scholarly journals Fostering Stance-Taking as a Sustainable Goal in Developing EFL Students’ Academic Writing Skills: Exploring the Effects of Explicit Instruction on Academic Writing Skills and Stance Deployment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4270
Author(s):  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Lawrence Jun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Effective stance-taking is considered as a crucial skill for successful academic writing and sustainable development of writing scholarship. However, student writers often encounter difficulties in this aspect. Scholars have thus called for explicit instruction to develop students’ academic writing ability as a sustainable goal. Learning stance-taking is a particularly relevant area of intensive interest among writing scholars. Yet, few empirical studies have been conducted to examine its effectiveness on students’ academic writing quality and stance deployment. To fill this gap, a quasi-experimental research was conducted with 46 undergraduate students in a Chinese university, who were randomly assigned to two conditions: a treatment group and a comparison group. The treatment group received an eight-week explicit stance instruction, while the comparison group received curriculum-based writing instruction at the same time. Academic texts were collected both prior to and after the period of intervention. Results revealed that the treatment group outperformed the comparison group in the post-test in terms of academic writing quality and stance performance. Their writing also exhibited changes in the frequencies of an array of stance types deployed (e.g., proclaim: pronounce, proclaim: endorse, entertain, attribute), indicating their enhanced understanding of stance and improved competence of mitigation and integrating external voices for better academic writing. Implications for writing instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals Using inquiry-based writing instruction to develop students’ academic writing skills

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bantalem Derseh Wale ◽  
Yenus Nurie Bogale
Keyword(s):  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Experimental Group

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of using inquiry-based writing instruction on students’ academic writing skills. A pretest-posttest two groups quasi-experimental design was employed. Data were obtained through test, focus group discussion, and reflective journal from 62 first-year pharmacy students who were selected using comprehensive sampling. While the experimental group received the inquiry-based writing instruction, the control group learned using the conventional learning method. The quantitative data were analyzed using independent samples T-test and descriptive statistics when the qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that there was a statistical difference between the control and experimental groups in their academic writing performance. Hence, students who participated in the inquiry-based writing instruction improved their academic writing skills. Mainly, students who learned through inquiry-based writing instruction were able to produce essays that addressed task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy. Thus, this study recommends researchers, teachers, and students to pay due attention to inquiry-based writing instruction in their academic journey.

scholarly journals Major Re-selection Advising and Academic Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah McKenzie ◽  
Tony Xing Tan ◽  
Edward C. Fletcher ◽  
Andrea Jackson-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Group Design ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Positive Effect

We sought to determine whether receiving major re-selection (MRS) advising benefits undergraduate students' grade-point averages (GPAs). We used a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design to compare a treatment group (n = 219) of undergraduates who changed their majors after receiving MRS advising with a control group (n = 206) who changed majors without advising during the same semester as the treatment group. Findings showed that, on average, students who received MRS experienced no change in their program GPA but an increase in their semester GPA; however, the control group experienced a decrease in program and semester GPAs. Multiple regression analysis confirmed that MRS advising had a positive effect on posttest semester GPAs (β = .33, p < .001) and program GPAs (β = .28, p < .001). Implications for student advising are discussed.

Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI)

2008 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 299-326
Author(s):  
Kimberly A. Wolbers
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Interactive Writing ◽  
School Students ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Univariate Analyses

This study investigates the effects of using Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI) with deaf, middle school students who use American Sign Language as their L1 and written English as L2. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, the research explores whether students receiving SIWI made significantly greater gains compared to those not receiving SIWI on a number of variables. There were 33 total students, 16 in the treatment group and 17 in the comparison group. The intervention lasted a total of 8 weeks, during which time the treatment group collaboratively constructed two report papers using SIWI components, and the comparison group continued with their typical literacy instruction. The pre and posttest measures were scored, according to rubrics, for evidence of primary traits, contextual language, and conventions. The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and follow-up univariate analyses were statistically significant. Furthermore, effect sizes (d) were large to very large, ranging from 1.27 to 2.65, indicating SIWI to be an effective approach with deaf L2 writers.

scholarly journals Teaching Writing in EAP Contexts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viorica Condrat
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Discourse Community ◽  
State University ◽  
Efl Students

Academic writing is a particular type of scholarly interaction which signals the writer’s affiliation to a specific discourse community. Developing academic writing skills should become a priority for higher education. This paper describes a small-scale study which investigates the role of blogging in developing academic writing skills in undergraduate students. Blogging is viewed as a platform where the scholarly interaction between members of the same discourse community can take place. The paper is based on the survey data and observation during the experiment conducted at Alecu Russo Balti State University of Moldova. It reports on how EFL students reacted to the use of blogs for academic writing tasks. The findings suggest that students seem to have a positive attitude to blogging pointing out to such benefits as: enhanced self-efficacy, awareness of the writing process, development of reader awareness, increased responsibility for the quality of the writing. We argue that blogging can yield significant improvement in undergraduate students’ academic writing.

Comparability of students’ writing performance on TOEFL iBT and in required university writing courses

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Llosa ◽  
Margaret E. Malone
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Toefl Ibt ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Lower Magnitude

Investigating the comparability of students’ performance on TOEFL writing tasks and actual academic writing tasks is essential to provide backing for the extrapolation inference in the TOEFL validity argument (Chapelle, Enright, & Jamieson, 2008). This study compared 103 international non-native-English-speaking undergraduate students’ performance on two TOEFL iBT® writing tasks with their performance in required writing courses in US universities as measured by instructors’ ratings of student proficiency, instructor-assigned grades on two course assignments, and five dimensions of writing quality of the first and final drafts of those course assignments: grammatical, cohesive, rhetorical, sociopragmatic, and content control. Also, the quality of the writing on the TOEFL writing tasks was compared with the first and final drafts of responses to written course assignments using a common analytic rubric along the five dimensions. Correlations of scores from TOEFL tasks (Independent, Integrated, and the total Writing section) with instructor ratings of students’ overall English proficiency and writing proficiency were moderate and significant. However, only scores on the Integrated task and the Writing section were correlated with instructor-assigned grades on course assignments. Correlations between scores on TOEFL tasks and all dimensions of writing quality were positive and significant, though of lower magnitude for final drafts than for first drafts. The TOEFL scores were most highly correlated with cohesive and grammatical control and had the lowest correlations with rhetorical organization. The quality of the writing on the TOEFL tasks was comparable to that of the first drafts of course assignment but not the final drafts. These findings provide backing for the extrapolation inference, suggesting that the construct of academic writing proficiency as assessed by TOEFL “accounts for the quality of linguistic performance in English-medium institutions of higher education” (Chapelle, Enright, & Jamieson, 2008, p. 21).

scholarly journals Effect of post-hospital discharge telephonic intervention on hospital readmissions in a privately insured population in Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Brent Hamar ◽  
Carter Coberley ◽  
James E. Pope ◽  
Andrew Cottrill ◽  
Scott Verrall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Hospital Discharge ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Hospital Readmissions ◽  
Study Groups ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Post Discharge ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of telephone support after hospital discharge to reduce early hospital readmission among members of the disease management program My Health Guardian (MHG) offered by the Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia (HCF). Methods A quasi-experimental retrospective design compared 28-day readmissions of patients with chronic disease between two groups: (1) a treatment group, consisting of MHG program members who participated in a hospital discharge (HODI) call; and (2) a comparison group of non-participating MHG members. Study groups were matched for age, gender, length of stay, index admission diagnoses and prior MHG program exposure. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRR) and odds ratios (OR) were estimated using zero-inflated negative binomial and logistic regression models respectively. Results The treatment group exhibited a 29% lower incidence of 28-day readmissions than the comparison group (adjusted IRR 0.71; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.59–0.86). The odds of treatment group members being readmitted at least once within 28 days of discharge were 25% lower than the odds for comparison members (adjusted OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.63–0.89). Reduction in readmission incidence was estimated to avoid A$713 730 in cost. Conclusions The HODI program post-discharge telephonic support to patients recently discharged from a hospital effectively reduced the incidence and odds of hospital 28-day readmission in a diseased population. What is known about the topic? High readmission rates are a recognised problem in Australia and contribute to the over 600 000 potentially preventable hospitalisations per year. What does this paper add? The present study is the first study of a scalable intervention delivered to an Australian population with a wide variety of conditions for the purpose of reducing readmissions. The intervention reduced 28-day readmission incidence by 29%. What are the implications for practitioners? The significant and sizable effect of the intervention support the delivery of telephonic support after hospital discharge as a scalable approach to reduce readmissions.

scholarly journals An Error Analysis of Research Project Abstracts Written by Thai Undergraduate Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Wirada Amnuai
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Sentence Level

Errors in writing are unavoidable while students are trying to develop their writing skills. There have been several studies on identifying writing problems or errors in students’ writing. It is believed that identifying students’ written tasks is an effective tool to explore the difficulties involved in learning language. This helps teachers’ awareness of the serious problems which occur in students’ writing and allows them to pay closer attention to their errors. The aim of the present research study is to pinpoint writing errors in English abstracts written by Thai undergraduate students. Forty abstracts of research projects were collected and analysed. The error analysis was conducted at the sentence level, word level, and mechanics aspect. The five most frequent error types ranking from the most frequent to least frequent were word choice, preposition, sentence construction, singular or plural forms and quotation marks. The findings of the present study have shed light on the students’ writing ability and give an insight into what the problems students face when writing their abstracts. Also, the errors found in the abstracts in the present study have pedagogical implications concerning English language learning, particularly with writing courses. The findings will be helpful for teachers to develop teaching materials to assist their students from committing errors when writing English abstracts and to improve academic writing skills.

scholarly journals Effects of Edmodo-Assisted Process Writing with the Problematized Scaffolding on the Quality of Students’ Writing

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Wahyu Kyestiati Sumarno
Keyword(s):  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Process Writing ◽  
English Department ◽  
Score Improvement ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Traditional Class

This research explored the effects of Edmodo-assisted process writing with the problematized scaffolding on the quality of students’ writing. Quasi-Experimental research with one-group pre-posttest was utilized as the research design. The subjects of this research were the second-semester students of the English Department at the Islamic University of Darul ‘Ulum, Lamongan. There were 13 students in the class, and all of them took part in this research. In every seven meetings, they were receiving writing instruction using traditional and Edmodo-assisted process writing with problematized scaffolding respectively. To collect the data, pre-and-posttest were conducted to both class conditions. An interview was also done in the experimental class to capture the students’ perception after the implementation of Edmodo. Dependent and independent t-tests were utilized to analyze the data collected. The interview was analyzed qualitatively to support the findings. Results of the analysis indicate that the use of Edmodo-assisted process writing with problematized scaffolding significantly improves the students’ writing skills and that the students’ score improvement is significantly higher than in the traditional class. Therefore, the usage of this media is highly recommended.

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