Scaffolding student engagement with written corrective feedback: Transforming feedback sessions into learning affordances

This study proposed a three-step writing conference in which foreign/second language (L2) students, under the guidance of their writing instructor, first fastened their attentional focus on a form-related error, analysed a collection of standard L2 samples to deduce the underlying knowledge, and then planned for their error correction as well as future learning of this knowledge. The ultimate goal of this formative assessment practice was to scaffold student engagement with written corrective feedback (WCF). Using a between-group experiment design, the present study compared the effects on the success rate of error correction and L2 uptake of the above writing conference ( n = 14) against those brought about by a typical Teacher–Student ( n = 12) and a typical Student–Student one ( n = 12). Research participants were 38 intermediate learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) recruited from three intact classes at a language-learning center in Vietnam. The suggested writing conference was indeed found to yield better error correction and L2 uptake than the other counterparts. A closer look at the students’ mental engagement with WCF revealed that such engagement was moderately correlated with their L2 uptake. These findings altogether suggest that student engagement with WCF should not be taken for granted or, in other words, this engagement should be contingently supported by the writing instructor in order to foster learning from WCF.

Aebi, Adrian, Göldi, Susan, Weder, Mirjam (Hrsg.). «Schrift – Bild – Ton. Beiträge zum multimodalen Schreiben in Bildung und professioneller Kommunikation»

Changes are taking in place academic writing due to the influence of the English-speaking academic community. While these changes are plain to see, they seldom undergo critical examination when it comes to learning how to wield them. Arlene Archer, a South African writing researcher and Director of the University of Cape Town’s Writing Center, studies this very aspect of academic language. As a keynote speaker at the Forum for Academic Writing conference organized in collaboration with the Lucerne School of Business Institute for Communication and Marketing, she was the sole presenter to draw attention to the political dimension of participation in academia. Using the concept of “voice”, which is to be understood approximately as “discursive self”, she highlights the need for a metalanguage in teaching and learning that will bring visibility to certain limitations on discourse. Archer uses social semiotics to always link the production of meaning in writing with social implications. She focuses on two central aspects of “voice”: the recognizability of authorship, which is expressed in various decisions on how content is selected and presented; and citation, which has the ability to open or close the door to academic conversation like a key. The author then presents a matrix of terms that can be used to ascertain “voice” in multimodal texts. Archer's critical examination of conventions in academic writing is recognizably motivated by Identity Politics and serves in part to empower the disadvantaged. Thus, Archer likewise ties didactics into a political mission that is strongly aimed at reflection and not just the use of resources in a semiotic sense.

CAN CONFERENCES AND MODELLING STRATEGIES IMPROVE STUDENTS’ INTEREST AND ACHIEVEMENT IN ESSAY WRITING?

The study reported here was on the effects of writing conference and teacher modelling strategies on Senior School Two (SS2) students' interest and achievement in essay writing. The study used quasi experimental design of the non equivalent pre-test/post-test experimental-control group subtype. From a population of 9,244 senior secondary students in 5 Local Government (LGAs) of Central Education Zone of Plateau State, a sample of 95 students was selected from two intact classes using a multi-stage sampling technique. One of the sampled classes formed Experimental Group One while the other formed Experimental Group Two for an experiment that lasted for a duration of six weeks. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses. Two instruments namely Writing Achievement Test (WAT) and Questionnaire on Students’ Interest in Essay writing (QSIEW) were used for data collection.. Data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that both strategies enhanced students’ achievement in essay writing. However, students taught essay writing using writing conference strategy outperformed their counterparts taught using teachers’ modelling in assigned writing tasks and tested in the writing achievement test. The finding further indicated that students taught via conference strategy gained significantly higher mean interest rating than those taught using teacher modelling strategy. Based on the findings, the study recommended that combining writing conferencing and modelling strategies in the teaching of essay writing could bring about increased interest in writing and better writing outcomes among secondary school students. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0620/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

A Feedback Investigation of Comparing Teacher and Students’ Preferences on Writing Conference in a Novice EFL Writing Class

To enrich students writing aptitude, it is significant to identify the effective feedback process in the language classroom. While the teacher is presenting the appropriate feedback strategies, it is needed to find whether the students prefer what their teacher applied in order to solve their writing problems. The teacher carried out both written and oral (writing conference) in giving feedback, however, this study aims at comparing the teacher and students’ preferences on the teacher feedback practice qualitatively. The students’ writing assignment of 200 words was submitted before the conference schedule. Receiving the written feedback on their writing sheets, the students read and review their teacher feedback. Next, participating in this study, the students were required to contribute on the questionnaire about their preferences during the conference, while the teacher was interviewed. The results show that the students (58%) in the novice writing class preferred on the writing conference. There were 79% students in English writing program would rather work in personal with their teacher which means each of students work one-to-one. Meanwhile, the teacher preferred providing the written feedback, though she realized that the conference might work better on the novice level.