STUDENTS’ VOICE ON FEEDBACK AND INSTRUCTIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Although studies on the approaches and methods of teaching Academic Writing in university classroom are extensive, comparative studies on students’ evaluation of the classroom strategies and techniques applied are still scant. A current paper is based on our comparative research conducted both at Slovak and Hungarian universities at the faculty of Humanities. The objective of this particular study was to explore senior university students’ “voice” on feedback and instructions in EFL academic writing classroom. It suggests that the pinpoint is on the students’ viewpoint rather than their supervisors’. Therefore, our task was to scrutinize the students’ perspectives and based on them develop further research. Observably, the analysed data furnish more positive students’ responses (within both Group A-Slovak and Group B-Hungarian) on feedback, as well as on being graded and being recognised as a writer. However, grading might be an issue in EFL classroom: based on the research, it awakes heterogeneous opinions of the respondents. The final section of the questionnaire was aimed at finding out how instructions for writing during studies can be improved. It is notable that both groups (A and B) (from 66,67% to 100%) consider feedback, professional tutoring, online support and extra courses in writing as an effective tool for improving writing skills within academic curriculum. A logical follow-up of the study might be investigating most appropriate and “customer-friendly” ways of feedback and instruction. This might further instigate creating resources to support the unfolding of academic writing feedback across EFL program Europe-wide.

Exploring EFL Teachers’ Perspectives on Sources of Challenges in Writing Classroom

This mixed-method study explores Saudi EFL teachers’ perspectives on students’ writing competencies and their concerns regarding the writing challenges, particularly in relation to EFL teachers, learners, and textbooks. The study sample consisted of 139 female EFL teachers working in Saudi Arabia. Data was gathered using a questionnaire composed of three sections: demographic information, 15 close-ended items, and three open-ended questions. The findings revealed that Saudi students’ writing skills are poor and fall below expectations. The results mainly showed their lack of vocabulary, grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, transition words, legible handwriting, logical paragraph arrangement, concept flow, and genuine and supportive examples. The first open-ended question results revealed that these EFL teachers highlighted ten issues as negatively impacting the quality of students’ writing. The second open-ended question results showed eleven potential sources of these challenges related to learners. Finally, the results of the third open-ended question revealed six factors focusing on problems associated with textbooks potentially exerting a negative influence on the quality of students’ writing. The study concludes with some practical recommendations and suggestions for further research.

THE EFFECTS OF TYPES OF FEEDBACK ON STUDENTS' REVIEWING PROCESS IN AN ONLINE SCAFFOLDED PROCESS WRITING CLASSROOM

There has been growing evidence that the lack of academic writing skills among university students who learn English as a Second Language (ESL) affects their overall academic performance. Higher education ESL students often find writing academic essays a complex process and hence struggle with academic writing convention issues. However, in order to encourage these students’ to be autonomous in their English academic writing, explicit and supportive instruction is necessary on the teacher’s part. This study aims to investigate thirty Foundation students’ revision activities pre- and post-intervention and whether there are any changes in their reviewing activities after being exposed to the intervention for twelve weeks. The reviewing activities were categories and analysed for inter-correlations. It is found that the students’ revision activities at first seem to concentrate mostly on Surface Changes-Meaning Preserving Changes activities. However, this changes in the second half of the intervention period where they seem to perform more Meaning Changes-Microstructure Changes and the least is Surface Changes-Formal Changes.

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN AN INDONESIAN EFL WRITING CLASSROOM

The global, national, and local top-down technology-related policies and initiatives indicate the essential place of technology in education. However, little is known about classroom-based and self-reflective understandings of how the integration of technology can facilitate or distract students’ writing processes in the context of higher education in Indonesia, specifically from the eyes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing lecturers in the country. In response, this qualitative study aims to delve closely into the lecturers’reflection of integrating technology to support their students in completing English language learning tasks in an EFL writing classroom. Data were gathered from three female writing lecturers. They completed four self-reflective checklists and were interviewed to clarify the checklists and their technological practices related to five stages of process writing, namely planning, drafting, editing, revising, and submitting. The analysis of the data indicated that the most successful experiences in using technology were in the planning stage. Meanwhile, technology applications in the drafting, editing, and revising phases were mainly used to submit work and provide feedback. Various technology applications used in the writing class, some issues in using the technology in the writing stages, and directions for further research are discussed.

Challenges of Implementing Technology in ESL Writing Classrooms: A Case Study

The present study aimed to investigate the challenges and barriers encountered by ESL teachers when they implement technological tools in writing classroom. It also explored teachers’ perceptions towards integrating technology in writing classroom. The study involved observing a number of writing classes from different levels at an English Language Institute at a southwestern university in the United States. Next, an interview was conducted with one of the observed teachers to enquire about implementing technology in the classroom and reasons behind possible challenges. The study revealed some challenges that hindered or prevented teachers from applying technology in writing classroom. Such challenges were technical problems, students’ attitudes towards using technology, lack of time, lack of computers and other devices, and lack of technical support. Moreover, the study showed that teachers had positive perceptions toward using technology to facilitate teaching process. Pedagogical implications and solutions to overcome technical issues are provided for ESL/EFL writing teachers and policy makers.