Abstract
Students write to learn. Besides, enculturation to the disciplinary discourse happens during writing. Feedback on the assignments from the students scaffolds students’ writing development and learning paths. However, knowledge about the relationship between language, including argumentation in the discipline, on one hand, and the content of the discipline, on the other, is needed. This article is based on a socio-cultural approach to writing in the disciplines, and theory on feedback, and focuses on the relationship between the meso-level of texts (sentences, clauses, word choice) and the content of the discipline. We discuss how insight into the meso-level of texts may be used to improve and to develop feedback and formative evaluation. Cases from an intervention project in a Danish upper secondary school are included, and indicate that teachers and students assign a lower priority to feedback on the meso-level. This article claims that providing feedback on the meso-level strengthens writing development and students’ learning processes. To illustrate how this may be accomplished two texts are analyzed: one from a history class and one from a biology class.
Highlights
Language and thought are closely connected (Vygotsky, 1962, p. 200-203), and are closely connected to learning
Dysthe et al (2011) suggest that feedback and revision should begin on the level of formal elements, words and sentences in the text triangle
Feedback that scaffolds students' disciplinary writing cannot be limited to a focus on the genres specific to a discipline and it’s conceptual apparatus, and on spelling, syntax, and rules for references
Summary
Language and thought are closely connected (Vygotsky, 1962, p. 200-203), and are closely connected to learning. The situation is different when it comes to the question of how language and discipline-specific knowledge are connected, and how the students’ work with this connection are supported by feedback This knowledge is needed in classroom practices, where teachers find it difficult to teach writing and discipline-specific content simultaneously. This article contributes to the development of the theoretical and didactic (Note 1) knowledge of feedback on students’ texts that scaffold their writing in the disciplines and learning the disciplines through the same process. Vol 4, No 4; 2021 connection between language, knowledge specific to the disciplines, and feedback that scaffolds student writing and learning of the disciplines. Our analysis was carried out in dialogue with teachers who know and participate in the actual disciplinary discourse
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