Reconsidering Teacher Presence and Community Building in an Online ESOL College Composition Course During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic of 2019 exposed considerable weaknesses in how teachers were present and communities were built in asynchronous, international, online ESOL composition classrooms. Although teachers put more time into their courses, students still felt disconnected from their educational experience. This study, through student surveys and teacher reflections, followed two teachers who devised innovative solutions to actively do “being present” as teachers and to thereby more compellingly draw students into the community-building process despite the limitations of the online space amidst an international crisis. Included are recommendations about specific ways to challenge traditional online instructional methods, to allow and promote student agency through unstructured and semi-structured activities, to create connections via strategic vulnerability, and more. Also discussed are key concepts for future research and general conclusions about the need for such teacher adaptability and the lessons from it, both for during the pandemic and beyond it.

All Power To All the People: WGS and Feminist Pedagogy in the Era of the Alt-Right

Academic Feminists have long used anti-oppression composition writing as a emancipatory pedagogical tool, but the impact of neoliberalism on higher education and the institutionalization of WGS have impacted how faculty teach these courses. As well the successful implementation of a gender course requirement has changed the demographics of these classes. This essay looks at the pedagogical parallels between teaching the gender studies course and the English composition course. An additional focus is how institutional shifts in WGS and its curriculum impact pre-tenure faculty's ability to offer emancipatory writing and teaching.

Moving from plagiarism police to integrity coaches: assisting novice students in understanding the relationship between research and ownership

Much of the discourse surrounding plagiarism is one of fear—a fear of being caught and punished, but many plagiarism examples happen unintentionally as students struggle with a new language, new ideas, and new communities in tertiary education. Specifically, many students are challenged with the task of writing a research paper, which involves finding academic sources, reading those sources to answer a research question, and integrating direct quotations and paraphrasing. Because novice writers often struggle with these skills, what is a developmental stage is instead interpreted as plagiarism. Much of the discussion of plagiarism involves implicit and explicit definitions of ownership, but there is little research about how students understand the concept of ownership in relation to ideas and language. In this qualitative study, we present data from 18 international students at an American-style university in the Middle East who write an introductory research paper as part of a composition course. Results show that perceptions of plagiarism changed in relation to owning ideas, owning language, and owning time spent on the research process and that distinguishing these boundaries is often difficult for students even within their own final research papers. We suggest teaching more robust note-taking strategies, discussing ownership in terms of a writer’s choices in guiding readers through the paper, and creating an environment where students can understand the complexities of plagiarism rather than simply fearing being caught.

Une Analyse Descriptive Des Erreurs D’orthographe Lexicale Dans L’interlangue D’apprenants Nigérians Du Français

Cette étude se plonge dans l’interlangue d’un groupe d’apprenants nigérians de Français Langue Étrangère pour évaluer leur compétence en construction dans le domaine de l’orthographe lexicale. Cette compétence est évaluée par le biais des erreurs qui représentent des symptômes révélateurs des difficultés d’apprentissage et des points d’appui pour un enseignement meilleur. L’étude cherche dans un premier temps à expliquer les difficultés liées au processus d’apprentissage de l’orthographe lexicale et dans un deuxième temps à proférer des voies et moyens pour aider l’apprenant à mieux apprendre. Le corpus est constitué de productions écrites collectées auprès d’étudiants de première année de licence inscrits au cours de rédaction en français. Les résultats montrent que les types d’erreurs qui prédominent sont les erreurs liées aux accents, suivies des erreurs à dominante phonétique et des erreurs à dominante non-fonctionnelle. Par ailleurs, l’anglais, la langue seconde de ces apprenants, constitue la langue pourvoyeuse de la plus grande influence sur leur comportement orthographique. L’étude recommande que plus d’attention soit accordée à l’enseignement de l’orthographe lexicale dans les activités de classe de FLE au Nigéria. This study focuses on the interlanguage of a group of Nigerian learners of French as a Foreign Language in order to assess their competence level in lexical spelling. This competence in phonographic encoding is measured through errors, which can be seen as symptoms showing learning difficulties and at the same as tools through which the learning process can be improved upon. Specifically, the study investigates the difficulties associated with learning of lexical spelling and suggest ways through which the learner can learn it better. Data for the study are elicited through written productions of first-year undergraduate students enrolled in a French Composition course. Results reveal that errors of diacritic marks predominate in the written productions of these students, followed by phonetic induced spelling errors and errors related to non-functional alphabetic letters. English, the second language of these learners, is the language with the greatest influence on their spelling behaviour. The study recommends that more attention should be accorded to the teaching of lexical orthography in French Language classroom activities in Nigeria.

Influence of Writing Instruction on Spanish Heritage Learners in Heritage-Only and Mixed Courses: A Longitudinal Study

University Spanish courses designed specifically for heritage language learners (HLLs) are becoming more common, and researchers have indicated that empirical research is needed to evaluate their effectiveness. This longitudinal study investigates the writing development of 24 HLLs as a result of instruction over the course of the semester. Nine were enrolled in a heritage-only section of a Spanish composition course, and the remainder were from mixed HL/L2 sections of the same course. Both section types were taught online. The major assignments the students produced were two 500-word essays, and students also completed bi-weekly forum posts. We examined the development of lexical density, sophistication, and diversity as well as syntactic complexity and accuracy by comparing each student’s first and final essay and forum posts. Findings indicate that there were significant differences between the scores received on the forum posts in comparison to the essays. However, there were no significant developmental differences in terms of group. Implications, avenues for future research, and pedagogical suggestions are discussed.

Case studies in the classroom: assessing a pilot information literacy curriculum for English composition

PurposeThis mixed-methods study assesses a pilot library curriculum in a general education English composition course. Case-based learning (CBL), a form of problem-based learning (PBL), was used to scaffold information literacy skills and concepts across sessions. This article explores the approach's impact on student learning and engagement.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were enrolled in four sections of an undergraduate composition course. Two sections were taught with the CBL library curriculum, and two with the standard library curriculum as a control. Pretest/posttest surveys included quantitative and qualitative measures to assess students in several areas of information literacy. Weekly reflections from a subsample of students were analyzed, and the research team conducted structured classroom observations and teaching reflections.FindingsQuantitative survey results did not support the hypotheses that the CBL curriculum would increase students' confidence and skill levels compared to their control section peers. Although there was no significant difference between sections in measured information literacy outcomes, students generally agreed that the case studies used in the CBL curriculum taught skills applicable to their research. Teaching observation data revealed the cohesion of the curriculum across library sessions and increased student engagement in classroom activities. However, some of the case studies could be improved, and some limitations in study design point to the need for further research.Originality/valueThis study addresses a gap in the literature through a mixed-methods assessment of CBL pedagogy using a control group, contributing to an understanding of the role of PBL pedagogies in information literacy curricula.

Pandemi Covid-19 Sebagai Sumber Tema Dalam Pembelajaran Mata Kuliah Komposisi Tari di Program Studi Seni Pertunjukan Universitas PGRI Palembang

The purpose of this research is to find out how the Covid-19 pandemic can be used as a source of themes in the learning process in the Dance Composition course. The source of the theme is a part that must be known for students so that in the process of creating dance they can produce good and quality work, considering that the source of the theme is the basic foundation that leads to the formation of basic concepts in dance work. The method used is descriptive qualitative data collection techniques, namely observation, interviews, literature study and recording. The result of the research that has been done is that the source of the theme cannot be formed if the source of the work and the source of ideas is not determined in advance. After both are found, students can determine the source of the story theme, and the source of the motion theme. Determining the source of the work, the source of ideas, the source of the theme of the story and the source of the theme of motion are parts that must be surpassed by students who take the dance composition course in the Performing Arts Education Study Program. The findings that have been made by students turned out to present interesting new ideas and creativity, even though the findings of the motion were simple ones.

“Come and See for Yourself”: Exploration of Mindfulness Practice by First-Year College Students

This grounded theory study aims at explaining how college freshmen develop and stay engaged with a regular mindfulness practice, and the benefits they experience. The authors investigated an intentional effort to integrate mindfulness practices in the curriculum of a First-Year Seminar and English Composition course. The results presented here support existing findings concerning the integration of mindfulness practice in higher education settings. This study also advances unique findings relative to utilizing classroom settings to introduce first-year students to the practice, as a long as the course follows a regular structure (i.e., attendance, homework assignments). The substantive theory presented describes how students developed a practice routine and made the practice relevant for their academic and personal lives. Recommendations for practice and future research are included.

Cultural Biases in Transitional Writing Courses and Their Effect on Hispanic Students in Texas

High school students in the United States have the option of taking advanced placement (AP) courses designed to prepare them to take AP exams that will potentially give them the opportunity to receive college credits for first-year undergraduate courses. This chapter examines the cultural biases present in the AP English Language and Composition course and exam, which focus on skills and knowledges typically learned in a first-year composition course. With culturally relevant theory in mind, this work specifically draws attention to the effects of such cultural biases on Hispanic students in Texas, a state where the number of Hispanic students surpasses the number of students from any other cultural background.