Dynamic Assessment of Writing: The Impact of Implicit/Explicit Mediations on L2 Learners' Internalization of Writing Skills and Strategies

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayyed Mohammad Alavi ◽  
Mahboubeh Taghizadeh
Author(s):  
May Abdul Ghaffar

Many L2 learners show low motivation when it comes to writing. The intervention of this study focuses on the idea of engaging L2 students and their teacher in co-constructing writing rubrics to help them develop a better understanding and awareness of the writing criteria in order to enhance autonomy and collaboration and gain ownership and responsibility for developing their writing skills. This study aimed to investigate the impact of co-constructed rubrics on L2 learners’ writing skills and their perceptions towards writing; it also examined to what extent co-constructed rubrics can be used as a learning and assessment tool to help teachers generate feedback conducive to learning and competency development in writing.This mixed methods study integrates both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and analysis, including pre and post writing assessments for intervention and comparison groups, classroom observations, pre and post interviews with the teacher and L2 students, and a pre and post questionnaire. Results revealed that the intervention class’s mean average increased significantly in the post writing assessment, while the comparison class’s mean average decreased but with no statistical significance. Moreover, the survey showed that co-constructing the rubrics with the intervention students enhanced their attitudes towards writing. Class observations noted positive changes in the class dynamics and an improvement in the levels of students’ interaction and engagement. Co-constructing rubrics has emphasized the fact that writing is a skill that can be taught effectively and can be a solution for those who claim that ‘writing is a universal problem’.


Author(s):  
Panpan Chen ◽  
Huamin Liu ◽  
Zongming Wang ◽  
Dehua Mao ◽  
Cunzhu Liang ◽  
...  

Accurate monitoring of grassland vegetation dynamics is essential for ecosystem restoration and the implementation of integrated management policies. A lack of information on vegetation changes in the Wulagai River Basin restricts regional development. Therefore, in this study, we integrated remote sensing, meteorological, and field plant community survey data in order to characterize vegetation and ecosystem changes from 1997 to 2018. The residual trend (RESTREND) method was utilized to detect vegetation changes caused by human factors, as well as to evaluate the impact of the management of pastures. Our results reveal that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of each examined ecosystem type showed an increasing trend, in which anthropogenic impact was the primary driving force of vegetation change. Our field survey confirmed that the meadow steppe ecosystem increased in species diversity and aboveground biomass; however, the typical steppe and riparian wet meadow ecosystems experienced species diversity and biomass degradation, therefore suggesting that an increase in NDVI may not directly reflect ecosystem improvement. Selecting an optimal indicator or indicator system is necessary in order to formulate reasonable grassland management policies for increasing the sustainability of grassland ecosystems.


2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xosé Rosales Sequeiros

This article explores second language (L2) learners’ interpretation of reflexive anaphora in VP-Ellipsis by critiquing the work of Ying (2003), who applies Relevance Theory to explain elliptical anaphora. It argues against four claims made in his analysis: that L2 learners apply maximal relevance in anaphoric interpretation; that a procedural account of the impact of referential sentences on VP-ellipsis disambiguation is appropriate; that an account of anaphoric interpretation preferences should be based on processing cost; and that differences in experimental results between intermediate and advanced L2 learners are due to the use of different comprehension strategies (see Sperber, 1994). Instead, it argues: that it is not maximal but rather optimal relevance that is at work; that the key in disambiguating anaphora in VP-elliptical sentences is the achievement of an optimally relevant interpretation; that the role of contextual assumptions in anaphora resolution is to enable L2 learners to derive enough contextual effects to make it worth their effort and, in doing so, identifying (as a side effect) what they take to have been the intended referent; and that what is crucial in the use of comprehension strategies is not processing effort, but rather consistency with the second principle of relevance. Overall, all these factors provide the basis for an alternative and more comprehensive explanation of the experimental results discussed by Ying.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abd-Elhamid M. Taha

The Safe System (SS) approach to road safety emphasizes safety-by-design through ensuring safe vehicles, road networks, and road users. With a strong motivation from the World Health Organization (WHO), this approach is increasingly adopted worldwide. Considerations in SS, however, are made for the medium-to-long term. Our interest in this work is to complement the approach with a short-to-medium term dynamic assessment of road safety. Toward this end, we introduce a novel, cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT) architecture that facilitates the realization of a robust and dynamic computational core in assessing the safety of a road network and its elements. In doing so, we introduce a new, meaningful, and scalable metric for assessing road safety. We also showcase the use of machine learning in the design of the metric computation core through a novel application of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). Finally, the impact of the proposed architecture is demonstrated through an application to safety-based route planning.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-114
Author(s):  
Alanoud Ahmed Aldukhi

The present study investigated the impact of the station rotation model (SRM) on enhancing students’ descriptive writing skills. It adopted the quasi-experimental pre-post test control/ experimental group design. The tools of the study included a pre/post- descriptive writing skills test, and open-ended questionnaire. The participants of the study were selected randomly, 40 female students enrolled in the twelfth intermediate school in Riyadh. Students of the experimental group received the descriptive writing skills instructions in nine sessions based on the SRM, two of them were for training. The study results revealed statistically significant differences at 0.05 level between the mean scores of the control and the experimental groups on the post test in favor of the experimental group in overall descriptive writing skills as well as in each descriptive writing skill. The researcher recommended that there is a real necessity from educators and teachers to prepare appropriate curriculums that involve implementing the station rotation model inside the classrooms, in a way that corresponds with teachers’ ability and students’ need, aiming to gain the mentioned advantages.


1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 34-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy L. Dowis ◽  
Patrick Schloss
Keyword(s):  

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yahya Ashour Mohammed Alkhoudary

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of utilizing weblog on facilitating teaching writing at Buraimi University College (BUC) and to explore the extent to which a blog as a computer-mediated tool enhances learners' writing skills in English as a foreign language e(EFL), English as a second language (ESL). Vygotsky's model will be adopted in this study. Furthermore, a process approach is employed to involve students in writing. A mixed-method of qualitative and quantitative was embraced. Three instruments were used to answer the research questions of the study. The participants consisting of 60 students, were placed into two groups: 30 students for experimental group (Ex.G.) and 30 for the controlled group (Cont. G.). Also, 30 EFL teachers (15 males and 15 females) were selected randomly. Pre-and post-tests were assigned to both groups before and after incorporating weblog as a teaching tool. Questionnaires were distributed to (Ex. G) to check the effect of using a weblog on students' writing quality. Interviews were also conducted with both teachers and students. The findings reveal that the students of weblog group significantly outperform their counterparts. This study concludes that integrating weblogs in teaching is of paramount importance to language learners and a promising tool in higher education.


Author(s):  
Blanka Klimova ◽  
Marcel Pikhart

Facebook is undoubtedly the most popular social network site nowadays with over two billion users. Therefore, there has been research exploring its potential as a learning environment for various fields of education, including learning English as a foreign language (EFL). As the findings of research studies indicate, Facebook is especially used in developing productive language skills, such as writing, which is considered to be the least popular and the most difficult skill to master. Thus, the purpose of this article is to explore the impact of Facebook on developing writing skills in learning English as a foreign language. The methodology is based on the search for available studies on the research topic, i.e., the impact of Facebook on developing writing skills in EFL, in the world’s databases: Web of Science and Scopus. The search was not limited by any time period. The results of this review article reveal that using Facebook has a positive effect on developing writing skills in EFL classes, especially in shaping and organizing ideas, enhancing motivation, developing and supporting collaboration among peers, improving vocabulary, and reducing students’ shyness. However, more experimental research should be done in this area to reveal other aspects of the writing process, such as communicative language competence, which can be improved by using Facebook, as well as address researchers from continents other than Asia.


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