scholarly journals Master’s competence-based portfolio content as a means of academic writing assessment

Author(s):  
Tamara Babenko

Higher education in Ukraine is facing new challenges brought about by the reform processes that affect its content and structure. The reduction of contact hours has increased both the volume of students’ independent work and their responsibility for academic success. Under these conditions, the portfolio becomes one of the most efficient means of teaching and assessing students’ academic performance as it consists of a collection of syllabus-based writing tasks demonstrating the learner’s gradual achievements during the course. Portfolios are profitable both for teachers and learners. Thanks to the portfolio, all the students are equally involved into the learning process; they receive more individual attention on the part of the teacher, and to the end of the course, get patterns of several academic papers, such as an essay, abstract, annotative bibliography, and presentation. The portfolios enable the teacher to follow the students’ achievements and the process of forming academic writing competences, and if it is necessary, to reinforce their development. Moreover, portfolios provide a perfect tool for valid, multifaceted, and sustainable students’ assessment. The system of syllabus-based learning tasks aligned to six categories of Bloom’s taxonomy forms the content of the competence-based portfolio. The proposed arrangement of academic writing assignments accounts for successful solving of the course objectives. The introduction of portfolios into the learning process is rather advantageous for other academic courses because most generic and subject-specific competences, formed within the Academic Writing course, are transferable and can be applied to other disciplines. The learners can successfully use the absorbed knowledge of scientific writing for creating academic papers in other courses.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Larssyn Staley ◽  
Susan Göldi ◽  
Anna Nikoulina

Many studies have made claims for the positive effects of multimedia in education; however, there is a lack of systematic and comparable research, especially when it comes to video tutorials. This study evaluates the use and benefits of short screencast video tutorials, produced with Camtasia and published on YouTube, in preparing students for research-based writing assignments. The study employs a multi-method research design, comprising an analysis of video-tutorial viewership data from YouTube and a student questionnaire on the perceived benefits of these video tutorials. The data on how the tutorials are used, as well as the questionnaire responses, enable us to highlight which aspects of these tutorials positively affect the learning process, and importantly, how such tutorials should be adapted to be more useful. Findings indicate that the use of such tutorials is more dependent on the type of information included (e.g., theory, instructions or examples), than their length (within the range of three to six minutes). Additionally, novice, introductory-level students appear to have received greater benefit from the tutorials than students with some previous academic writing experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 710-725
Author(s):  
Amrina Rosyada ◽  
Hanna Sundari

Learning academic writing seems to be a great challenge for most English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in non-native English-speaking countries, including in Indonesia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue appears to be more challenging where teachers are persuaded to learn from their home environment (LHE). Several online applications are freely available, and one of the most common applications is Google Classroom. However, the use of such application towards the students’ performance and perception remains understudied. This research aimed at exploring the practices of Google Classroom in facilitating the Academic Writing course of EFL undergraduates. Engaged by 96 participants of third-year students in the English Education Program, the research conducted an explanatory sequential research design by correlating the results data on writing assignments and a set of questionnaires. The findings indicated a significant correlation between using Google Classroom and the students’ writing performance. Moreover, most students expressed their satisfaction with Google Classroom’s practical features to get involved in the academic writing course. The students were satisfied with Google Classroom’s features that were easy to be recognized and easy to be operated. The Google Classroom features also provide clear instructions, practical directions, and the most valuable feature, that is assignment reminders for the students. It can be said that using Google Classroom in the EFL academic writing course at higher education is a great experience and brings great advantages to students’ outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
. Mahalli ◽  
Joko Nurkamto ◽  
Januarius Mujiyanto ◽  
Issy Yuliasri

This research was conducted to analyze the implementation of blended learning. This study focused on the implementation Station Rotation and Flipped Classroom models of blended learning in academic writing course in English Education Study Program of UNISNU Jepara. Observation and interview were done to collect the data of the implementation of Station Rotation and Flipped Classroom model. The study found that station rotation was implemented in 3 cycles/rotations; 1) teacher led instruction, 2) independent work or ollaborative activities , and 3) online learning. Whereas flipped classroom was implemented in 2 steps; 1) lecturer share online assignment about the topic through SIAkad Unisnu Jepara, and 2) face-to-face meeting in the classroom. It also found that blended learning can facilitate the flexibiliy and make students learn more active and urge their curiousity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 963
Author(s):  
Gihan Sidky

This study aimed at enhancing students’ essay writing skills at the secondary stage through scaffolding techniques in a workshop forum. The participants of the study were 40 students at the first secondary stage in a governmental language school. Qualitative methods were used in data analysis; a sample of students’ writings was analyzed in light of the academic writing assessment criteria (Rose et al. 2008).  A pre-posttest was administered to highlight progress in students’ writing in the three genres. Scaffolding techniques proved to be effective in improving students’ writing skills, specifically in the selected writing genres the study focused on which was evident in their second and third drafts. Interviews with high school teachers of English emphasized students need for innovative scaffolding techniques to help them develop as efficient writers. The workshop forum encouraged students to work together as one team and to express their ideas fluently to excel in their writing assignments. Having an authentic reason for writing motivated them to do research and to refine their writing to be good enough to share with others.


Author(s):  
Joel Bloch ◽  
Cathryn Crosby

This chapter discusses the use of blogging in a beginning level academic writing course. Blogging was used in this writing course both as a means of interacting with the other students and as a means of discussing the issues the students were to write about in their classroom assignments, all of which dealt with issues related to the nature of plagiarism and what policies towards plagiarism should the university adopt. The chapter analyzes the blogs of an African immigrant student. It is argued that the use of blogs allows the students to develop a variety of rhetorical strategies outside the confines of the course that could then be transferred into the student’s academic writing assignments.


Author(s):  
Kim M. Mitchell ◽  
Laurie Blanchard ◽  
Tara Roberts

AbstractWriting practices in nursing education programs are situated in a tension-filled context resulting from competing medical-technical and relational nursing discourses. The goal of this qualitative meta-study is to understand, from the student perspective, how the context for writing in nursing is constructed and the benefits of writing to nursing knowledge development. A literature search using the CINHAL, Medline, ERIC, and Academic Search complete databases, using systematic methods identified 21 papers and dissertations which gathered qualitative interview or survey data from students in nursing at the pre-registration, continuing education, and graduate levels. The studies provided evidence that writing assignments promote professional identity development but overemphasis on writing mechanics when grading have a deleterious effect on learning and student engagement with writing. Relationship building with faculty should extend beyond what is needed to maximize grades. Suggestions for writing pedagogical reform are identified to facilitate a change in focus from mechanical-technical to transformative writing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-358
Author(s):  
Hao Chen

AbstractIt is noticeable that the academic papers written by Chinese English learners are lacking in academic features largely due to their poor ability to use nominalization. Therefore, the instruction of nominalization in an academic English writing course is badly needed. The author conducted one-semester-long instruction of nominalization to 90 non-English majors under the guidance of the production-oriented approach (POA). This research demonstrated how to apply POA, specifically, the enabling procedure to the teaching of nominalization. By triangulating the data of students’ interviews, learning journals and written output, and the data of 4 teachers’ class observations and interviews, this study found that the accurate application of the three criteria of effective enabling contributed to the improvement of the quantity and quality of nominalization in academic writing.


Author(s):  
Teena Sheethal Dsouza ◽  
Mithra N. Hegde ◽  
Kelvin Peter Pais

AbstractThe sudden outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has compelled universities worldwide to implement strategies for resuming academic courses by transferring some courses to a virtual modality. e-Learning has provided an excellent platform for education during this crisis. This review article discusses the various aspects of e-learning process that have to be considered before implementation, and the strengths and flaws of online education during this pandemic. It also sheds light on the necessary actions required to enhance the efficiency of e-learning in the future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-402
Author(s):  
Åsa Mickwitz ◽  
Marja Suojala

Abstract High self-efficacy beliefs and effective self-regulatory strategies are increasingly important in academic settings, and especially in developing academic writing skills. This article deals with how students develop academic writing skills in two different pedagogical settings (as autonomous learners and in a traditional learning environment), and how this is associated with the students’ self-regulatory strategies and self-efficacy beliefs. In the study, self-regulatory skills referred to the ability to take charge of, manage and organize the learning process, while self-efficacy beliefs were defined as the strength of students’ confidence to accomplish an extensive task and sense of succeeding. The method was quantitative, including some qualitative elements, and data was elicited through a survey answered by 150 students, after they had attended courses in academic writing. The survey consisted of 1 open-ended question and 16 multiple-choice questions (a five-point Likert scale). The data was analyzed using SPSS. The results show that self-regulatory skills and self-efficacy beliefs have a greater impact on learning academic writing skills in traditional learning settings than in learning settings where the students are supposed to work more independently, and where teacher support is not available to the same extent.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document