Does L2 writing proficiency influence noun phrase complexity? A case analysis of argumentative essays written by Chinese students in a first-year composition course

System ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 102116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ge Lan ◽  
Kyle Lucas ◽  
Yachao Sun
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
First Year Composition ◽  
Composition Course ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Information Literacy Education for First-Year Composition Students

2018 ◽  
pp. 85-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica D. T. Rysavy ◽  
Russell Michalak ◽  
Kevin Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Literacy Assessment ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Composition Students ◽  
First Year Composition ◽  
Composition Course ◽  
International Graduate

This chapter describes how the researchers at a small private Master's level college examined how different delivery modes—face-to-face (F2F), hybrid, and online instruction—may impact first-year students' perceptions of their information literacy (IL) skills compared to their test-assessed information literacy skills using the students perception of information literacy-questionnaire (SPIL-Q) and information literacy assessment (ILA) instruments. These instruments were developed and deployed to international graduate business students in two previous studies: Michalak and Rysavy and Michalak, Rysavy, and Wessel. The students (n=161) in this study were enrolled in a first-year English composition course in the Spring 2017 semester. This iteration achieved an overall response rate of 87.04% (n=141). Overall, results demonstrated the greatest achievement were demonstrated by students in hybrid course sections.

How Students in a First-Year Composition Course Respond to the Flipped Classroom

2016 ◽  
pp. 1405-1425
Author(s):  
Christina R. Grimsley
Keyword(s):  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
College Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
Video Technology ◽  
Traditional Lecture ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
First Year Composition ◽  
Composition Course ◽  
Writing Course

This qualitative pilot study investigated how 19 students enrolled in an entry-level college writing course responded to the use of video technology to supplement and flip class curriculum. Students were provided 10 video podcasts to augment course content and flip four class lessons. Collected through six student surveys and video download data, the results, including students' podcast viewership behaviors and attitudes toward the videos, are presented. The data revealed the college writing students involved in this study were generally satisfied with the flipped classroom and preferred it over the traditional lecture format. Download patterns indicated, however, less than half of the students watched the podcasts. Despite low viewership, the results suggest that the incorporation of video technology brings writing teachers opportunities to optimize class time by delving deeper into course content and by expanding the number of course assignments.

scholarly journals Investigating Cohesion and Coherence Discourse Strategies of Chinese Students with Varied Lengths of Residence in Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Leo
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Language ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Generation 1.5 ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Discourse Strategies

This study examines how three age-on-arrival (AOA) groups of Chinese-background ESL students use two types of cohesive devices on a standardized essay exam. A discourse analysis of 90 first-year students’ expository writing samples was conducted to ascertain how factors such as first language (L1) and length of residence (LOR) in Canada influence a student’s ability to create cohesive and coherent writing. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how Canadian-born Chinese (CBC) students use lexical and referential discourse markers. Twelve essay features of this group of Generation 1.5 students are compared with those of two other cohorts of Chinese students with a shorter LOR. Key writing variables that measure academic writing proficiency were quantitatively analyzed to compare the expository writings of the CBC cohort with those of the later AOAs. Results indicate that synonymy and content words distinguish the writings of the CBC students from those of their later-arriving peers. A qualitative analysis of one CBC essay reveals that a more flexible and contextualized approach to evaluating writing by longterm Generation 1.5 students is required to acknowledge fully the productive lexical and discoursal strengths of these students.

scholarly journals Awakening the Learner Within: Purposeful Prompts and Lifelong Learning Measures in a First-Year Composition Course

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Tara Moore ◽  
Suzanne C. Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
College Education ◽  
Student Growth ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Lifelong Learners ◽  
First Year Composition ◽  
Composition Course

Lifelong learning skills have been shown to benefit students during and after college. This paper discusses the use of the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) in a first-year composition course. Reflective writing assignments and pre- and post-semester ELLI data were used to assess student growth as lifelong learners over the course of a semester. Statistically significant gains in lifelong learning dimensions were made by students in the study as compared to those in a control group who received no direct instruction. The authors reflect on the outcomes of the project for students and instructors and question the general assumptions often made about the outcomes of a college education, namely, whether students gain lifelong learning skills simply by virtue of attending college, or is more instruction on these “intangible” qualities needed?

scholarly journals The Negative Influence of Chinese L1 on English L2 Writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Yu ◽  
Hongyu Chen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Negative Transfer ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Sufficient Knowledge

L1 is, generally, believed to affect the acquisition of second language negatively. Because there is likely to be a negative transfer form L1 to L2, when the learner lacks sufficient knowledge for communicating his or her ideas in L2 and then draw upon the L1. The transfer includes both positive and negative transfer. However, the role of L1 is more often viewed as negative, causing negative transfer that results in a variety of errors. Generally, English and Chinese do not have many of the shared syntactical features. Hence the syntactic transfer is predictable when using the L2. This may lead to such errors as those in the noun phrase, in the verb phrase and various omissions. This paper analyses those errors in English writing, which represent the negative syntactic transfer from Chinese to English. Moreover, it discusses in details the particular causes for that transfer and propose improving the awareness of the syntactic distinction between these two languages in Chinese students.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of “Open Pedagogy” on Student Skills Mastery in First-Year Composition

Open Praxis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Matthew Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Classroom Research ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
First Year Composition ◽  
Course Materials ◽  
Composition Course ◽  
The Impact

This article presents the results of a 2016 classroom research study assessing the impact of open pedagogy on student skills mastery in English 101, a first-year undergraduate composition course at a two-year community college in North America. Ninety-two students in five sections used the same free OER course materials, but two sections were given traditional assignments (i.e. formal essays and grammar exercises) and the other three sections were given “open” assignments that involved designing and remixing open resources. Assignment results and other course metrics used to investigate the impact on student skills mastery yielded no statistically significant differences in performance between the student groups, which suggests that there may be no harm in shifting away from the traditional “disposable” assignment.

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