scholarly journals Are EFL Writers Motivated or Demotivated by Model Texts and Task Repetition? Evidence from Young Collaborative Writers

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-55
Author(s):  
Amparo Lázaro-Ibarrola ◽  
Izaskun Villarreal
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Model Group ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Task Motivation ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Model Texts ◽  
And Task

Studies on multi-stage writing tasks with adults and children have shown that model texts and task repetition aid language acquisition, especially when learners work in collaboration. However, these studies have not included measures of task motivation, which is vital in young learners (YLs) and could help develop a more comprehensive understanding of task effectiveness. The present study analyses task motivation in 24 EFL YLs writing in pairs during three sessions divided into a model group (MG) and a task repetition group (TRG). Results show that students’ task motivation is high in general but declines in the MG while it is maintained in the TRG. As for the motives, working together is the main reason students give to justify their positive scores. These results complete previous knowledge about models and TR, reinforce the value of collaborative writing and encourage the inclusion of motivation measures in task-based research.  

Give me a second chance

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-299
Author(s):  
Amparo Lázaro-Ibarrola ◽  
María Ángeles Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Collaborative Group ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Young Learners ◽  
Procedural Task ◽  
Different Content ◽  
Second Chance ◽  
Do So ◽  
And Task

Abstract Collaborative writing (CW) and task repetition have been claimed to aid language acquisition. Students produce better texts when writing with a peer and their drafts improve if they write the same composition twice (same task repetition, STR). However, little is known about young learners, about the effects of combining both constructs and, finally, about a more common type of repetition in language lessons: repeating the same procedure with different content (procedural task repetition, PTR). This study analyses the effects of CW (vs. individual writing) and of PTR (vs. STR). To do so, the writings of 59 Spanish young learners (aged 11) of English divided into four groups were analysed. Two of these groups (N = 9, N = 10) wrote a composition individually while two (N = 20, N = 20) wrote a composition in pairs. A week later, one individual (N = 9) and one collaborative group (N = 20) wrote the same composition again (STR) while the other individual (N = 10) and collaborative (N = 20) groups wrote a new composition following the same procedure (PTR). Unlike findings from adult learners, our students’ drafts show no differences that could be attributed to the collaboration. However, some improvements upon repetition were hinted at, with students in the STR group obtaining greater holistic rates.

Collaborating for Our Future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Gray ◽  
Jill Purdy
Keyword(s):  
Management Education ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Vantage Points ◽  
Multistakeholder Partnerships

Organizations turn to multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) to meet challenges they cannot handle alone. By tapping diverse stakeholders’ resources, MSPs develop the capability to address complex issues and problems, such as health care delivery, poverty, human rights, watershed management, education, sustainability, and innovation. This book provides a comprehensive understanding of MSPs, why they are needed, the challenges partners face in working together, and how to design them effectively. Through the process of collaboration partners combine their differing strengths, vantage points, and expertise to craft innovative responses to pressing societal concerns. The book offers valuable advice for leaders about how to design and scale up effective partnerships and how to address potential obstacles partners may face, such as dealing with the conflicts and power issues likely to arise as partners negotiate with each other. Drawing on three comprehensive cases and countless shorter examples from around the world, the book offers practical advice for organizations embarking on an MSP, as well as theoretical understanding of how partnerships function. Using an institutional theory lens, it explains how partnerships can effect change in institutional fields by reducing turbulence and negotiating a common set of norms and routines to govern partners’ future interactions within the field of concern. Topics covered include: the nature of working collaboratively, why partnerships are needed, types of partnerships, guidelines for partnership design, partnerships and field dynamics, how to deal with conflicts among partners, negotiating across power differences, partnerships for sustainability, collaborative governance, working across scale differences, and how partnerships transform fields.

Moral Intensity, Perceived Impacts, and Task Motivation: Evidence From Volunteers

2021 ◽  
pp. 000765032110530
Author(s):  
Akwasi Opoku-Dakwa
Keyword(s):  
Design Theory ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Moral Intensity ◽  
Work Design ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Task Motivation ◽  
Work Tasks ◽  
Community Impacts ◽  
Perceived Impacts ◽  
And Task

Although work tasks often address substantive social issues, the effects of issue characteristics on task motivation are little understood. This study explores this topic by examining how the moral characteristics of an issue (moral intensity) affect motivation in tasks intended to address the issue (task motivation). Adopting the lens of work design theory, I hypothesize that moral intensity increases task motivation through the mediation of perceived task impacts on the community (perceived community impacts), and that this effect will occur after controlling for the effects of perceived task impact on the worker and their organization. In two studies in the context of volunteering I find that, rather than acting in parallel with other task impacts, the effect of moral intensity through perceived community impacts is fully mediated by perceived organization and self impacts in a three-stage mediation. These findings demonstrate the potential relevance of issue characteristics such as moral intensity to work design theory and shed new light on the psychological mechanisms through which perceived prosocial impacts promote task motivation. I discuss implications for research and practice.

Investigating task and modality switching costs using bimodal stimuli

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Raj Sandhu ◽  
Ben Dyson
Keyword(s):  
Task Switching ◽  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Task Repetition ◽  
Specific Combination ◽  
Task Change ◽  
Modality Switching ◽  
And Task

Investigations of concurrent task and modality switching effects have to date been studied under conditions of uni-modal stimulus presentation. As such, it is difficult to directly compare resultant task and modality switching effects, as the stimuli afford both tasks on each trial, but only one modality. The current study investigated task and modality switching using bi-modal stimulus presentation under various cue conditions: task and modality (double cue), either task or modality (single cue) or no cue. Participants responded to either the identity or the position of an audio–visual stimulus. Switching effects were defined as staying within a modality/task (repetition) or switching into a modality/task (change) from trial n − 1 to trial n, with analysis performed on trial n data. While task and modality switching costs were sub-additive across all conditions replicating previous data, modality switching effects were dependent on the modality being attended, and task switching effects were dependent on the task being performed. Specifically, visual responding and position responding revealed significant costs associated with modality and task switching, while auditory responding and identity responding revealed significant gains associated with modality and task switching. The effects interacted further, revealing that costs and gains associated with task and modality switching varying with the specific combination of modality and task type. The current study reconciles previous data by suggesting that efficiently processed modality/task information benefits from repetition while less efficiently processed information benefits from change due to less interference of preferred processing across consecutive trials.

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