A Case Study on the Conceptualization and Teaching Practice of L2 Argumentative Writing Instruction

Argumentative writing is one of the main writing types in Second Language Writing (SLW) instruction, as it links with the assessment of language capacity in tests. It is a common course for students of tertiary education, but few instructors have a clear comprehension of it. With the goal of giving circumspect teaching implications, this study serves as an illustration for argumentative writing lecturers in higher education. In this study, semi-structured interview, classroom observation and collected written drafts are used as research tools to discover the conceptualization and teaching practice of two lecturers who are instructing English-major sophomores. The findings show that different teaching beliefs (human-oriented and task-oriented) lead to different teaching process in argumentative writing class. Besides, the assessment criteria and students’ response are revealed to understand the effects of those instructions accordingly.

Download Full-text

Peer Feedback on Second Language Writing through Blogs

International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching ◽

10.4018/ijcallt.2012010102 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 13-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Phuong Thi Tuyet Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Second Language Writing ◽

Teaching Practice ◽

Student Responses ◽

Peer Revision ◽

Positive Attitudes ◽

Language Writing ◽

Students First ◽

Efl Students

This study explores how Vietnamese EFL students view blogs as tools with which to practise writing, examines whether student comments assist in peer revision, and evaluates whether peer comments result in substantive revisions of written drafts. Participants in this study included 11 students in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) classroom in Vietnam. Data collected included students’ first and final drafts for two writing topics, comments posted online, and student responses to a questionnaire. Student responses to the questionnaire were analysed and their comments were coded as revision-oriented or non-revision-oriented (Liu & Sadler, 2003). This study’s findings indicate that most students expressed positive attitudes toward using blogs to practise second language (L2) writing and that most students made revision-oriented comments on their peers’ drafts. There is also evidence that students used their peers’ comments to revise their own final drafts. The implications of this study for language teaching practice are discussed.

Download Full-text

Analysis of Teacher-written Corrective Feedback in Second Language Writing Pedagogy in Secondary Schools, Bulilima, Zimbabwe

Journal of Education Society and Behavioural Science ◽

10.9734/jesbs/2019/v31i330150 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Stella Muchemwa ◽

Catherine Amimo ◽

Vencie Allida

Keyword(s):

Second Language Writing ◽

Corrective Feedback ◽

Writing Pedagogy ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Oral Feedback ◽

Written Corrective Feedback ◽

Maximum Benefit ◽

Composition Teachers ◽

Language Writing ◽

Low Performance

This study investigated the teachers’ practice on written corrective feedback as well as the students’ response to it in a bid to find practical solutions to the problem of low performance in English composition writing at “O” Level in Zimbabwe. The study sought to find out the nature of corrective feedback that “O” Level students get from their composition teachers and how these students respond to it. In this qualitative research, seven informants (“O” Level students) were interviewed; the researchers used a semi-structured interview schedule to address them and their English exercise books were also analyzed using a document analysis guide designed by the researchers. The study concluded that the composition teacher marked the compositions thoroughly highlighting most of the errors for students’ benefit. The teacher’s focus on feedback was in line with the syllabus demands. The teacher also satisfied the Feed Up, Feed Back and the Feed Forward types of effective feedback. She had strength on mark allocation which acted as student guide to their stance in composition writing. However, although the students largely benefited from the teacher’s corrective written feedback as well as the oral feedback, some of them failed to get the maximum benefit because they could not understand the correction codes. It is therefore imperative for composition teachers to provide students with a correction code elaboration whenever using a marking correction code.

Download Full-text

Performing Argumentative Writing in English: Difficulties, Processes, and Strategies

TESL Canada Journal ◽

10.18806/tesl.v19i1.918 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 34 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Wei Zhu

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Data Analysis ◽

Language Learners ◽

Academic Writing ◽

Second Language Writing ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Argumentative Writing ◽

Individual Interviews ◽

Language Writing ◽

Writing Task

Argumentative writing constitutes an important part of second-language learners' academic writing experience in North America. This study examined the difficulties a group of Mexican graduate students encountered when engaged in an argumentative writing task as well as their writing processes and strategies. Data were collected from individual interviews with the participants and from participants' written essays. Data analysis indicated that most participants perceived the rhetorical aspects of English argumentative writing as difficult. Data analysis also indicated that participants mainly used cognitive, social, and search strategies, whereas metacognitive strategies were used infrequently. Potential implications of the study for second-language writing instruction are discussed.

Download Full-text

Struggle Between the Real and the Fictive: The Development of Chinese EFL Learners’ Voice Construction in Short Story Writing

English Language Teaching ◽

10.5539/elt.v12n9p22 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 22

Author(s):

Shiying Huang

Keyword(s):

Short Story ◽

Second Language Writing ◽

Writing Process ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Esl Teachers ◽

English Writing ◽

Language Writing ◽

English Major ◽

Story Writing ◽

Plot Structure

The issue of voice has received considerable critical attention in second language writing (SLW) in the past decades. This study intends to enrich the research of voice in the Chinese context, which may mirror some issues in EFL environments. The short story writing process of an English-major undergraduate was particularly analyzed in this study, based on Canagarajah’s (2014) analytical framework for voice analysis. After tracking the writing process for five weeks, it could be found that the student could deliver a rather satisfactory voice effect through her text, although she went through some struggle in the dialogic process. The narrative voice, the plot structure and the character were major features that the student focused on to convey her ideas. The study also provides some insights to EFL/ESL teachers about assisting students to express themselves in English writing.

Download Full-text

A Study of Claims and Qualifiers in ESL Students’ Argumentative Writing --An empirical study based on Toulmin model

10.21203/rs.3.rs-764344/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

rui yang

Keyword(s):

Empirical Study ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Text Analysis ◽

Second Language Writing ◽

Argumentative Writing ◽

Esl Students ◽

Writing Performance ◽

Toulmin Model ◽

Language Writing ◽

The Relationship

Abstract English argumentative writing is a difficult point in second language writing. Although there has been a lot of research on English argumentative writing at home and abroad, empirical research focusing on claims in argumentative writing is very scarce. Based on the Toulmin model, this paper studies the relationship between the types of argumentative sentences and English argumentative writing performance from the perspectives of qualifier and claim. By scoring 117 students’ timed argumentative writings, the students’ compositions are divided into high-mark group, medium-mark group and low-mark group. Through the text analysis of each argumentative writing, 23 kinds of claims are extracted and scored according to the qualifying elements of the argumentative. The research shows that the claims in the high-mark group are mostly presented by the qualifying elements in the form of words and claims(QW + C), and the claims are mainly constructed in detailed information. At the same time, it is found that there is no significant correlation between the diversity of qualifying elements in claims and argumentative writing performance.

Download Full-text