Transfer Capital or Transfer Deficit: A Dual Perspective of English Learning of ESL College Transfer Students

This research addressed a research gap in scrutinizing the language problems of English as a second language (ESL) transfer students (TSs) with regard to the aspects of “transfer deficit” and “transfer capital”, instead of simply labelling the use of English as a “transfer deficit”. One hundred and twenty-four TSs participated in this qualitative study. From qualitative content analysis, three main categories were identified: (a) English competence as transfer capital; (b) English competence as transfer deficit; and (c) transition from deficit to capital. Based on the results, educational practitioners are advised to pay attention to the specific implications of proficiency-based courses, with support measures not limited to essay-writing or referencing skills, but including advanced research writing genres such as the Capstone Project.

Formation of Foreign Language Hedging Competencies in the Context of Academic Writing

The article is devoted to the problem of teaching academic writing as a concept of academic literacy of students, undergraduates, graduate students in higher education. Violation of the norms of academic writing is a common practice among both foreign language and domestic authors. This results from the fact of poor acquired and often lack of possession of formal stylistic competencies that affect the quality of writing a clear, concise and convincing scientific text. As the title implies, the aim of the article is to present the technology that avoids traditional errors when working on a scientific text. The need to follow the specific tone of the genres of academic writing, dictating the choice of words and phrasing, is especially noted. The technology of teaching hedging is proposed as a system of sequential operations (algorithm) for solving the stated problem. The algorithm for the formation of hedging competencies acquaints students of all levels in higher education with the genres and style of formal writing, teaches them to construct their own knowledge in academic discourse. In addition, the goal was to develop hedging competencies and to use foreign language lexical phenomena in academic writing genres, which may help to warn authors against typical stylistic errors. This work may be of interest both for students of all levels in higher education and for researchers-beginners, since the article discusses the international requirements for the writing of academic scientific documents that may be useful while preparing a foreign publication. The recommendations made as a result of the research may also arouse the interest of teachers of foreign languages, draw attention to the problem of academic writing and integrate them into the course of the profile discipline. This, in its turn, may help to meet the requirements to the quality of specialists training at universities, including scientific work support of students of all levels.

Identifying Mixture Components From Large-Scale Keystroke Log Data

In a computer-based writing assessment, massive keystroke log data can provide real-time information on students’ writing behaviors during text production. This research aims to quantify the writing process from a cognitive standpoint. The hope is that the quantification may contribute to establish a writing profile for each student to represent a student’s learning status. Such profiles may contain richer information to influence the ongoing and future writing instruction. Educational Testing Service (ETS) administered the assessment and collected a large sample of student essays. The sample used in this study contains nearly 1,000 essays collected across 24 schools in 18 U.S. states. Using a mixture of lognormal models, the main findings show that the estimated parameters on pause data are meaningful and interpretable with low-to-high cognitive processes. These findings are also consistent across two writing genres. Moreover, the mixture model captures aspects of the writing process not examined otherwise: (1) for some students, the model comparison criterion favored the three-component model, whereas for other students, the criterion favored the four-component model; and (2) students with low human scores have a wide range of values on the mixing proportion parameter, whereas students with higher scores do not possess this pattern.

Exploring Brazilian Cultural Identity Through Reading Preferences

In Brazil, each region has its own cultural identity regarding accent, gastronomy, customs, all of which may reflect in its literature. Specially, we believe that country's background and contextual features are directly related to what people read. Hence, we perform a cross-state comparison analysis based on Brazilian reading preferences through a multipartite network model. Also, we explore the effects of socioeconomic and demographic factors on favorite books and writing genres. Such cross-state analyses highlight how the country is culturally rich, where each region has its own distinctive culture. Our findings offer great opportunities for the Brazilian book industry by enhancing current knowledge on social indicators related to reading preferences.

Photovoice as A Participatory Learning Method in Writing

This study is aimed at examining how EFL students in Indonesia utilized photovoice in writing analytical exposition text and exploring their experience as well as perception in learning to write. Four (4) students of senior high school in Indonesia who are taken randomly participated in this qualitative study. The data were gathered from students’ writing of analytical text along with the picture/photograph and interview. Students’ photographs and analytical text were analyzed using photovoice analysis procedures. It consisted of selecting, contextualizing, and codifying phases. Results found three main themes: the main idea, generic structure, and language features. According to the results, photovoice is not only effective for students but also makes them feel interested and motivated in learning writing. In addition, photovoice allows students to express their creativity through the lens of a camera. Photovoice has incredibly fostered students’ learning in writing. They all have positive attitudes toward photovoice participatory learning. Thus, it can be a pedagogical tool to teach writing in an EFL setting. Although this study yielded positive outcomes in writing skills, this can not overgeneralize the outcomes. Therefore, future studies on how students write other writing genres in EFL classrooms need to be conducted.

Exhaustion and possibility. The wor(l)dlyness of social work in (G)local environment worlds during a pandemic

Exhaustion is not about being tired. It is an intense feeling of restlessness, of insomnia, and awakening when I ask myself: have I exhausted all that is possible? Such a state of restlessness and wakefulness represents a turning point for having enough, and opens for new possibilities to act for social change. This reflexive essay departs from the notion that the language of exhaustion offers a wor(l)dly possibility for social work(ers) to engage in critical analytical reflexivity about our locations of power from the outset of our (g)local environment worlds. The aim is to trace the transformative possibilities of social change in social work practice through the literature of exhaustion (eg. Frichot, 2019 ; Spooner, 2011 ). The methodology is based on uses of narrative life writing genres such as poetry, written and photographic diary entrances between the 4th of April and 4th of June. The essay shows how tracing exhaustion during the pandemic, visualises a multiplicity of forms of oppression and privilege, an increasing attention and relationship to things, and border movements and languages. I suggest that social work replace the often-used terminology of social problems with exhaustive lists to address structural forms of racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, which has been further visualized through death, illness, violence, and poverty during the pandemic. I argue that the language of exhaustion is useful for reflexivity and action in social work practice through the way it contributes to intensified awareness, attention, engagement, listening, and agency to create social justice.