“I need it now!” Developing a formulaic frame phrasebank for a specific writing assessment: Student perceptions and recommendations

Abstract

A plethora of research has demonstrated the use of formulaic language in teaching English for academic purposes to participate in discipline-specific communities. However, time-pressured, first-year undergraduates seeking support for writing may prefer a targeted writing resource for their current assignment. In this paper, I detailed the successful development of an assignment-specific academic phrasebank, which provides examples of open-slot, formulaic frames grouped according to the process required to complete an Individual Development Narrative (IDN) essay. Over two cycles of action research (n1 = 285, n2 = 213), first-year health science students offered their perceptions of the Cycle 1 phrasebank and recommendations for improvement primarily relating to promotion, content, and layout. Considering these three factors led to the development of a self-accessed resource in cycle 2 that received a more positive evaluation and uptake from students. These findings may assist future course design and facilitate increased student uptake of support for development of academic writing, especially in large classes.