo, Anthony; Mercado, Leonardo

    2016-01-01

    Research has consistently shown diversity of vocabulary to be an important indicator of second language (L2) writing development as well as L2 writing performance. These studies underscore the importance of vocabulary to L2 writing. However, they provide little to indicate what kind of vocabulary learners of English may need to know in order to…

  17. The Functions of Writing in an Elementary Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Florio, Susan; Clark, Christopher M.

    1982-01-01

    Describes an ethnographic study of writing in one elementary classroom that identified four functions of writing: writing to participate in community, writing to know oneself and others, writing to occupy free time, and writing to demonstrate academic competence. (HOD)

  18. Academic reflective writing: a study to examine its usefulness.

    PubMed

    Bowman, Marion; Addyman, Berni

    Reflection is widely regarded as important for learning from practice in Nursing. Academic reflective writing (ARW) is increasingly being used to assess reflective practice. However, there is currently scant literature on ARW, which is extremely complex, requiring students to link their own experiences to published literature. There are also concerns in the literature about the validity of ARW as a medium of assessment. In this paper, an exploratory discussion on ARW is illustrated with reference to the views of 8 self-selected students on a course for post-registered nurses. These students found ARW extremely challenging, and highlighted a range of difficulties associated with it. In conclusion, it is argued that the student experience of ARW warrants further investigation. In addition, it is suggested that either scaffolding should be put in place to facilitate the production of successful ARW, or alternatives should be explored.

  19. Comparison of L1 and L2 Pre and Post Writing Samples of Bilingual Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reyes, Maria de la Luz

    A sample of 15 eighth-grade Hispanic students in a bilingual classroom were used for a descriptive analysis of students' writing samples to compare their growth between pre- and post- writing samples in Spanish and English. This was accomplished by juxtaposing English and Spanish pre- and post-tests using the same holistic rubric developed by the…

  20. Reverse Transfer: Exploring the Effects of Foreign Language Rhetorical Patterns on L1 Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babaii, Esmat; Ramazani, Kambiz

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between language learners' L1 and L2 writing productions has attracted the attention of researchers since Kaplan (1966). Along this research line, the present study aimed to explore the reverse transfer of rhetorical patterns from English (L2) to Persian (L1) in the argumentative essays of EFL students in Iran. Sixty MA university…

  1. Key Writing Challenges of Practice-Based Doctorates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    San Miguel, Caroline; Nelson, Cynthia D.

    2007-01-01

    Building on the increasing interest within English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in postgraduate literacy development, this article examines the complexities of writing research at the academic/professional interface. It analyses two literature reviews by professional doctorate students at an Australian university who were writing research in their…

  2. Queering College Writing: Writing Students' Learning of LGB Issues Using the Internet as an Instructional Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burnes, Theodore R.

    2007-01-01

    How do writing teachers use technology to help students learn about lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) issues? What is the nature of writing students' learning about LGB sexual orientations and academic writing when the Internet is used as a learning tool? Participants completed a questionnaire in which they reflected on a writing assignment…

  3. EFL Teachers' Responses to L2 Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Yuh-Fang

    This study investigated differences in the product and process of evaluating second language compositions by Taiwanese speakers of English. It examined whether such factors as language background (native English speaker versus native Chinese speaker), academic discipline, and educational background affected raters' scoring outcomes; whether rating…

  4. Teaching and Assessing Academic Writing via the Portfolio: Benefits for Learners of English as an Additional Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Romova, Zina; Andrew, Martin

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines the use of portfolios as pedagogical tools for developing academic writing. In particular, it considers the value of multi-drafting, where learners reflect on the learning of a text type as well as focusing on micro and macro aspects. The paper outlines a situated pedagogical approach, where students come to understand their…

  5. Helping Vocational and Academic Teachers Collaborate To Improve Students' Reading and Writing Skills: An Over-Time Inservice Activity.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schmidt, B. June; Beeken, Lois A.

    Staff development was provided for academic and vocational teachers interested in improving their students' reading and writing skills. The first step was to examine the need. Survey data collected from students and vocational program completers from Southern Regional Education Board-Vocational Education Consortium pilot site schools revealed a…

  6. That Way Be Monsters: Myths and Bugaboos about Teaching Personal Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bloom, Lynn Z.

    Many traditionally held academic views of personal writing have myths embedded in them. These myths include: (1) anything written in the first person singular is autobiographical; (2) personal writing can only exist in an expressionist classroom and is often uncritical and unproblematic; (3) student personal writing is a dying genre, and college…

  7. The Infernal Business of Contract Cheating: Understanding the Business Processes and Models of Academic Custom Writing Sites

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellis, Cath; Zucker, Ian Michael; Randall, David

    2018-01-01

    While there is growing awareness of the existence and activities of Academic Custom Writing websites, which form a small part of the contract cheating industry, how they work remains poorly understood. Very little research has been done on these sites, probably because it has been assumed that it is impossible to see behind their firewalls and…

  8. Writing for Television: Academic Potential Realized: From Course to Program to Major.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sedlak, Valerie F.

    The new Writing for Television Program at Morgan State University (suggested by Warner Brothers at a summer seminar) has added new courses each semester: (1) basic 200-level courses in the "Fundamentals of Writing for Television" and "Introductory Script Writing"; (2) more specialized 300-level courses in "Episodic…

  9. Bringing Reading-to-Write and Writing-Only Assessment Tasks Together: A Generalizability Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gebril, Atta

    2010-01-01

    Integrated tasks are currently employed in a number of L2 exams since they are perceived as an addition to the writing-only task type. Given this trend, the current study investigates composite score generalizability of both reading-to-write and writing-only tasks. For this purpose, a multivariate generalizability analysis is used to investigate…

  10. Using Automated Writing Evaluation to Reduce Grammar Errors in Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liao, Hui-Chuan

    2016-01-01

    Despite the recent development of automated writing evaluation (AWE) technology and the growing interest in applying this technology to language classrooms, few studies have looked at the effects of using AWE on reducing grammatical errors in L2 writing. This study identified the primary English grammatical error types made by 66 Taiwanese…

  11. Assessment for Learning: Capturing the Interest of Diverse Students on an Academic Writing Module in Postgraduate Vocational Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strauss, P.; Mooney, S.

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses the complexities surrounding the teaching of a critical thinking and academic writing module on a vocational postgraduate programme. Students enrolled on this programme are strongly industry focused and often fail to see the relevance of such a module, despite the fact that most are international students with English as…

  12. Writing-Reading Relationships: Effectiveness of Writing Activities as Pre-Reading Tasks to Enhance L2 Inferential Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wickramaarachchi, Thilina Indrajie

    2014-01-01

    The study examines the interaction between reading and writing processes in general and more specifically the impact of pre-reading tasks incorporating writing tasks (referred to as "prw tasks") in helping the development of inferential reading comprehension. A sample of 70 first year ESL students of the University of Kelaniya were…

  13. Do L1 Reading Achievement and L1 Print Exposure Contribute to the Prediction of L2 Proficiency?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparks, Richard L.; Patton, Jon; Ganschow, Leonore; Humbach, Nancy

    2012-01-01

    The study examined whether individual differences in high school first language (L1) reading achievement and print exposure would account for unique variance in second language (L2) written (word decoding, spelling, writing, reading comprehension) and oral (listening/speaking) proficiency after adjusting for the effects of early L1 literacy and…

  14. Gap between Self-Efficacy and College Students' Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lichtinger, Einat

    2018-01-01

    This study explores the disparity between college students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding their writing skills and their teachers' perceptions of the latter. It also examines ways to improve the academic writing instruction provided by the institution, and the impact of a first-year introductory academic-writing course. A total of 151 third-year…

  15. Integrating K-W-L Prompts into Science Journal Writing: Can Simple Question Scaffolding Increase Student Content Knowledge?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagner, Brandon Joel

    Writing-to-learn strategies have been administered in the past to enrich student learning. The purpose of this study was to see if K-W-L prompts in science journal writing could benefit student content knowledge within biology. Two high school biology classes were provided with learning journals. The journals given to the students during the treatment unit were provided with K-W-L question prompts to guide student learning while during the comparison unit students were given an open ended writing assignment. Pre and posttests were administered to determine student-learning gains. Student motivations and opinions of the treatment were collected through student interviews. The combined results were used to determine to what extent could K-W-L prompts in science journal writing influence comprehension of content knowledge. This study found there to be no difference in student learning gains when utilizing the K-W-L literacy strategy versus another free-writing activity. When scored, student K-W-Ls total scores did correlate to student success on unit tests. This opens up the potential for K-W-Ls to serve as an adequate tool for formative assessment. Here the K-W-L could be expanded to enrich student question asking, potentially aid students learning English, and potentially be used by students without teacher scaffolding.

  16. Working with Disciplinary Artifacts: An Introductory Writing Studies Course for Writing Majors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ostergaard, Lori

    2015-01-01

    WRT 329: Introduction to Writing Studies is a course in Oakland University's (OU) Writing and Rhetoric major program that provides students with a survey of composition studies as an academic discipline. It includes an examination of the history, theories, research, curricula, and pedagogies associated with composition studies in the university.…

  17. Teaching Process Writing in an Online Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carolan, Fergal; Kyppö, Anna

    2015-01-01

    This reflective practice paper offers some insights into teaching an interdisciplinary academic writing course aimed at promoting process writing. The study reflects on students' acquisition of writing skills and the teacher's support practices in a digital writing environment. It presents writers' experiences related to various stages of process…

  18. Digit ratio (2D:4D) and hand preference for writing in the BBC Internet Study.

    PubMed

    Manning, J T; Peters, M

    2009-09-01

    The ratio of the length of the second to the fourth digit (2D:4D) may be negatively correlated with prenatal testosterone. Hand preference has been linked with prenatal testosterone and 2D:4D. Here we show that 2D:4D is associated with hand preference for writing in a large internet sample (n>170,000) in which participants self-reported their finger lengths. We replicated a significant association between right 2D:4D and writing hand preference (low right 2D:4D associated with left hand preference) as well as a significant correlation between writing hand preference and the difference between left and right 2D:4D or Dr-l (low Dr-l associated with left hand preference). A new significant correlation between left 2D:4D and writing hand preference was also shown (high left 2D:4D associated with left hand preference). There was a clear interaction between writing hand preference and 2D:4D: The left 2D:4D was significantly larger than the right 2D:4D in male and female left-handed writers, and the right hand 2D:4D was significantly larger than the left hand 2D:4D in male and female right-handed writers.

  19. Second Language Writing Online: An Update

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Godwin-Jones, Robert

    2018-01-01

    This article provides an update to the author's overview of developments in second language (L2) online writing that he wrote in 2008. There has been renewed interest in L2 writing through the wide use of social media, along with the rising popularity of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and telecollaboration (class-based online exchanges).…

  20. A Web-Based EFL Writing Environment as a Bridge between Academic Advisers and Junior Researchers: A Pilot Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reynolds, Barry Lee

    2013-01-01

    In the age of "publish or perish," publishing academic journal articles is a must, not only for professors but also for graduate students in Taiwan. Increasingly, Taiwanese research universities are requiring masters and PhD students to write theses and dissertations in English, with an added caveat for PhD students to publish two or…

  1. The Reluctant Academic: Early-Career Academics in a Teaching-Orientated University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gale, Helen

    2011-01-01

    This paper is based on research into academic identities amongst early-career academics in a UK post-1992, teaching-orientated university. Literature around academic identity suggests five major academic roles: teaching, research, management, writing and networking. However, this appears to be a picture of an established mid-career academic in a…

  2. Dyslexia, authorial identity, and approaches to learning and writing: a mixed methods study.

    PubMed

    Kinder, Julianne; Elander, James

    2012-06-01

    Dyslexia may lead to difficulties with academic writing as well as reading. The authorial identity approach aims to help students improve their academic writing and avoid unintentional plagiarism, and could help to understand dyslexic students' approaches to writing. (1) To compare dyslexic and non-dyslexic students' authorial identity and approaches to learning and writing; (2) to compare correlations between approaches to writing and approaches to learning among dyslexic and non-dyslexic students; (3) to explore dyslexic students' understandings of authorship and beliefs about dyslexia, writing and plagiarism. Dyslexic (n= 31) and non-dyslexic (n= 31) university students. Questionnaire measures of self-rated confidence in writing, understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism, and top-down, bottom-up and pragmatic approaches to writing (Student Authorship Questionnaire; SAQ), and deep, surface and strategic approaches to learning (Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students; ASSIST), plus qualitative interviews with dyslexic students with high and low SAQ scores. Dyslexic students scored lower for confidence in writing, understanding authorship, and strategic approaches to learning, and higher for surface approaches to learning. Correlations among SAQ and ASSIST scores were larger and more frequently significant among non-dyslexic students. Self-rated knowledge to avoid plagiarism was associated with a top-down approach to writing among dyslexic students and with a bottom-up approach to writing among non-dyslexic students. All the dyslexic students interviewed described how dyslexia made writing more difficult and reduced their confidence in academic writing, but they had varying views about whether dyslexia increased the risk of plagiarism. Dyslexic students have less strong authorial identities, and less congruent approaches to learning and writing. Knowledge to avoid plagiarism may be more salient for dyslexic students, who may benefit from

  3. Linguistically Diverse Students' Attitudes towards Writing in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bustamante, Analynn; Eom, Minhee

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated attitudes of linguistically diverse students towards writing in English in four different domains: general academic writing, writing in humanities, writing in science-related subjects (STEM), and writing in electronic communication. A total of 77 Hispanic bilingual/ELL adult students at an alternative high school in…

  4. Tell a Good Story Well: Writing Tips

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Randolph A.

    2013-01-01

    This chapter gives reasons why writing is important, summarizes general writing guidelines common to many academic disciplines, and provides specific writing guidelines that authors should use to make their manuscripts stronger and more likely to be acceptable to editors.

  5. The Carleton University Writing Tutorial Service.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freedman, Aviva

    Carleton University's writing tutorial service is staffed by trained graduate students and provides free individual instruction for students having problems writing academic English. The students submit writing samples before the first session at which both student and tutor map out a strategy for improvement. Analysis of the tutors' perceptions…

  6. Healing Classrooms: Therapeutic Possibilities in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Batzer, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    This article asks us to consider what the process of healing and composition pedagogy have to learn from each other. More specifically, it identifies how the therapeutic potential of writing, which has been largely neglected in the academy in recent years, can influence the ways we teach transferable writing skills. The article considers how…

  7. Blog-Based Peer Response for L2 Writing Revision

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pham, Vu Phi Ho; Usaha, Siriluck

    2016-01-01

    Few studies have been conducted to see how blog-based peer response helps students to improve their writing revisions. The present study investigates peer comments made through blogs, the nature of the comments and their areas of focus, and the ratios of students incorporating suggestions made through blog-based comments into revisions of their…

  8. Exploring Undergraduate Disciplinary Writing: Expectations and Evidence in Psychology and Chemistry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moran, Katherine E.

    2013-01-01

    Research in the area of academic writing has demonstrated that writing varies significantly across disciplines and among genres within disciplines. Two important approaches to studying diversity in disciplinary academic writing have been the genre-based approach and the corpus-based approach. Genre studies have considered the situatedness of…

  9. Elephants and Paradigms: Conversations about Teaching L2 Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blanton, Linda Lonon

    1995-01-01

    This article lays out a general scheme for looking at current competing theoretical bases for English as a Second Language. By focusing on only one arena of teaching, that of writing, the article emphasizes the systemic nature of some differing views. Some classroom implications of the social theory that factors in the reader of a text are…

  10. Writing-to-Learn in High-School Chemistry: The Effects of Using The Science Writing Heuristic to Increase Scientific Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nurnberg, Denae

    2017-01-01

    Writing-to-Learn in High-School Chemistry: The Effects of Using the Science Writing Heuristic to Increase Scientific Literacy The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) as an instructional tool to improve academic achievement and writing in the context of scientific literacy. This…

  11. An Analytical Framework for Analysing Secondary EFL Writing Curriculum: Approaches for Writing and Preparation for Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al-Hammadi, Fatima; Sidek, Harison Mohd

    2015-01-01

    Academic writing is perhaps the most important skill required in higher education learning for the purposes of academic communication, academic performance, as well as academic achievement and success. However, many studies carried out in an EFL context showed that the majority of students face difficulties and challenges in acquiring effective…

  12. Paperless Writing in World Literature I: Can Students See the Forest without Writing on the Trees?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoffmann, Christine

    2010-01-01

    Electronic writing offers the opportunity to be creative, impromptu, personal, even improper--unstructured, in other words--while academic writing traps them, catches them up in, an impersonal, uncreative, unimaginative, structured, mechanical--and perhaps even ultimately noncommunicative--experience.

  13. Investigating Student Use and Value of E-Learning Resources to Develop Academic Writing within the Discipline of Environmental Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taffs, Kathryn H.; Holt, Julienne I.

    2013-01-01

    The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education to support student learning is expanding. However, student usage has been low and the value of e-learning resources has been under investigation. We reflect on best practices for pedagogical design of e-learning resources to support academic writing in environmental…

  14. A Descriptive Study of First-Year College Students' Non-Academic Digital Literacy Practices with Implications for College Writing Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Amicucci, Ann N.

    2013-01-01

    In this qualitative research study, the author investigated first-year college students' non-academic digital literacy practices, the audiences for these practices, and students' preferences for enacting these practices in the first-year college writing classroom. Methods of data collection included surveying 177 students, conducting…

  15. Determining the Effects of Using Different Writing Activities on the Academic Achievements Secondary School 7th Grade Students and Their Attitudes Towards the Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uzoglu, Mustafa

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the study is to determine the effects of using writing activities with different learning purposes by the secondary school 7th grade students on their academic achievement and attitudes towards the course. The study was carried out in a secondary school located in the centre of Erzurum in 2012-2013 academic year; the study is a…

  16. The Power of the Stage and the Dignity of the Academic Calling in Imperial Germany: The Writings of Max Weber on University Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Minerva, 1973

    1973-01-01

    Contains Max Weber's writings on the problems of the German university in the face of political and bureaucratic authority and on the fundamental principles of university autonomy and academic freedom. (PG)

  17. National Writing Project 2009 Annual Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Writing Project (NJ1), 2009

    2009-01-01

    Writing as a tool for thinking, learning, and communicating is crucial to academic and career success as well as to active citizenship in a democracy. This annual report of the National Writing Project features teachers of math, chemistry, art, history, and business who develop their students as writers. These educators employ writing to engage…

  18. Writing: A Necessary Tool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Budig, Gene A.

    2006-01-01

    Faculty members at America's colleges and universities have long thought that an alarming number of high school graduates do not arrive on campus with the writing skills they need. Now leaders of major U.S. corporations are joining their academic colleagues in complaining about a serious deficiency in the writing skills of today's college…

  19. Writing Essays: Does Self-Efficacy Matter? The Relationship between Self-Efficacy in Reading and in Writing and Undergraduate Students' Performance in Essay Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prat-Sala, Merce; Redford, Paul

    2012-01-01

    Self-efficacy beliefs have been identified as associated with students' academic performance. The present research assessed the relationship between two new self-efficacy scales (self-efficacy in reading [SER] and self-efficacy in writing [SEW]) and students' writing performance on a piece of assessed written coursework. Using data from first and…

  20. Teaching the Academic Argument in a University EFL Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bacha, Nahla Nola

    2010-01-01

    An educational challenge that many university EFL students face is the production of written academic arguments as part of their required essays. Although the importance of argumentative writing in education is uncontested, and research shows that EFL students find difficulties in producing such texts, it is not adequately dealt with for the L1…

  1. Academic Jibberish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krashen, Stephen

    2012-01-01

    In this article, the author talks about academic jibberish. Alfie Kohn states that a great deal of academic writing is incomprehensible even to others in the same area of scholarship. Academic Jibberish may score points for the writer but does not help research or practice. The author discusses jibberish as a career strategy that impresses those…

  2. Academic Writing, Genres and Philosophy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Michael A.

    2008-01-01

    This paper examines the underlying genres of philosophy focusing especially on their pedagogical forms to emphasize the materiality and historicity of genres, texts and writing. It focuses briefly on the history of the essay and its relation to the journal within the wider history of scientific communication, and comments on the standardized forms…

  3. Critical Literacy Finds a "Place": Writing and Social Action in a Low-Income Australian Grade 2/3 Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Comber, Barbara; Thomson, Pat; Wells, Marg

    2001-01-01

    Draws on a study of socioeconomically disadvantaged children's acquisition of school literacies to investigate how children's writing and drawing might be key elements in developing critical literacies in elementary school settings. Focuses on how such classroom writing can be a mediator of emotions, intellectual and academic learning, social…

  4. Using a Systemic Functional Genre-Based Approach to Promote a Situated View of Academic Writing among EFL Pre-Service Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Correa, Doris; Echeverri, Sandra

    2017-01-01

    This article reports partial results of a qualitative study which explored the gains and challenges encountered by two groups of English as a foreign language pre-service teachers from a public university in Medellin, Colombia, in developing a situated view of academic writing through a systemic functional genre-based instructional unit. The unit…

  5. Dyslexia, Authorial Identity, and Approaches to Learning and Writing: A Mixed Methods Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kinder, Julianne; Elander, James

    2012-01-01

    Background: Dyslexia may lead to difficulties with academic writing as well as reading. The authorial identity approach aims to help students improve their academic writing and avoid unintentional plagiarism, and could help to understand dyslexic students' approaches to writing. Aims: (1) To compare dyslexic and non-dyslexic students' authorial…

  6. Beyond "Write-Talk-Revise-(Repeat)": Using Narrative to Understand One Multilingual Student's Interactions around Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pomerantz, Anne; Kearney, Erin

    2012-01-01

    This paper offers a narrative framework for understanding how multilingual graduate students make sense of the continuous and frequently contradictory talk they engage in as they write. It illustrates how attention to the telling, form, and content of the stories such students relate about their ongoing interactions around academic writing can…

  7. The Effect of Carrying out Writing to Learn Activities on Academic Success of Fifth Grade Students in Secondary School on the Subject of "Force and Motion"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seven, Sabriye; Koksal, Asiye Pinar; Kocak, Gulsen

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of writing poems and keeping a journal as writing-to-learn activities on the academic achievement of students in teaching the Force and Motion unit in the Science class of fifth grade students in secondary school. Sample of the study consists of 50 students who study in the fifth grade of two…

  8. The Effect of Keyboard-Based Word Processing on Students with Different Working Memory Capacity during the Process of Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Der Steen, Steffie; Samuelson, Dianne; Thomson, Jennifer M.

    2017-01-01

    This study addresses the current debate about the beneficial effects of text processing software on students with different working memory (WM) during the process of academic writing, especially with regard to the ability to display higher-level conceptual thinking. A total of 54 graduate students (15 male, 39 female) wrote one essay by hand and…

  9. Academic Literacy and Plagiarism: Conversations with International Graduate Students and Disciplinary Professors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abasi, Ali R.; Graves, Barbara

    2008-01-01

    In this study we examine how university plagiarism policies interact with international graduate students' academic writing in English as they develop identities as authors and students. The study is informed by the sociocultural theoretical perspective [Vygotsky, L. (1978). "Mind in society: The development of higher mental processes." Cambridge,…

  10. Peer Feedback in Second Language Writing (2005-2014)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yu, Shulin; Lee, Icy

    2016-01-01

    This article reviews research on peer feedback in second language (L2) writing published in the last decade (i.e. 2005-2014). We analyse first the theoretical underpinnings that have informed both peer feedback research and the pedagogical use of peer feedback in L2 writing instruction. We also provide a critical interpretation of existing peer…

  11. Incorporating A Structured Writing Process into Existing CLS Curricula.

    PubMed

    Honeycutt, Karen; Latshaw, Sandra

    2014-01-01

    Good communication and critical thinking are essential skills for all successful professionals, including Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Laboratory Science (CLS/MLS) practitioners. Professional programs can incorporate writing assignments into their curricula to improve student written communication and critical thinking skills. Clearly defined, scenario-focused writing assignments provide student practice in clearly articulating responses to proposed problems or situations, researching and utilizing informational resources, and applying and synthesizing relevant information. Assessment rubrics, structured feedback, and revision writing methodologies help guide students through the writing process. This article describes how a CLS Program in a public academic medical center, located in the central United States (US) serving five centrally-located US states has incorporated writing intensive assignments into an existing 11-month academic year using formal, informal and reflective writing to improve student written communication and critical thinking skills. Faculty members and employers of graduates assert that incorporating writing intensive requirements have better prepared students for their professional role to effectively communicate and think critically.

  12. Academic Vocabulary, Writing and English for Academic Purposes: Perspectives from Second Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coxhead, Averil

    2012-01-01

    This article focuses on vocabulary and writing at university level from the perspectives of 14 English as an additional language students studying at a New Zealand university. The students individually carried out an integrated reading and writing task and then participated in an interview which focused on their language learning background and…

  13. Source-Based Tasks in Writing Independent and Integrated Essays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gholami, Javad; Alinasab, Mahsa

    2017-01-01

    Integrated writing tasks have gained considerable attention in ESL and EFL writing assessment and are frequently needed and used in academic settings and daily life. However, they are very rarely practiced and promoted in writing classes. This paper explored the effects of source-based writing practice on EFL learners' composing abilities and…

  14. Using Turnitin to Provide Feedback on L2 Writers' Texts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kostka, Ilka; Maliborska, Veronika

    2016-01-01

    Second language (L2) writing instructors have varying tools at their disposal for providing feedback on students' writing, including ones that enable them to provide written and audio feedback in electronic form. One tool that has been underexplored is Turnitin, a widely used software program that matches electronic text to a wide range of…

  15. Artful Language: Academic Writing for the Art Student

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Apps, Linda; Mamchur, Carolyn

    2009-01-01

    The task of writing about the process of making and contextualising art can be overwhelming for some graduate students. While the challenge may be due in part to limited time and attention to the practice of writing, in a practice-based arts thesis there is a deeper issue: how the visual and written components are attended to in a manner that…

  16. Reading, Writing & Rings: Science Literacy for K-4 Students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McConnell, S.; Spilker, L.; Zimmerman-Brachman, R.

    2007-12-01

    Scientific discovery is the impetus for the K-4 Education program, "Reading, Writing & Rings." This program is unique because its focus is to engage elementary students in reading and writing to strengthen these basic academic skills through scientific content. As science has been increasingly overtaken by the language arts in elementary classrooms, the Cassini Education Program has taken advantage of a new cross-disciplinary approach to use language arts as a vehicle for increasing scientific content in the classroom. By utilizing the planet Saturn and the Cassini-Huygens mission as a model in both primary reading and writing students in these grade levels, young students can explore science material while at the same time learning these basic academic skills. Content includes reading, thinking, and hands-on activities. Developed in partnership with the Cassini-Huygens Education and Public Outreach Program, the Bay Area Writing Project/California Writing Project, Foundations in Reading Through Science & Technology (FIRST), and the Caltech Pre-College Science Initiative (CAPSI), and classroom educators, "Reading, Writing & Rings" blends the excitement of space exploration with reading and writing. All materials are teacher developed, aligned with national science and language education standards, and are available from the Cassini-Huygens website: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/edu-k4.cfm Materials are divided into two grade level units. One unit is designed for students in grades 1 and 2 while the other unit focuses on students in grades 3 and 4. Each includes a series of lessons that take students on a path of exploration of Saturn using reading and writing prompts.

  17. ESL Students' Perceptions of Their English Writing Proficiency and the Effects of Peer Review Training among Three Types of Students in a Community College ESL Composition Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldburg, Maxine E.

    2012-01-01

    Learner-centered methodology like peer review is problematic in the pluralism of the ESL classroom when teaching academic English composition. A distinct complication is the form writing instruction should take given the interaction and variations between ESL students' L1 background, experiences, schema, and the meaning of academic literacy in…

  18. Collaborative Revision in L2 Writing: Learners' Reflections

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Memari Hanjani, Alireza

    2016-01-01

    L2 learning literature has reflected on the problems surrounding the application of teacher written feedback and peer feedback in EFL contexts. To address the disadvantages of these feedback forms, this exploratory case study examined EFL learners' reactions to a collaborative revision activity. Interview data were collected from eight native…

  19. A curricular approach to improve the information literacy and academic writing skills of part-time post-registration nursing students in Hong Kong.

    PubMed

    Tarrant, Marie; Dodgson, Joan E; Law, Beatrice V K K

    2008-05-01

    In today's environment of rapidly changing health care and information technology, nurses require a broad range of skills. One of the key skills required of all health professionals in this environment is information literacy. For registered nurses returning to a university setting to study for their baccalaureate degree, becoming information literate is one of many challenges they face. Also key to students' ability to use and communicate information in an appropriate and effective manner is their writing skills. This article describes a curricular intervention designed to develop and strengthen post-registration nurses' information literacy and academic writing competencies. An introductory information management module was developed and provided to three successive cohorts of students (n=159). Students were predominantly female (85.4%) with a mean age of 34.2 years (SD=6.8). Prior to commencing the program, students reported low information literacy and writing skills, especially in accessing and searching electronic databases and using referencing formats. The post-test evaluation of skills showed substantial and statistically significant increases in all assessed competencies. This intervention demonstrated that with structured but flexible learning activities early in the curriculum, post-registration nursing students can quickly become information literate.

  20. Group Dynamic Assessment of L2 Learners' Writing Abilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shabani, Karim

    2018-01-01

    The present study was designed to test a group-based format of dynamic assessment (G-DA) in the context of writing over a time span of twelve weeks of instruction. A cohort of 60 students took a homogeneity test and based on the results, 44 students were selected to participate forming the two groups of experimental (N = 22) and control (N = 22).…

  1. Successful Writing: Five Roadblocks to Overcome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Kathleen P.

    2013-01-01

    This article provides essential strategies to be more successful in one of the major roles in academia: writing. Most academics struggle with roadblocks in their writing process. We are forever battling to complete research articles, manuscripts, grant proposals or other documents. The strategies and perspective shared here help overcome several…

  2. Shared Features of L2 Writing: Intergroup Homogeneity and Text Classification

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crossley, Scott A.; McNamara, Danielle S.

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates intergroup homogeneity within high intermediate and advanced L2 writers of English from Czech, Finnish, German, and Spanish first language backgrounds. A variety of linguistic features related to lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and cohesion were used to compare texts written by L1 speakers of English to L2

  3. National and State Writing Tests: The Writing Process Betrayed

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schuster, Edgar H.

    2004-01-01

    State academic standards broadly support the writing process, including the planning (prewriting), drafting, revising, editing, and publishing (sharing) stages. There is also widespread recognition that a valuable part of the process is conferencing, either between teacher and student, student and student (often referred to as peer feedback), or…

  4. What Do Education Students Think about Their Ability to Write Essays?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quintero, Gisela Consolación

    2018-01-01

    The present study reflects the results obtained from a diagnosis carried out with Education students concerning the writing of academic essays. The objective was to identify the perceptions that Comprehensive Education students have about their ability to write academic essays. A descriptive cross-sectional research study was conducted at a single…

  5. Writing across the Curriculum: A Hermeneutic Study of Students' Experiences in Writing in Food Science Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dzurec, David J.; Dzurec, Laura Cox

    2005-01-01

    Writing can enhance learning by helping students put words to their thinking about course material. The purposes of this study were to assess the influence of a structured academic journal writing exercise on student learning in a food science class and to examine student responses to the experience. Hermeneutics, a philosophy of science and…

  6. The Apples of Academic Performance: Associations Between Dietary Patterns and Academic Performance in Australian Children.

    PubMed

    Pearce, Karma; Golley, Rebecca; Lewis, Lucy; Cassidy, Leah; Olds, Timothy; Maher, Carol

    2018-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was an association between dietary patterns and children's academic performance. This cross-sectional study involved 315 children aged 9-11 years from 26 schools in Australia. Academic performance was measured in 4 domains (reading, writing, numeracy, and language-subdomains: spelling, grammarm and punctuation) using the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). A self-reported child questionnaire collected dietary intake data. "Core" (healthy) and "noncore" (unhealthy) dietary patterns were derived using principal components analysis. The noncore pattern was associated with lower NAPLAN scores across all academic domains (mean: -12.6, 95% CI: -18.7 to -6.4, r 2 = .073, p < .001) except writing, while the core foods pattern was not associated with NAPLAN scores across all domains. When the noncore model was adjusted for sociodemographic covariates (child body mass index, ethnicity, sex, parental education, household income, marital status, mother's employment hours, and number of siblings), the association was attenuated but remained statistically significant (NAPLAN summary score: -8.5, 95% CI -15.0 to -1.9, r 2 = .123, p = .011). Academic performance was deleteriously associated with a nutrient-poor, energy-dense diet, yet not associated with a nutritious diet. © 2018, American School Health Association.

  7. NAEP 1996 Trends in Writing: Fluency and Writing Conventions. Holistic and Mechanics Scores in 1984 and 1996.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ballator, Nada; Farnum, Marisa; Kaplan, Bruce

    Supplementary to "NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress," this report describes two aspects of writing for which change has been measured since 1984: writing fluency as determined by holistic scoring; and mastery of the conventions of written English as determined by mechanics scoring. The introduction discusses the layout and means of…

  8. Using PELA to Predict International Business Students' English Writing Performance with Contextualised English Writing Workshops as Intervention Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wong, Caroline; Delante, Nimrod Lawsin; Wang, Pengji

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the effectiveness of Post-Entry English Language Assessment (PELA) as a predictor of international business students' English writing performance and academic performance. An intervention involving the implementation of contextualised English writing workshops was embedded in a specific business subject targeted at students who…

  9. Collaborative Writing Tasks in the L2 Classroom: Comparing Group, Pair, and Individual Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobao, Ana Fernandez

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the benefits of collaborative writing tasks. Previous research from the perspective of the sociocultural theory of mind suggests that writing tasks completed in pairs offer learners an opportunity to collaborate in the solution of their language-related problems, co-construct new language knowledge, and produce…

  10. Multi-Draft Composing: An Iterative Model for Academic Argument Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eckstein, Grant; Chariton, Jessica; McCollum, Robb Mark

    2011-01-01

    Post-secondary writing teachers in composition and English as a second language (ESL) writing programs are likely familiar with multi-draft composing. Both composition and ESL writing programs share nearly identical multi-draft models despite the very unique and different cultures of each group. We argue that multi-draft composing as it is…

  11. Exploring the Impact of Online Peer-Editing Using Google Docs on EFL Learners' Academic Writing Skills: A Mixed Methods Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ebadi, Saman; Rahimi, Masoud

    2017-01-01

    This article reports the results of a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of online peer-editing using Google Docs and peer-editing in a face-to-face classroom on EFL learners' academic writing skills. As the study adopted a quasi-experimental design, two intact classes, each with ten EFL learners, attending an…

  12. Academic Success Foundation: Enhancing Academic Integrity through Mobile Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanbidge, Alice Schmidt; Mackenzie, Amanda; Sanderson, Nicole; Scholz, Kyle; Tin, Tony

    2017-01-01

    How do we close the gap between the lack of academic experience incoming students have--with the expectation that students know the rules of writing and taking exams? Academic integrity (AI) is essential in post-secondary academia yet insufficient time is allocated to teaching and practicing its concepts. Talks at orientation, lectures in the…

  13. Preparing Teachers to Respond to Student Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferris, Dana

    2007-01-01

    Responding to student writing is one of the most challenging aspects of the writing instructor's job, and it is certainly the most time-consuming. Preparing future teachers to respond to L2 writing thus becomes an important aspect of any pre-service training course. In this paper, the author describes her own approach to training writing…

  14. Partners in Crime: Integrating Forensic Science and Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hein, Erik

    2006-01-01

    Forensic science lends itself to many academic areas. Aside from the science itself, writing plays a major role in the investigation process as well as in the courtroom. It is paramount that students learn how to write proficiently when recording results or writing evaluations and reports, just as forensic scientists do. This can also be done…

  15. Adolescents' Use of Academic Language in Historical Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shen, Ting

    2011-01-01

    Despite its importance of academic language, research on academic language is often limited to academic vocabulary and focused on the English language learners. Informed by systemic functional linguistics, this study examined adolescents' use of academic language and the relationships between its use and students' reading ability and their writing…

  16. Resistance and Invention: Becoming Academic, Remaining Other

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooks, Spirit; Franklin-Phipps, Asilia; Rath, Courtney

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we take an unsanctioned academic network, a writing group, as a site of inquiry into both the broad given-ness of the norms of the neoliberal academy and our simultaneous compliance with and resistance to these norms. We choose to comply because we are invested in becoming academics; we continue to research and write for conferences…

  17. Research Writing in a Foreign Language.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simpson, JoEllen M.

    1998-01-01

    Reports on the application of a North American system of research writing in a high-intermediate class of English-as-foreign-language learners in Colombia. The system was adapted from a variety of sources representing typical approaches to the introduction of academic research writing at the university level in the United States. (Author/VWL)

  18. Translanguaging and the Writing of Bilingual Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Velasco, Patricia; García, Ofelia

    2014-01-01

    This article makes the case for using translanguaging in developing the academic writing of bilinguals. It reviews the emerging literature on learning and teaching theories of translanguaging and presents theoretical understandings of biliteracy development and specifically on the teaching of writing to bilingual learners. The article analyzes…

  19. Intentional Implementation: A Self-Study Examining and Evaluating Instructional Implementation of Digital Tools to Foster Academic Writing in the English Secondary Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alcoser, Michelle Elaine

    2017-01-01

    This self-study examines the planning, practices, policies, and procedures present in a blended learning classroom environment to develop academic writing with tenth and eleventh grade public high school students. Digital technology is a prevalent and powerful force intertwined with most aspects of the human experience in the twenty-first century.…

  20. The Impact of Explicit Timing, Immediate Feedback, and Positive Reinforcement on the Writing Outcomes of Academically and Behaviorally Struggling Fifth-Grade Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grünke, Matthias; Sperling, Marko; Burke, Mack D.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of a multicomponent intervention on the length and quality of stories written by fifth graders who were academically and behaviorally struggling with particular problems during writing demands. Difficulties in text production are often prevalent at the beginning of middle/secondary education as…

  1. Academic Writing Partnerships: The DIY Version

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stivers, Jan; Cramer, Sharon F.

    2013-01-01

    Despite the challenges of heavy workloads, family responsibilities, and differences in work styles, two senior faculty members used collaboration to reenergize their scholarly efforts; the results include increased research and publication (three joint articles and a book) as well as a new enjoyment of the research and writing process. This…

  2. The Evolution of a Writing Program.

    PubMed

    White, Bonnie J; Lamson, Karen S

    2017-07-01

    Scholarly writing is required in nursing, and some students are unable to communicate effectively through writing. Faculty members may struggle with the grading of written assignments. A writing team, consisting of a nursing faculty member, the school of nursing library liaison, and members from academic support services, implemented strategies including workshops, handouts, and use of exemplars to improve student writing and to provide support to faculty. Few students sought help from the writing team. An online writing center within the existing learning management system was developed to address nursing students' and faculty's scholarly writing needs. The writing center includes guides, tutorials, and exemplars. Anecdotal evidence indicates the use of the writing center during afternoons and evenings and prior to due dates of written assignments. Online writing resources were used more frequently than face-to-face support. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(7):443-445.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

  3. Writing for publication: institutional support provides an enabling environment.

    PubMed

    Kramer, Beverley; Libhaber, Elena

    2016-04-18

    Due to the excessive service delivery loads in public hospitals supported by academic institutions in developing environments, researchers at these institutions have little time to develop scientific writing skills or to write up their research. It is imperative to expand the writing skills of researchers and train the next generation of health sciences academics in order to disseminate research findings. This study reports on the implementation of approaches for writing and publication and the extent of support to staff suffering from the overload of service delivery and of heavy teaching duties. Workshops in scientific writing and writing retreats were initiated and were offered to all staff. Feedback from participants of the writing skills workshops indicated that the workshops provided an injection of confidence and proficiency. Protected writing time resulted in 132 papers submitted to journals and 95 in preparation from 230 participants of the writing retreats over a two year period. Staff commended the off-site, collegial environment, which also supported future collaboration with new-found colleagues. This enabling environment facilitates not only the development of writing skills per se, but also the dissemination of the generated scientific knowledge. In addition, the training in writing skills of this generation will be of value in the training of future cohorts in countries with similar health care deliverables.

  4. Cognitive Components of Developmental Writing Skill

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Decker, Scott L.; Roberts, Alycia M.; Roberts, Kristin L.; Stafford, Allison L.; Eckert, Mark A.

    2016-01-01

    A significant number of studies have examined the cognitive components of basic academic skills, which has led to major changes in both teaching and early identification assessment practices. However, the majority of previous research has focused solely on reading. This study examines the cognitive components of academic writing skills across…

  5. Cooperative Writing Response Groups: Revising Global Aspects of Second-Language Writing in a Constrained Educational Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Porto, Melina

    2016-01-01

    This article describes a cooperative writing response initiative designed to develop writing skills in foreign/second-language contexts (hereafter L2). The strategy originated from my desire to cater for my learners' need to become better writers in English within a constrained educational environment in Argentina. In this article I describe this…

  6. The Multi-Feature Hypothesis: Connectionist Guidelines for L2 Task Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moonen, Machteld; de Graaff, Rick; Westhoff, Gerard; Brekelmans, Mieke

    2014-01-01

    This study focuses on the effects of task type on the retention and ease of activation of second language (L2) vocabulary, based on the multi-feature hypothesis (Moonen, De Graaff, & Westhoff, 2006). Two tasks were compared: a writing task and a list-learning task. It was hypothesized that performing the writing task would yield higher…

  7. Critical Thinking through Writing: Expressing Scientific Thought and Process in a Deaf Classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manjarrez, Leslie

    Within Deaf classrooms there is often a disconnect between academic areas and writing curriculums that develop in both common and academic language, where often classrooms focus solely on writing as a skill rather than as a method for producing language through an academic area. This work focuses on the development of academic language in ASL and English print of science. The curriculum is written to be implemented as a bilingual academic curriculum to support Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in various self contained classroom settings. Lessons are conducted in three Units, A B and C. Unit A focuses on research, thought and writing of preparatory materials in small groups. Unit B is comprised of procedural lessons on conducting x experiments and the evaluation of those experiments through mathematics. Unit C is a group of lessons that ties together Units A and B through writing and peer teaching as a method of concluding the work and presenting information in an effective manner. The success of the project was evaluated on the basis of student work, rubrics, and final works from the students. The results showed promise in aspects of Critical Thinking, writing development, and expression of new concepts in both ASL and English.

  8. Toward a Student-Centered Understanding of Intensive Writing and Writing-to-Learn in the Spanish Major: An Examination of Advanced L2 Spanish Students' Learning in the Writing-Intensive Spanish Content Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strong, Robert Marvin

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to build upon our understanding of the place and value of writing in the advanced foreign language curriculum. Specifically, the study examines how students in writing-intensive Spanish-major courses are affected by the writing-intensive (WI) requirement at the University of Minnesota. Writing-Across-the-Curriculum…

  9. Peer Victimization and Academic Performance in Primary School Children.

    PubMed

    Mundy, Lisa K; Canterford, Louise; Kosola, Silja; Degenhardt, Louisa; Allen, Nicholas B; Patton, George C

    Peer victimization is a common antecedent of poor social and emotional adjustment. Its relationship with objectively measured academic performance is unclear. In this study we aimed to quantify the cross-sectional associations between peer victimization and academic performance in a large population sample of children. Eight- to 9-year-old children were recruited from a stratified random sample of primary schools in Australia. Academic performance was measured on a national achievement test (1 year of learning equals 40 points). Physical and verbal victimization were measured according to child self-report. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analyses were conducted. For female children, verbal victimization was associated with poorer academic performance on writing (β = 17.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], -28.2 to -6.2) and grammar/punctuation (β = -20.8; 95% CI, -40.1 to -1.6). Physical victimization was associated with poorer performance on numeracy (male children: β = -29.0; 95% CI, -53.8 to -4.1; female children: β = -30.1; 95% CI, -56.6 to -3.5), and writing (female children: β = -21.5; 95% CI, -40.4 to -2.7). Verbal and physical victimization were associated with poorer performance on reading (male children: β = -31.5; 95% CI, -59.9 to -3.1; female children: β = -30.2; 95% CI, -58.6 to -1.8), writing (female children: β = -25.5; 95% CI, -42.8 to -8.2), spelling (female children: β = -32.3; 95% CI, -59.6 to -4.9), and grammar/punctuation (female children: β = -32.2; 95% CI, -62.4 to -2.0). Children who were physically victimized were 6 to 9 months behind their non-victimized peers on measures of academic performance. There are growing reasons for education systems to invest in the prevention of bullying and promotion of positive peer relationships from the earliest years of school. Copyright © 2017 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. The Impact of L1 Writing System on ESL Knowledge of Vowel and Consonant Spellings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Katherine I.

    2017-01-01

    Orthographic knowledge, the general ability to learn, store, and use information about the orthographic form of words (Stanovich & West, 1989), is a crucial skill for supporting literacy. Although the development of first language (L1) orthographic awareness is impacted by the characteristics of a learner's L1 writing system, relatively little…

  11. The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rocco, Tonette S.; Hatcher, Tim; Creswell, John W.

    2011-01-01

    "The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing" is a groundbreaking resource that offers emerging and experienced scholars from all disciplines a comprehensive review of the essential elements needed to craft scholarly papers and other writing suitable for submission to academic journals. The authors discuss the components of different types of…

  12. Really Writing! Ready-To-Use Writing Process Activities for the Elementary Grades. 2nd Edition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sunflower, Cherlyn

    2005-01-01

    The second edition of "Really Writing!" provides 40 real-life writing activities designed to capture the attention of young authors (grades 2 through 6) who are just learning the composing process. This book is also a resource for teaching advanced writers who are ready to experiment with a variety of writing and speaking genres. Each of the…

  13. On the Temporal Nature of Planning in L1 and L2 Composing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Manchon, Rosa M.; de Larios, Julio Roca

    2007-01-01

    In this article we report on a study in which verbal protocol data were used to explore English as a foreign language writers' planning behavior while engaged in academic writing tasks. The analysis was approached from a temporal perspective (i.e., time spent on planning operations) in relation to three independent variables: (a) the participants'…

  14. Implementing Keyword and Question Generation Approaches in Teaching EFL Summary Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chou, Mu-hsuan

    2012-01-01

    Summary writing has been considered an important aspect of academic writing. However, writing summaries can be a challenging task for the majority of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Research into teaching summary writing has focused on different processes to teach EFL learners. The present study adopted two methods--keyword and…

  15. Subjectivity Matters: Using Gerda Lerner's Writing and Rhetoric to Claim an Alternative Epistemology for the Feminist Writing Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ryan, Kathleen J.

    2006-01-01

    In this article, the author argues the common assumption among teachers that the traditional academic essay is the most appropriate sustained writing activity for students. As a feminist, the author believes that the traditional academic essay considers a positivist, patriarchal epistemology that governs beliefs about knowledge and teaching…

  16. Improve Your Students' Writing with a Class Magazine.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stuart, Moira K.

    This paper describes two different English programs for international students at the American Language Institute in San Diego, California. One is English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and the other is Intensive English for Communication (IEC). The paper focuses on one teacher's experiences teaching IEC writing after 2 years of teaching EAP…

  17. Technical writing practically unified through industry

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Houston, L. S.

    1981-01-01

    General background details in the development of a university level technical writing program, based upon the writing tasks of the student's occupations, are summarized. Objectives and methods for unifying the courses of study with the needs of industry are discussed. Four academic course divisions, Industries Technologies, in which preparation and training are offered are: Animal, Horticulture, Agriculture, and Agricultural Business. Occupational competence is cited as the main goal for these programs in which technical writing is to be practically unified through industry. Course descriptions are also provided.

  18. Scaffolding for Second Language Writers: Producing an Academic Essay.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cotterall, Sara; Cohen, Robin

    2003-01-01

    Describes how a group of intermediate learners of English were guided through the process of producing their first academic essays in English. The approach applied the concept of scaffolding to the academic writing process by proving flexible support for the learners throughout the writing of their essays. (Author/VWL)

  19. From Diagnosis to Prognosis: What Instructors Know about Their Students' Writing Apprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Apawu, David Dankwa; Anani, Gifty Edna

    2017-01-01

    Different students enter institutions of higher learning with varying degrees of writing apprehension. The apprehension ranges from anxiety from writing tasks to avoiding courses that involve a lot of writing. For many universities, the writing centers or academic writing courses are meant to equip students to be able to deal with the high writing…

  20. [A practical guide for writing an original scientific article].

    PubMed

    Rosenberg, Jacob; Burcharth, Jakob; Pommergaard, Hans-Christian

    2014-06-30

    Writing scientific articles is an integrated part of being a medical doctor at academic institutions, and the demand for publishing scientific work has increased during recent years. The discipline of writing scientific articles can be troublesome and complicated, especially for young inexperienced researchers. This article is a guide to structuring and writing an original scientific article.

  1. An L2 Reader's Word-Recognition Strategies: Transferred or Developed

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alco, Bonnie

    2010-01-01

    Transfer of reading strategies from the first language (L1) to the second language (L2) has long puzzled educators, but what happens if the L1 is an alphabet language and the second is not, or if there is a mismatch in the languages' grapheme-phoneme connection? Although some students readily adjust to reading and writing in their second language,…

  2. Using Translation Exercises in the Communicative EFL Writing Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Eun-Young

    2011-01-01

    Implementing process pedagogy in an L2 writing classroom has its own limits for students with low English proficiency. Although L1 writers commonly benefit from writing multiple drafts, most of the low English level Korean college students in my English composition class did not benefit from the revisions. This article introduces an innovative…

  3. Knowing, Learning, and Writing: Patterns in Students' Understanding of Academic Work.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kurfiss, Joanne Gainen

    The paper describes four major patterns that emerge in studies of college student intellectual development. Quotations from students' writing about their epistemological beliefs and quotations from professors' writing concerning their courses and students are related to the four patterns. Characteristics of student writing associated with each…

  4. Borrowing Brainpower--Sharing Insecurities. Lessons Learned from a Doctoral Peer Writing Group

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wegener, Charlotte; Meier, Ninna; Ingerslev, Karen

    2016-01-01

    Academic writing is a vital, yet complex skill that must be developed within a doctoral training process. In addition, becoming an academic researcher is a journey of changing sense of self and identity. Through analysis of a group session, we show how the feedback of peers addresses questions of structure and writing style along with wider issues…

  5. Integrating Academic Information into Developmental Writing Courses.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Troiano, Edna M.; Draus, Julia

    In 1983, Charles County Community College (CCCC) initiated a project to infuse academic information from the sciences, humanities, and social sciences into developmental courses. The reorganization assignments related to 27 topics that promoted academic examination and cultural literacy while at the same time drawing from students' own…

  6. Mini-Thesis Writing Course for International Graduate Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wyatt-Brown, Anne M.

    An approach to teaching academic writing to foreign graduate students at the University of Florida is described. The course combines general and technical writing assignments to sharpen students' critical thinking skills while improving their organizational techniques and editing strategies. Assignments are designed to help students discover the…

  7. Physical education, obesity, and academic achievement: a 2-year longitudinal investigation of Australian elementary school children.

    PubMed

    Telford, Richard D; Cunningham, Ross B; Fitzgerald, Robert; Olive, Lisa S; Prosser, Laurence; Jiang, Xiaoli; Telford, Rohan M

    2012-02-01

    We determined whether physical education (PE) taught by specialists contributed to academic development and prevention of obesity in elementary school children. Our 2-year longitudinal study involved 620 boys and girls initially in grade 3 in Australia, all receiving 150 minutes per week of PE. One group (specialist-taught PE; n = 312) included 90 minutes per week of PE from visiting specialists; the other (common-practice PE; n = 308) received all PE from generalist classroom teachers. Measurements included percentage of body fat (measured by dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry) and writing, numeracy, and reading proficiency (by government tests). Compared with common-practice PE, specialist-taught PE was associated with a smaller increase in age-related percentage of body fat (P = .02). Specialist-taught PE was also associated with greater improvements in numeracy (P < .03) and writing (P = .13) scores. There was no evidence of a reading effect. The attenuated age-related increases in percentage of body fat and enhanced numeracy development among elementary school children receiving PE from specialists provides support for the role of PE in both preventive medicine and academic development.

  8. Writing as Envision: Autobiographical and Academic Writing in the Composition Class.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tokarczyk, Michelle M.

    Three students in an autobiography class--an African-American, a woman, and a gay man struggling to come out--used their writing to both affirm their places in the world and envision another place. Having reviewed her early educational experiences as an African-American, Holly focused her essay back to her present college days and her attempts to…

  9. A Guide to Writing Academic Portfolios for Radiologists.

    PubMed

    Thomas, John V; Sanyal, Rupan; O'Malley, Janis P; Singh, Satinder P; Morgan, Desiree E; Canon, Cheri L

    2016-12-01

    The academic educator's portfolio is a collection of materials that document academic performance and achievements, supplementing the curriculum vitae, in order to showcase a faculty member's most significant accomplishments. A decade ago, a survey of medical schools revealed frustration in the nonuniform methods of measuring faculty's medical education productivity. A proposed solution was the use of an academic educator's portfolio. In the academic medical community, compiling an academic portfolio is always a challenge because teaching has never been confined to the traditional classroom setting and often involves active participation of the medical student, resident, or fellow in the ongoing care of the patient. Diagnostic radiology in addition requires a knowledge base that encompasses basic sciences, imaging physics, technology, and traditional and molecular medicine. Teaching and performing research that involves this complex mix, while providing patient care that is often behind the scenes, provides unique challenges in the documentation of teaching, research, and clinical service for diagnostic radiology faculty. An academic portfolio is seen as a way to explain why relevant academic activities are significant to promotions committee members who may have backgrounds in unrelated academic areas and may not be familiar with a faculty member's work. The academic portfolio consists of teaching, research, and service portfolios. The teaching portfolio is a collection of materials that document teaching performance and documents the educator's transition to a more effective educator. A research portfolio showcases the most significant research accomplishments. The service portfolio documents service responsibilities and highlight any service excellence. All portfolios should briefly discuss the educator's philosophy, activities, methods used to implement activities, leadership, mentoring, or committee roles in these respective areas. Recognizing that academic

  10. Affective and Social Factors in a Project-Based Writing Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kathpalia, Sujata Surinder; Heah, Carmel

    2011-01-01

    Much of the work in academic writing has focused on the cognitive rather than the affective and social aspects involved in project-based writing. Emphasis in past research has been on skills and processes of writing rather than on affective factors such as motivation, attitudes, feelings or social factors involving intrapersonal and interpersonal…

  11. Doing Academic Writing Differently: A Feminist Bricolage

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Handforth, Rachel; Taylor, Carol A.

    2016-01-01

    This article emerged as the product of a collaboration between two individuals at different stages of our academic careers, one a beginning researcher and the other a senior academic. Written as an experimental "bricolage", the article weaves together two main threads to chart our engagements with feminist research and with writing…

  12. Using Criterion in an English for Academic Purposes Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cookson, Simon; Hunter, Simon; Jackson, Daniel; Sick, James

    2005-01-01

    English for Academic Purposes (EAP Writing) is a compulsory course for English literature and language students at Obirin University. The first semester focuses on expository writing, typical of the TOEFL[R] writing exam. The second semester focuses on writing about literature. To facilitate their writing all students are provided with a user…

  13. Understanding the processes of writing papers reflectively.

    PubMed

    Regmi, Krishna; Naidoo, Jennie

    2013-07-01

    This paper explores the writing of research papers using reflective frameworks. Reflective practice is integral to professional education and development. However, healthcare students, academics and practitioners have given limited attention to how to write reflectively. In addition, there are limited resources on the practical aspects of writing papers reflectively. The following major databases were searched: PubMed, Medline, King's Library, Excerpta Medica Database, Department of Health database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. The searches were conducted using 'free text' and 'index' terms. Only relevant papers published in English were reviewed and scrutinised. Unpublished reports, internal publications, snowballing from the reference lists and personal contacts were also included in the search. This is a review paper that critiques the frameworks used for reflective practice. Writing papers reflectively is a complex task. Healthcare professionals and researchers need to understand the meaning of reflection and make appropriate use of reflective frameworks. Demystifying the process of reflectively writing papers will help professionals develop skills and competencies. IMPLICATION FOR RESEARCH/PRACTICE: This article provides a practical guide to reflection and how nursing and allied healthcare students, academics and practitioners can practise it. The paper identifies four generic stages in frameworks: description, assessment, evaluation and action, which are illustrated by annotated 'skeletal' examples. It is hoped that this will assist the process of reflective practice, writing and learning.

  14. Get Started and Write: Advice for New Faculty

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, M. Cecil

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes several strategies for organizing, collaborating on, persisting in, and funding professional writing activities that can benefit new tenure track faculty members. Establishing and maintaining a regular program of academic writing is essential to a successful career in higher education, but initiating and maintaining a program…

  15. Exploring Collaboratively Written L2 Texts among First-Year Learners of German in Google Docs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrams, Zsuzsanna

    2016-01-01

    Grounded in research on collaborative writing and computer-mediated writing the present study examines the computer-mediated collaborative writing process among first-year learners of German as a second language (L2) at a US university. The data come from 28 first-year learners of German at a US university, who wrote hypothesized endings to a…

  16. An Investigation of Three Chinese Students' English Writing Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mu, Congjun; Carrington, Suzanne

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the writing processes of second language (L2) writers, specifically examining the writing strategies of three Chinese post-graduate students in an Australian higher education institution. The study was prompted by the paucity of second language writing strategies of Chinese students in an authentic…

  17. Perceptions of L1 Glossed Feedback in Automated Writing Evaluation: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilken, Jayme Lynn

    2018-01-01

    Learner perceptions toward and utilization of L1 glossed feedback in an automated writing evaluation (AWE) program were investigated in an Intensive English Program (IEP) class. This small case study focused on two Chinese students who responded to weekly surveys, semi-structured interviews, and screen capture videos of their revisions over a…

  18. Writing in Disguise: Academic Life in Subordination.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caesar, Terry

    This book presents a series of personal essays in which the author analyzes and dramatizes the significance of subordination in academic life. Academic life is examined in terms of issues (such as sexual harassment) and structures (such as the figure of the dissertation director) but especially in terms of texts. The book looks at the stream of…

  19. Found Poetry: Creating Space for Imaginative Arts-Based Literacy Research Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patrick, Lisa D.

    2016-01-01

    This theoretical position article inquires into poetic methodologies in literacy research and argues for the inclusion of poetry in social science research writing. The unconventional use of poetry in research writing challenges the traditionally accepted role prose plays in academic writing. Research poetry is written from and about research…

  20. Improving Student Writing Skills through the Modeling of the Writing Process.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kapka, Dawn; Oberman, Dina A.

    This study describes a program designed to improve students' writing skills in order to improve academic achievement. The targeted population consists of third and fifth grade elementary students in two separate communities ranging from low to middle class, located in two midwestern suburbs of a large city. Evidence for the existence of the…

  1. Mobile-Assisted Grammar Exercises: Effects on Self-Editing in L2 Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Li, Zhi; Hegelheimer, Volker

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we report on the development and implementation of a web-based mobile application, "Grammar Clinic," for an ESL writing class. Drawing on insights from the interactionist approach to Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the Noticing Hypothesis, and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), "Grammar Clinic" was…

  2. Extending Interactive Writing into Grades 2-5

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roth, Kate; Dabrowski, Joan

    2014-01-01

    Interactive writing is an instructional practice widely considered effective and most appropriate for emergent writers. This article asserts that it is a valuable method for more fluent writers in grades 2-5. It outlines the basic lesson sequence and proposes four key shifts to adapt interactive writing for older, more fluent writers: 1) The…

  3. What a Difference a Writing Centre Makes: A Small Scale Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeats, Rowena; Reddy, Peter; Wheeler, Anne; Senior, Carl; Murray, John

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: Academic writing is often considered to be a weakness in contemporary students, while good reporting and writing skills are highly valued by graduate employers. A number of universities have introduced writing centres aimed at addressing this problem; however, the evaluation of such centres is usually qualitative. The paper seeks to…

  4. Writing in the University: Education, Knowledge and Reputation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hyland, Ken

    2013-01-01

    This paper challenges the widespread view that writing is somehow peripheral to the more serious aspects of university life--doing research and teaching students. It argues that universities are about writing and that specialist forms of academic literacy are at the heart of everything we do: central to constructing knowledge, educating students…

  5. Citation Practices of Postgraduate Students Writing Literature Reviews

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Badenhorst, Cecile

    2018-01-01

    Writing a literature review requires highly sophisticated academic literacies. Many postgraduate students find this genre a challenge. While there is a growing awareness of the need for explicit pedagogy to support students writing this genre, many pedagogical interventions fail to move beyond a focus on citations as a stylistic convention or as a…

  6. Middle School Students' Writing and Feedback in a Cloud-Based Classroom Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zheng, Binbin; Lawrence, Joshua; Warschauer, Mark; Lin, Chin-Hsi

    2015-01-01

    Individual writing and collaborative writing skills are important for academic success, yet are poorly taught in K-12 classrooms. This study examines how sixth-grade students (n = 257) taught by two teachers used Google Docs to write and exchange feedback. We used longitudinal growth models to analyze a large number of student writing samples…

  7. Can We Prepare Effective Writing Teachers for Academically Diverse Classrooms?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uyar, Yusuf

    2016-01-01

    This study examines whether preservice teachers, who provide writing instruction in native language education, are ready to teach students with different learning needs effectively. This study used a survey research design and qualitative data collection tools. An interview form and writing samples from students in the same class with different…

  8. Writing in the Discipline of Anthropology--Theoretical, Thematic and Geographical Spaces

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reynolds, Judith

    2010-01-01

    Writing in different academic disciplines is not only different in superficial ways but in deeper ways that are connected to the history and characteristics of each discipline. Although many writing theorists now understand writing in this way, little has been written about these connections in specific disciplines, and even less about student…

  9. In Pursuit of the Muse: Librarians Who Write.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chepesiuk, Ron

    1991-01-01

    This article profiles six librarians in academic and public libraries who discuss how they balance their dual careers as authors and librarians. The influence of librarianship on their writing is described, the influence of writing on their careers in librarianship is considered, and the problems of finding time for both careers is discussed. (LRW)

  10. The Author's I: Adolescents Mediating Selfhood through Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLean, Cheryl A.

    2012-01-01

    This article looks across two ethnographic case studies on immigrant youth literacy practices in order to understand how two 10th-grade, Caribbean immigrant, high-school students use discourses of academic writing to mediate selfhood. Drawing on the concept of writing as ecology and Black Diaspora theory, the study asked the question: How do…

  11. Social Perspective Taking: A Benefit of Bilingualism in Academic Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hsin, Lisa; Snow, Catherine

    2017-01-01

    The task of writing arguments requires a linguistic and cognitive sophistication that eludes many adults, but students in the US are expected to produce texts that articulate and support a claim--simple written arguments--starting in the fourth grade. Students from language-minority homes likewise must learn to produce such writing, despite their…

  12. Embedding Academic Writing Instruction into Subject Teaching: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wingate, Ursula; Andon, Nick; Cogo, Alessia

    2011-01-01

    The benefits of embedding the teaching of writing into the curriculum have been advocated by educators and researchers. However, there is currently little evidence of embedded writing instruction in the UK's higher education context. In this article, we present a case study in which we report the design, implementation and evaluation of an…

  13. [Use of cyber library and digital tools are crucial for academic surgeons].

    PubMed

    Tomizawa, Yasuko

    2010-10-01

    In addition to busy clinical work, an academic surgeon has to spend a lot of time and efforts in writing and submitting articles to scientific journals, teaching young surgical trainees to write an article, organizing and updating his/her academic performances in the curriculum vitae, and writing research grant applications. The use of cyber library and commercially available computer software is useful in saving time and effort.

  14. Ease into Writing. Volume 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lott, Carolyn, Ed.; Stone, Janet, Ed.

    Addressing the expressed needs of the writing community, this book presents writing lessons for intermediate, middle school, and secondary school students that incorporate the 5-step writing process into content areas as a natural part of the curriculum. The 30 lessons in this book involve students in large and small groups and in individual…

  15. The Effect of Different Types of Corrective Feedback on ESL Student Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bitchener, John; Young, Stuart; Cameron, Denise

    2005-01-01

    Debate about the value of providing corrective feedback on L2 writing has been prominent in recent years as a result of Truscott's [Truscott, J. (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes. Language Learning, 46, 327-369] claim that it is both ineffective and harmful and should therefore be abandoned. A growing body of…

  16. Queering the Writing Center

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Denny, Harry

    2010-01-01

    Composition classrooms and writing centers are spaces where negotiation of academic, social, cultural, and political identities are ubiquitous, yet research has not produced adequate theory and practice to help tutors and writers navigate identity production and its politics. This article seeks to begin conversations that might lead to better…

  17. Taking a Closer Look at Your Informational Writing Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beschorner, Beth; Hall, Anna H.

    2018-01-01

    When students write informational text, they have the opportunity to engage with meaningful topics, become curious about the world, learn domain-specific knowledge, and use academic vocabulary. Given the possibilities for learning through writing informational text, it is important for teachers to reflect on and improve their informational writing…

  18. Citation Behaviors Observed in Japanese EFL Students' Argumentative Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kamimura, Taeko

    2014-01-01

    Effective use of outside source texts is one of the key components of successful academic writing. This study aims at clarifying Japanese university EFL students' citation behaviors in producing argumentative writing. Twenty-six Japanese university EFL students wrote an argumentative essay. Their essays were analyzed quantitatively by six…

  19. Writing in a Foreign Language as a Science of Writing or "Grammatology"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Escandón, Arturo

    2014-01-01

    The present paper explores the issue of writing in a foreign language as a pedagogic process that may produce a radical subjective transformation. Drawing on Bernstein's notions of the "pedagogic device" and "discursive gap," the paper explores the epistemic make-up of language and the way it has been normalised by academic and…

  20. Variables Impacting an Academic Pharmacy Career Choice

    PubMed Central

    Brown, Bonnie K.; Byrd, Debbie C.; Gupchup, Gireesh V.; Mark, Scott M.; Mobley Smith, Miriam A.; Rospond, Raylene M.

    2008-01-01

    Objectives To identify the variables associated with an academic pharmacy career choice among the following groups: final professional-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students, pharmacy residents, pharmacy faculty members within the first 5 years of academic employment, and clinical pharmacy practitioners. Methods A cross-sectional design Web-based survey instrument was developed using the online tool SurveyMonkey. The survey link was distributed via e-mail and postcards, and data were collected anonymously. Quantitative analyses were used to describe the 2,494 survey respondents and compare their responses to 25 variables associated with an academic pharmacy career choice. Logistic regression models were used to predict the motivators/deterrents associated with an academic pharmacy career choice for each participant group. Results Across all participant groups, the potential need to generate one's salary was the primary deterrent and autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to shape the future of the profession were the primary motivators. Final-year pharmacy students who considered a career in academic pharmacy were significantly deterred by grant writing. The overall sample of participants who considered an academic pharmacy career was more likely to be motivated by the academic environment and opportunities to teach, conduct professional writing and reviews, and participate in course design and/or assessment. Conclusions This study demonstrates specific areas to consider for improved recruitment and retention of pharmacy faculty. For example, providing experiences related to pharmacy academia, such as allowing student participation in teaching and research, may stimulate those individuals' interest in pursuing an academic pharmacy career. PMID:18698388

  1. Physical Education, Obesity, and Academic Achievement: A 2-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Australian Elementary School Children

    PubMed Central

    Cunningham, Ross B.; Fitzgerald, Robert; Olive, Lisa S.; Prosser, Laurence; Jiang, Xiaoli; Telford, Rohan M.

    2012-01-01

    Objectives. We determined whether physical education (PE) taught by specialists contributed to academic development and prevention of obesity in elementary school children. Methods. Our 2-year longitudinal study involved 620 boys and girls initially in grade 3 in Australia, all receiving 150 minutes per week of PE. One group (specialist-taught PE; n = 312) included 90 minutes per week of PE from visiting specialists; the other (common-practice PE; n = 308) received all PE from generalist classroom teachers. Measurements included percentage of body fat (measured by dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry) and writing, numeracy, and reading proficiency (by government tests). Results. Compared with common-practice PE, specialist-taught PE was associated with a smaller increase in age-related percentage of body fat (P = .02). Specialist-taught PE was also associated with greater improvements in numeracy (P < .03) and writing (P = .13) scores. There was no evidence of a reading effect. Conclusions. The attenuated age-related increases in percentage of body fat and enhanced numeracy development among elementary school children receiving PE from specialists provides support for the role of PE in both preventive medicine and academic development. PMID:21940922

  2. Exploring Engineering instructors' views about writing and online tools to support communication in Engineering

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Howard, Sarah K.; Khosronejad, Maryam; Calvo, Rafael A.

    2017-11-01

    To be fully prepared for the professional workplace, Engineering students need to be able to effectively communicate. However, there has been a growing concern in the field about students' preparedness for this aspect of their future work. It is argued that online writing tools, to engage numbers of students in the writing process, can support feedback on and development of writing in engineering on a larger scale. Through interviews and questionnaires, this study explores engineering academics' perceptions of writing to better understand how online writing tools may be integrated into their teaching. Results suggest that writing is viewed positively in the discipline, but it is not believed to be essential to success in engineering. Online writing tools were believed to support a larger number of students, but low knowledge of the tools limited academics' understanding of their usefulness in teaching and learning. Implications for innovation in undergraduate teaching are discussed.

  3. The Interrelationship among Critical Thinking, Writing an Argumentative Essay in an L2 and Their Subskills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Soodmand Afshar, Hassan; Movassagh, Hossein; Radi Arbabi, Hassan

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between critical thinking and the writing ability of Iranian EFL learners, and the interrelationship among the subskills of the two constructs. Furthermore, it aimed at finding which skills of critical thinking predicted the participants' writing ability. To this end, 104 students majoring in English…

  4. Academic Biliteracies: Multilingual Repertoires in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palfreyman, David M., Ed.; van der Walt, Christa, Ed.

    2017-01-01

    Research on academic literacy within higher education has focused almost exclusively on the development of academic literacy in English. This book is unique in showing how students use other languages when they engage with written academic content--whether in reading, discussing, or writing--and how increasingly multilingual higher education…

  5. A Classification of Genre Families in University Student Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gardner, Sheena; Nesi, Hilary

    2013-01-01

    As demand for English-medium higher education continues to grow internationally and participation in higher education increases, the need for a better understanding of academic writing is pressing. Prior university wide taxonomies of student writing have relied on intuition, the opinions of faculty, or data from course documentation and task…

  6. "Argument!" Helping Students Understand What Essay Writing Is About

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wingate, Ursula

    2012-01-01

    Argumentation is a key requirement of the essay, which is the most common genre that students have to write. However, how argumentation is realised in disciplinary writing is often poorly understood by academic tutors, and therefore not adequately taught to students. This paper presents research into undergraduate students' concepts of argument…

  7. Writing Groups in Teacher Education: A Method to Increase Scholarly Productivity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Page, C. Steven; Edwards, Susan; Wilson, Judi H.

    2012-01-01

    Writing groups have been used in a variety of academic disciplines to support and encourage faculty in their scholarly endeavors. This article gives an overview of the impact a writing group within a Teacher Education department at a teaching institution had on scholarly output over a two year period. The structure of the writing group is shared…

  8. Increasing Writing Self-Efficacy of Adult Learners: Different Approaches, Different Results

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plakhotnik, Maria S.; Rocco, Tonette S.

    2016-01-01

    To help graduate students with academic writing, a college of education at a large university implemented a new service, Writing Support Circles. Based on the results of the first series of this service, we changed its design. The purpose of this article is to share how changes in the design affected these adult learners' writing self-efficacy and…

  9. Effects of Learning Strategy Training on the Writing Performance of College Students with Asperger's Syndrome.

    PubMed

    Jackson, Lynn G; Duffy, Mary Lou; Brady, Michael P; McCormick, Jazarae

    2018-03-01

    Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly entering institutions of higher education. However, many are not prepared for the academic and social demands of postsecondary environments. Although studies have evaluated academic and social interventions for children and adolescents with ASD, little research exists on the college population. The current study utilized a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effectiveness of a writing learning strategy on the writing performance of three college students with ASD. Results indicated that the quality of writing performance improved following strategy instruction. In addition, participants were able to generalize strategy use to content specific writing tasks.

  10. "Say What They Want to Hear": Students' Perceptions of Writing in a Working-Class High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorlewski, Julie

    2016-01-01

    The effects of neoliberal ideologies infiltrate all aspects of the teaching-learning environment, including academic practices of reading and writing. Writing, more than simply a demonstration of academic proficiency, represents a means of thinking--an opportunity to develop critical thought, build resistance to neoliberal individualism through…

  11. Using Evidence in L2 Argumentative Writing: A Longitudinal Case Study across High School and University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kibler, Amanda K.; Hardigree, Christine

    2017-01-01

    This 8-year longitudinal case study of Fabiola, a Spanish-English bilingual, investigated her argumentative writing development, focusing on her use of evidence to support and develop arguments over time from high school through university. Data sources included 36 writing samples. Texts across grade levels and course types were analyzed to…

  12. Dead Academics: What Can We Learn about Academic Work and Life from Obituaries?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tight, Malcolm

    2008-01-01

    This article analyses the obituaries of 100 academics published in the British quality press in 2007 to see what they tell us about the changing nature of contemporary academic work, and how it is presented in this particular genre of writing. It concludes that the influence of Oxbridge and the American higher education system, and the dominance…

  13. 'So I forgot to use 1.5 line spacing! It doesn't make me a bad nurse!' The attitudes to and experiences of a group of Norwegian postgraduate nurses to academic writing.

    PubMed

    Johansen, Edda; Harding, Thomas

    2013-09-01

    To describe the experience of a group of postgraduate Norwegian nurses with academic writing and its impact on their engagement with continuing education. Nurses are required to be lifelong learners and increasing numbers are seeking further knowledge and skills for clinical practice through courses in institutions of higher education. In higher education they are often being assessed on their ability to produce an academic essay not on the development of their clinical competence. A descriptive design was used, where participants were asked to complete in writing two open-ended statements. The data was then subject to inductive content analysis to extract categories and themes to describe the phenomenon. Participants had little experience and were challenged by academic writing. It was perceived as difficult, time consuming and of little relevance to their clinical practice. There is disconnection between the assessment of learning in higher education and increased workplace competency. Rather than promoting a deep approach to learning educators may be creating barriers to engagement with lifelong learning through using traditional assessment practices. There is an imperative to develop assessments which allow demonstration of understanding, ability to use current evidence and the development of critical analytic skills for reflection on problems encountered in participants' work lives. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Chinese L2 Literacy Practices: Material and Sociocultural Considerations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lo-Philip, Stephanie Wingyan

    2014-01-01

    Although there has been research on literacy as a sociocultural practice, L2 literacy researchers have yet to incorporate and consider how the material characteristics of a writing system interact with sociocultural factors in shaping literacy practices. Drawing on conceptions of literacy as a sociocultural practice, psycholinguistic and…

  15. Effect of Alignment on L2 Written Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Chuming; Wang, Min

    2015-01-01

    This article aims to uncover how L2 writing is affected by alignment, a socio-cognitive process involving dynamic coordination and adaptation. For this, two studies were conducted. Study 1 required two groups of 24 learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to continue in English two stories with their endings removed, both of which had a…

  16. Academic Writing Development at the University Level: Phrasal and Clausal Complexity across Level of Study, Discipline, and Genre

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Staples, Shelley; Egbert, Jesse; Biber, Douglas; Gray, Bethany

    2016-01-01

    Using the British Academic Written English corpus, this study focuses on the use of grammatical complexity features in university level texts written by first language (L1) English writers to demonstrate knowledge and perform other specialized tasks required of advanced academic writers. While the primary focus of the analysis is on writing…

  17. An analysis of reflective writing early in the medical curriculum: The relationship between reflective capacity and academic achievement.

    PubMed

    Ottenberg, Abigale L; Pasalic, Dario; Bui, Gloria T; Pawlina, Wojciech

    2016-07-01

    To examine the relationship between reflection, gender, residency choice, word count, and academic achievement among medical students. A modified version of the Reflection Evaluation for Learners' Enhanced Competencies Tool (REFLECT) was developed and used for this study (Cronbach's alpha of 0.86 with an intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] of 0.68). This was applied to writing samples about professionalism in gross anatomy from first-year medical students between 2005 and 2011. Four analysts reviewed and scored written reflections independently. Composite reflection scores were compared with gender, residency choice, length of written reflection, NBME® Gross Anatomy and Embryology Subject Examination scores, and final gross anatomy course. Total of 319 written reflections were evaluated. Female students who pursued medicine specialties had the highest composite reflection scores (87 [27.2%]). Word count frequently correlated with reflection score (p < 0.0001). Students who performed well on the NBME® Gross Anatomy and Embryology Subject Examination tended to achieve high anatomy course grades (p < 0.0001). There was no statistically significant relationship between composite reflection scores and NBME® Gross Anatomy and Embryology Subject Examination scores (p = 0.16) or anatomy course grades (p = 0.90). This study suggests there are likely no correlations between reflective capacity and academic performance on tests of medical knowledge administered early in the medical curriculum.

  18. Getting Started in Your Academic Career

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kniel, Kalmia E.

    An academic career is certainly one of great fulfillment and pride. After completing graduate school and postdoctoral work, perhaps even spending some time working in industry, it is now time to set up a laboratory, interview graduate students, find funding for these graduate students, adjust to becoming more of a lab manager than a researcher, write several grant proposals, write a syllabus or two, review manuscripts, and write a few of your own (or at least edit your students'), and serve on a myriad of university and departmental committees. Working in academia is a challenging and rewarding career. Being surrounded by the energy of students is contagious, and as you will discover an assistant professor needs that energy. An academic career at any level is the epitome of multitasking; juggling research, teaching, and service activities.

  19. When Cyburgs (Cyborgs) Write.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Calderonello, Alice; Shaller, Deborah

    In an extended conversation two female writing instructors discuss the kind of discourse available in the academy, the way educators are trained to deploy its conventions, and the different ways that voices are authorized. They cite Harraway as an academic writer who bridges the various post-structuralist discourses without ever losing sight of…

  20. Exploring Challenges Encountered by EFL Libyan Learners in Research Teaching and Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alsied, Safia Mujtaba; Ibrahim, Noura Winis

    2017-01-01

    Research is conducted all over the world to solve problems or to answer questions of significance to humanity. Academic writing or writing to report research is not easy because it requires adequate background knowledge, interest, motivation and hard work. This study investigates the major challenges in research writing faced by Libyan EFL…

  1. Assessing Writing in Elementary Schools: Moving Away from a Focus on Mechanics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Casey, Laura B.; Miller, Neal D.; Stockton, Michelle B.; Justice, William V.

    2016-01-01

    Many students struggle with writing; however, curriculum-based measures (CBM) of writing often use assessment criteria that focus primarily on mechanics. When academic development is assessed in this way, more complex aspects of a student's writing, such as the expression and development of ideas, may be neglected. The current study was a…

  2. Peer Feedback Practice in EFL Tertiary Writing Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nguyen, Ha Thi

    2016-01-01

    Peer feedback plays a pivotal role in stimulating students' participation in L2 writing, which has the potential to develop students' writing skills. The concept of metacognition has also been examined to facilitate learner writers in their learning process. As such, this study drawing upon the concept of metacognition explores the implementation…

  3. Extending the Flipped Classroom Model: Developing Second Language Writing Skills through Student-Created Digital Videos

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Engin, Marion

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes a project that aimed to leverage the students' interest and experience of technology and multimodal environments to develop their academic writing skills and second language learning. Students were expected to follow a model, research a topic, and craft a digital video tutorial on an aspect of academic writing which would form…

  4. Detection of Common Errors in Turkish EFL Students' Writing through a Corpus Analytic Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demirel, Elif Tokdemir

    2017-01-01

    The present study aims to explore Turkish EFL students' major writing difficulties by analyzing the frequent writing errors in academic essays. Accordingly, the study examined errors in a corpus of 150 academic essays written by Turkish EFL students studying at the Department of English Language and Literature at a public university in Turkey. The…

  5. Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

    PubMed

    Cao, Fan; Perfetti, Charles A

    2016-01-01

    Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

  6. Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading

    PubMed Central

    Cao, Fan; Perfetti, Charles A.

    2016-01-01

    Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level. PMID:27992505

  7. Academic Delay of Gratification and Self-Efficacy Enhance Academic Achievement among Minority College Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bembenutty, Hefer

    The direct and indirect effects of academic delay of gratification and self-efficacy on academic performance of minority college students (n=45) were evaluated. The students were enrolled in an introductory writing course as part of a summer immersion program at a Midwestern university. The results of this study support the notion that delay of…

  8. The Effect of Writing Task and Task Conditions on Colombian EFL Learners' Language Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonough, Kim; Fuentes, César García

    2015-01-01

    This classroom study examines whether English L2 writers' language use differs depending on the writing task (operationalized as paragraph type), and task conditions (operationalized as individual or collaborative writing). The texts written by English L2 university students in Colombia (N = 26) in response to problem/solution and cause/effect…

  9. Empowering L2 Tutoring: A Case Study of a Second Language Writer's Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Severino, Carol; Deifell, Elizabeth

    2011-01-01

    Writing center tutors play a key role in advancing L2 writers' language learning because the tutorial interaction involves the introduction of new language and vocabulary at the point of need or interest. This tutor-research case study presents a detailed, complex portrait of how a second language writer in a US writing center learned and used…

  10. Missing: Electronic Feedback in Egyptian EFL Essay Writing Classes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seliem, Soheir; Ahmed, Abdelhamid

    2009-01-01

    EFL essay writing is considered one of the most important academic courses in the teacher education programmes that should help develop students' skills to write cohesively and coherently. Teachers' feedback plays a crucial role in improving and enhancing the quality of students' written essays. The aim of the current study was to shed light on…

  11. A Conversation Analysis of the Function of Silence in Writing Conferences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mirzaee, Milad; Yaqubi, Baqer

    2016-01-01

    One of the recent issues in English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) writing instruction has been the quest for a more effective way to give feedback to L2 learners' writing drafts. Although teacher-learner writing conferences have been increasingly used for providing ample opportunity for negotiating revisions, relatively little attention…

  12. Popular Science Writing:Why? Who? How?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    von Baeyer, Hans Christian

    1998-04-01

    Why? Under the threats of anti-science, pseudo-science, and indifference to science, popularization of physics is changing from a genteel art to a necessity for survival. Science writing is one element in a campaign that includes TV, museums, lectures, school visits, etc. Who? Five percent of the total effort of every physics department should be devoted to popularization. The academic reward system should reflect this obligation. How? Hints and suggestions for effective science writing, based on extensive experience, will be presented.

  13. Why Write Book Reviews?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Obeng-Odoom, Franklin

    2014-01-01

    The pressure to publish or perish or, more recently, to be visible or vanish, marginalises a culture of critical reading and reflection that has historically been the province of book reviews. Today, book reviews are roundly rejected by academic bureaucrats as unimportant, easy to write and hence, easy to get published, mere summaries, uncritical…

  14. A Collective Effort to Improve Sociology Students' Writing Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burgess-Proctor, Amanda; Cassano, Graham; Condron, Dennis J.; Lyons, Heidi A.; Sanders, George

    2014-01-01

    Nationwide, academic sociologists at all types of higher education institutions face the challenge of working to improve students' writing skills. In this article, we describe a collective effort by a group of faculty members in one undergraduate sociology program to implement several effective writing-improvement strategies. We advocate…

  15. Social work in health care: do practitioners' writings suggest an applied social science?

    PubMed

    Rehr, H; Rosenberg, G; Showers, N; Blumenfield, S

    1998-01-01

    There are two sources of literature in social work-one from academics and the other from practitioners. Each group is driven by different motivations to write. Academics seek a 'scientific rationality' for the field, while practitioners assume practical and intuitive reasoning, experience aligned with theory, and the 'art of practice' to guide them. It has been said that practitioners do not write and that 'faculty' are the trustees of the knowledge base of the profession, and are responsible for its promulgation via publication. Practitioners, however, do write about their practice and their programs, and analyze both, but publish much of their work in non-social work media. Their work tends not to be referenced by academic writers. One department's social workers' publications are described. We learn, from their practice writings, what concerns clinicians. Theirs is case-based learning, theoretically supported, in which the organization of services calls for their participation in multi-professional decision-making. There is the growing realization among social workers that practice wisdom and scientific technologies need to be reassessed together to find ways to enhance social work services. Clinicians' knowledge can lead to continuing refinement of practice and enhanced institutional services. If practitioners' writings can be assessed, they may lead to a written practice knowledge base, subject to timely change. Academic and practitioner separateness hampers progress in the field. They need each other, and a shared professional literature. There is beginning indication they are getting together.

  16. A Team of Equals: Teaching Writing in the Sciences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Emerson, Lisa; MacKay, Bruce R.; MacKay, Marion B.; Funnell, Keith A.

    2006-01-01

    Writing across the curriculum (WAC) is a way of integrating the teaching of writing into specific academic disciplines. A problem faced in the WAC literature is how to develop a process that integrates the skills of multi-disciplinary teams. In this project, action research was used to develop a team comprising faculty from the applied sciences…

  17. The Impact of Vocabulary Preparation on L2 Listening Comprehension, Confidence and Strategy Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Anna Ching-Shyang

    2007-01-01

    Building on previous studies of the effects of planning on second language learners' (L2) oral narratives and writing, this research reports an investigation of the effects of vocabulary preparation prior to a listening comprehension test on L2 learners' vocabulary performance, listening comprehension, confidence levels and strategy use. The…

  18. The Effects of Different Pre-Writing Strategies on Iranian EFL Writing Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mahnam, Lily; Nejadansari, Dariush

    2012-01-01

    This study aimed at investigating whether applying pre-writing strategies would affect the quality of L2 learners' compositions. Twenty three adult EFL students from Jahad-e-Daneshgahi English centre in Iran participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups, including 11 and 12 participants in each. They…

  19. Academic Language Socialization in High School Writing Conferences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gilliland, Betsy

    2014-01-01

    This study examines multilingual high school writers' individual talk with their teachers in two advanced English language development classes to observe how such talk shapes linguistically diverse adolescents' writing. Addressing adolescent writers' language socialization through microethnographic discourse analysis, the author argues that…

  20. Promoting Writing amongst Peers: Establishing a Community of Writing Practice for Early Career Academics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kent, Alexandra; Berry, Donna M.; Budds, Kirsty; Skipper, Yvonne; Williams, Helen L.

    2017-01-01

    In the current research-focused climate, academics are facing increasing pressure to produce research outputs. This pressure can prove particularly daunting for early career (EC) academics, who are simultaneously attempting to master new teaching and administrative demands while establishing their own independent research trajectories. Previous…

  1. Writing Inservice Guide for English Language Arts and TAAS.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Education Agency, Austin.

    This guide, made up of transparencies and text, offers a basis for a 2-day interactive inservice presentation on how to teach writing, to help a school district ensure that its English language arts program addresses the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test. In addition to sections on the use of the guide and the format of the TAAS…

  2. Second Language Learners' Performance and Strategies When Writing Direct and Translated Essays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ismail, Sadiq Abdulwahed Ahmed; Alsheikh, Negmeldin Omer

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate ESL students' performance and strategies when writing direct and translated essays. The study also aimed at exploring students' strategies when writing in L2 (English) and L1 (Arabic). The study used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative procedures for data collection and analysis. Adapted strategy…

  3. Expanding the Repertoire: An Anthology of Practical Approaches for the Teaching of Writing (Reading-to-Write Report No. 11). Technical Report No. 30.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCormick, Kathleen; And Others

    This study is the 11th and last report from the Reading-to-Write Project, a collaborative study of students' cognitive processes at one critical point of entry into academic performance. The report consists of an Introduction and seven essays, each of which discusses ways to teach a variety of aspects of reading and writing which have been tried…

  4. Implementing Writing Support Circles with Adult Learners in a Nonformal Education Setting: Priority, Practice, and Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plakhotnik, Maria S.; Rocco, Tonette S.

    2012-01-01

    Most students come to their graduate programs with academic writing skills insufficient to excel in their studies. A lack of academic writing skills among graduate students has been a problem in a college of education at a large southeastern public research university where the project described in this article was implemented. To address this…

  5. Toward a Theory of Adaptive Transfer: Expanding Disciplinary Discussions of "Transfer" in Second-Language Writing and Composition Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DePalma, Michael-John; Ringer, Jeffrey M.

    2011-01-01

    In this paper, we argue that discussions of transfer in L2 writing and composition studies have focused primarily on the reuse of past learning and thus have not adequately accounted for the adaptation of learned writing knowledge in unfamiliar situations. In an effort to expand disciplinary discussions of transfer in L2 writing and composition…

  6. Lexical Diversity and the Use of Academic and Lower Frequency Words in the Academic Writing of EFL Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akbari, Neda

    2017-01-01

    This study focuses on lexical diversity and the use of academic and lower frequency words in essays written by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students enrolled in Years 1 and 2 at the undergraduate university level. The purpose of this study is to find out the extent to which EFL students become more proficient in their use of academic and…

  7. A Brief Overview of Key Issues in Second Language Writing Teaching and Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Javadi-Safa, Azim

    2018-01-01

    This paper briefly reviews the literature on writing skill in second language. It commences with a discussion on the importance of writing and its special characteristics. Then, it gives a brief account of the reasons for the weakness of students' writing skill as well as addressing some of the most important topics in L2 writing studies ranging…

  8. Improving Accuracy Is Not the Only Reason for Writing, and Even If It Were...

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bruton, Anthony

    2009-01-01

    For research into language development in L2 writing to have any relevance, it has to be situated within a framework of decisions in writing pedagogy. Furthermore, a perspective on L2 language development cannot be limited only to accuracy levels. Even if this is the case, it is counter-intuitive that further input may be detrimental to language…

  9. Second Language Writing Research and Written Corrective Feedback in SLA: Intersections and Practical Applications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferris, Dana R.

    2010-01-01

    For more than a decade now, a great deal of research has been done on the topic of written corrective feedback (CF) in SLA and second language (L2) writing. Nonetheless, what those research efforts really have shown as well as the possible implications for practice remain in dispute. Although L2 writing and SLA researchers often examine similar…

  10. Linguistic Feature Development Across Grades and Genre in Elementary Writing.

    PubMed

    Hall-Mills, Shannon; Apel, Kenn

    2015-07-01

    As children develop skills in writing across academic contexts, clinicians and educators need to have a fundamental understanding of typical writing development as well as valid and reliable assessment methods. The purpose of this study was to examine the progression of linguistic elements in school-age children's narrative and expository writing development. Narrative and expository writing samples produced by 89 children in Grades 2 through 4 were analyzed at the microstructure and macrostructure levels. Measures of receptive vocabulary, word-level reading, and reading comprehension were obtained. Exploratory factor analyses revealed 4 microstructure factors (e.g., productivity, grammatical complexity, grammatical accuracy, and lexical density) and 1 macrostructure factor (e.g., a combination of organization, text structure, and cohesion). Multivariate analyses of covariance with reading comprehension as a covariate showed that productivity and macrostructure were sensitive to grade-level and genre differences and that expository grammatical complexity was sensitive to grade-level differences. Findings are discussed in light of grade-level standards for narrative and expository writing and current practices in writing assessment. Multiple suggestions are offered for clinical and educational implications, and specific directions are provided for future research.

  11. Does learning style preferences influence academic performance among dental students in Isfahan, Iran?

    PubMed Central

    2018-01-01

    Purpose The present study aimed to identify the learning preferences of dental students and to characterize their relationship with academic performance at a dental school in Isfahan, Iran. Methods This cross-sectional descriptive study included 200 undergraduate dental students from October to November 2016. Data were collected using a 2-part questionnaire. The first part included demographic data, and the second part was a Persian-language version of the visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted with the chi-square test, 1-way analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression. Results The response rate was 86.6%. Approximately half of the students (51.5%) had multimodal learning preferences. Among the unimodal group (48.5%), the most common mode was aural (24.0%), followed by kinesthetic (15.5%), reading-writing (8.0%), and visual (1.0%). There was a significant association between academic performance and the reading/writing learning style preference (P< 0.01). Conclusion Multimodal learning styles were the most preferred. Among single-mode learning styles, the aural style was most common, followed by the kinesthetic style. Students with a reading/writing preference had better academic performance. The results of this study provide useful information for preparing a more problem-based curriculum with active learning strategies. PMID:29575848

  12. Using New Vocabulary in Writing: Exploring How Word and Learner Characteristics Relate to the Likelihood That Writers Use Newly Taught Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobbs, Christina L.; Kearns, Devin

    2016-01-01

    Understanding academic vocabulary is essential to student success in school. Use of academic vocabulary words in writing is considered one of the strongest measures of how well a reader understands a given word. In theory, willingness to use academic vocabulary in writing indicates the complexity of acquiring representations of the word's…

  13. Top 10 "Secret Writing Tips" to Boost Your Productivity: Part 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berk, Ronald A.

    2011-01-01

    This is the sequel and companion piece to the first five tips published in this journal's winter 2010 issue. To recap, the first five tips are: (1) Write Everyday; (2) Write Everywhere; (3) Conquer Distractions and Interruptions; (4) Write for a Niche; and (5) Write with a Purpose. Now, in this article, the other five tips are discussed: (6) Write…

  14. Write Strategy for Dual-Layer Digital Versatile Discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tabata, Hiroshi; Tokui, Kenji; Higuchi, Shinji; Moriizumi, Hirokazu; Matsumoto, Ikuo

    2006-02-01

    A novel write strategy for rewritable dual-layer digital versatile discs (DVDs) was studied. This new strategy involves the erase top pulse which is included in the conventional write strategy for single-layer DVDs in present market. By thermal calculations, it was confirmed that this erase top pulse has an affect on the rapid heating of recording films. We observed that this new strategy enabled the improvement in data qualities on the layer near the laser incident (L0) effectively in 2 × and 4 ×-speed recordings even if L0 had a high optical transparency. Furthermore we also demonstrated a combination of what with the 2T-period strategy on the layer far from the laser incident (L1) realized a well-balanced signal performance for dual-layer DVD media.

  15. Reflective journal writing in nurse education: whose interests does it serve?

    PubMed

    Wellard, S J; Bethune, E

    1996-11-01

    The use of reflective journal writing has become popularized in the past decade. This paper uses the experience of two university lecturers to problematize this practice. The practice of journal writing in nursing courses is explored firstly through the lens of critical theory and secondly that of post-structuralism. This paper challenges nurse academics to confront the power relationships established by the adoption of journal writing uncritically into courses.

  16. Developing an English for Academic Purposes Course for L2 Graduate Students in the Sciences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Douglas, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    Graduate students face a fundamental change in identity when transitioning from undergraduate writers to graduate writers. In their new role as graduate writers and researchers, they must move from consuming knowledge to producing knowledge through their writing. Often, they must learn new genres of writing, new disciplinary conventions, and new…

  17. Collaborative Work as an Alternative for Writing Research Articles (El trabajo colaborativo como alternativa para la escritura de artículos investigativos)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carvajal Medina, Nancy Emilce; Roberto Flórez, Eliana Edith

    2014-01-01

    Academic writing in English in our context is a significant aspect that can be innovative when a convergence model of writing stages is used along with collaborative work. This article reports on a study aimed at analyzing how collaborative work relates to undergraduate electronics students' academic writing development in English as a foreign…

  18. Writing academic papers: lost in translation?

    PubMed

    Grant, Maria J

    2011-12-01

    The process of writing for publication is a challenging one. It moves us from the spoken and written word into a realm that requires us to provide supporting evidence to develop an argument in a logical and progressive way. In English language journals, as elsewhere, the quality of the written word is a determining factor in the likelihood of a paper being accepted for publication. By reading past issues of a targeted journal, drawing on the expertise of colleagues and responding positively to feedback, it is possible to significantly enhance your prospects of publication. © 2011 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2011 Health Libraries Group.

  19. Adbusting: Critical Media Literacy in a Multi-Skills Academic Writing Lesson

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grigoryan, Anna; King, John Mark

    2008-01-01

    This article provides 10 reasons why it is important to do critical media analysis in the second language classroom and describes how a process-writing approach can be used for this in a university writing class. The authors explain how to prepare a lesson plan and the idea of an "Adbuster." They then describe 10 stages in the lesson…

  20. Developmental Patterns of Metadiscourse in Second Language Writing*

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kobayashi, Yuichiro

    2017-01-01

    The present study aimed to profile the developmental patterns of discourse in second language (L2) writings among different first language (L1) groups. Applying the list of metadiscourse markers proposed by Ken Hyland to learner language, this study investigates variation of metadiscourse across proficiency levels, as well as across L1…