Student Writers Research Articles

Teaching critical thinking to Chinese students in English as a foreign language writing class: A review

<span lang="EN-US">Critical thinking (CT) is important for English as a foreign language (EFL) writing. However, the EFL writings of Chinese students are usually negatively commented on in terms of CT in writing. The study reviewed relevant studies on how CT in writing was taught to Chinese EFL learners at the tertiary education level. It shows most EFL writing teachers adopted existing western CT definitions in a general knowledge background and mainly used teacher-centered assessment techniques to teach CT. Students’ CT development was mostly assessed by self-designed CT assessments. Facing the globalization of CT teaching, the study thus updates the assessment techniques to meet the increasing needs of CT teaching in EFL writing in China. Relevant suggestions are also given to education practitioners.</span>

Self-Assessment Versus Instructor's Evaluation of the Written Product in an EFL Context

Abstract The focus of this paper was on some EFL students’ self-assessment (vis-à-vis their actual performance) in one writing course at the university level. In addition to contributing to the value of research on ESL learners’ self-assessment, the study attempted to triangulate students' opinions with the grades those students received on their writings in one socio-cultural setting. Fifty EFL English majors taking a required writing course participated in this study. A pretest (the first drafts of the untimed writing) and a posttest (the timed writing) were used to collect data for this study over a whole semester. Oral and written corrective feedback was provided on content, organization, form, word choice, and mechanics. The findings revealed that although the majority of student writers generally claimed that the instructor's corrective feedback helped them improve their writing performance on all aspects of writing, the figures confirmed two specific findings: (1) there was some correspondence between students' claims and their actual improvements on form, word choice, and mechanics, and (2) there was no correspondence between students' claims and their actual improvements on content and organization. Keywords: Self-Assessment; Instructor's Evaluation; Corrective Feedback; Students’ Claims; Actual Performance; Written Product.

Aspects of Questioning ChatGPT in the Writing Process of College Student Writers : Focusing on Comparison between Writers Groups by Writing Level

The purpose of this study is to reveal the characteristics of how college student writers use ChatGPT in the writing process by analyzing the ‘question’ aspect of the writer group according to the writing level. To this end, 331 questions appearing in the <Log using ChatGPT> written by 60 students were analyzed according to the criteria of three question types, as well as the frequency and continuity of questions for each writing process.As a result, ⑴ college writers showed a bias in their question patterns concerning the process of ‘creating content’, asking ‘one-time questions’ rather than ‘continuous questions’, ‘dependent questions’ rather than ‘initiative questions’, and ‘general questions’ rather than ‘specific questions’. In terms of functions required of ChatGPT, many questions arose in the order of ‘information (presentation)’, ‘evaluation’, ‘creation’, ‘application’, and ‘analysis’. ⑵ The question patterns of the upper and lower groups according to the writing level contrasted greatly. The upper group used ‘continuous’, ‘initiative’, and ‘specific’ questions relatively more, and showed a tendency to ask various questions in terms of request functions for ChatGPT. On the other hand, in the subgroup, attention was paid to the problem of the unethical use of ChatGPT due to the ‘invention’ question along with the contrasting aspect.Based on the above data, this studey indicated four areas that future ‘Question Education’ should take into consideration. First, in the field of writing education, the direction of ‘question education’ should be set under the goal of ‘priority improvement of learners' writing ability’. Second, prior to education on question methods, various types of questions should be taught. Third, useful question types and question sequence strategies for each writing process should be developed in connection with existing writing education contents. Finally, an agreement between the teacher and the learners concerning the use of ‘invention’ questions must be drawn up in a very specific manner.

Aspects of Questioning ChatGPT in the Writing Process of College Student Writers : Focusing on Comparison between Writers Groups by Writing Level

The purpose of this study is to reveal the characteristics of how college student writers use ChatGPT in the writing process by analyzing the ‘question’ aspect of the writer group according to the writing level. To this end, 331 questions appearing in the <Log using ChatGPT> written by 60 students were analyzed according to the criteria of three question types, as well as the frequency and continuity of questions for each writing process.As a result, ⑴ college writers showed a bias in their question patterns concerning the process of ‘creating content’, asking ‘one-time questions’ rather than ‘continuous questions’, ‘dependent questions’ rather than ‘initiative questions’, and ‘general questions’ rather than ‘specific questions’. In terms of functions required of ChatGPT, many questions arose in the order of ‘information (presentation)’, ‘evaluation’, ‘creation’, ‘application’, and ‘analysis’. ⑵ The question patterns of the upper and lower groups according to the writing level contrasted greatly. The upper group used ‘continuous’, ‘initiative’, and ‘specific’ questions relatively more, and showed a tendency to ask various questions in terms of request functions for ChatGPT. On the other hand, in the subgroup, attention was paid to the problem of the unethical use of ChatGPT due to the ‘invention’ question along with the contrasting aspect.Based on the above data, this studey indicated four areas that future ‘Question Education’ should take into consideration. First, in the field of writing education, the direction of ‘question education’ should be set under the goal of ‘priority improvement of learners' writing ability’. Second, prior to education on question methods, various types of questions should be taught. Third, useful question types and question sequence strategies for each writing process should be developed in connection with existing writing education contents. Finally, an agreement between the teacher and the learners concerning the use of ‘invention’ questions must be drawn up in a very specific manner.

From frustration to fascination: Discourse analysis as writing feedback for multilingual learners

Language difference is often framed through a deficit lens, especially for multilingual student writers. Compounding this issue, teacher candidates (TCs) rarely receive sustained guidance on how to give effective writing feedback. As a result, many TCs perceive the primary purpose of writing feedback to be surface-level error correction. To address this challenge, our study explored how TCs (n = 42) across two universities engaged with a writing feedback approach grounded in discourse analysis principles. We examined participants’ feedback on writing authored by adolescent multilingual learners before and after exploring discourse analysis as a feedback method. Findings suggested a shift from a corrective to an observational focus, linguistic curiosity rather than evaluation, and ascribing intentionality to students’ language choices. These findings demonstrate the potential of discourse analysis as a tool in writing feedback to frame language difference as an asset, toward disrupting deficit-oriented views of linguistic diversity in multilingual writing and classrooms.

The value of models to support students' voice in middle school social studies argument writing

Teachers are often advised to use model texts, sentence starters, and paragraph frames to support student writers, but little empirical research reports on how K-12 students take up language from such models. We use a systemic functional linguistics fine-grained approach to analyze 19 middle school students’ writing in social studies as they engaged in inquiry with sources across two years, reporting on how they drew on models to write arguments with evidence from sources. Students represent different reading levels and seventeen speak languages other than English. We report that students drew on the models but added ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings of their own. We then analyze the interpersonal meanings that project students’ own voices, characterizing these voices as expansive or contractive and relating them to the argument tasks. We also discuss language choices that realize less formal registers. The study contributes to debates about models by demonstrating how the constraints and choices presented enabled students to meet disciplinary demands while bringing their own voices to their writing. We discuss implications for the use of models and for how students’ voices are valued and highlight methodological contributions to the analysis of voice.

Japanese Braille Translation Using Deep Learning - Conversion from Phonetic Characters (Kana) to Homonymic Characters (Kanji).

A blind student writes and submits reports in Braille word processor, which is difficult for teachers to read. This study's purpose is to make a translator from Braille into mixed Kana-Kanji sentences for such teachers. Because Kanji has homonyms, it is not always possible to get correct results when converting. To overcome this difficulty, we used deep learning for translation. We built a training dataset composed from 15,000 pairs of Braille codes and mixed Kana-Kanji sentences, and a validation dataset. In training, we got an accuracy of 0.906 and a good Bleu score of 0.600. In validation, we found 5 mistaken words in selecting homonymous Kanji by examining translation mistakes from 100 pairs of the verification sentences. The choice of homonymous Kanji depends on the context. For decreasing such type of errors, it is necessary to introduce of translation of paragraphs by increasing the scale of the network model in deep learning, and to expand the network structure.

The Interplay of Task Characteristics, Linguistic Complexity, and Language Proficiency in High‐Stakes English as a Foreign Language Writing

AbstractThe linguistic characteristics of text productions depend on various factors, including individual language proficiency as well as the tasks used to elicit the production. To date, little attention has been paid to whether some writing tasks are more suitable than others to represent and differentiate students' proficiency levels. This issue is especially relevant in the context of high‐stakes language examinations. In this study, we investigated task effects in English as a foreign language (EFL) Abitur examinations, the high‐stakes test qualifying for higher education admission in Germany. Based on texts produced by 362 students, we examined (a) if and how student writings differ in their linguistic complexity and (b) if the EFL Abitur tasks are equally suited to differentiate the students' proficiency levels. We used a broad operationalization of linguistic complexity, including measures from various linguistic domains in the computational analysis of the texts. The results of our mixed‐effects models show that student texts differ in their linguistic complexity primarily by the functional needs of the task types employed (summary, analysis, and argumentation). Furthermore, writing tasks that demand high independence in language performance are best suited to differentiate between proficiency levels, which becomes especially evident in vocabulary choice and usage.

A Program Based on Problem Space Theory for Assessing EFL Critical Reading and Writing of Secondary Stage Students

A Program Based on Problem Space Theory for Assessing EFL Critical Reading and Writing of Secondary Stage Students

APPLYING INTRODUCTION, BODY, LANGUAGE STRATEGY TO ENRICH THE STUDENTS WRITING ABILITY

APPLYING INTRODUCTION, BODY, LANGUAGE STRATEGY TO ENRICH THE STUDENTS WRITING ABILITY

“Writin’ain’t my thang”: creating high school student writers with ongoing support through an urban school–teacher education partnership

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a year-long writing intervention located in an urban high school in partnership with a university teacher education professor and the students. The goals were as follows: to increase student self-efficacy about writing overall; to increase the number of students who successfully improve scores on writing assessments; and to increase ACT exam scores, making students more qualified candidates for college admission.Design/methodology/approachThe main method used for the research is a quantitative longitudinal study method, which involves collecting from each student, at pre-intervention and post-intervention, a writing sample. There are 54 students in the study.FindingsFindings showed an increase in student proficiency overall, with an increase of 0.53 holistically. Effective writing instruction asks students to write often to develop their writing will and skill. There are many more factors beyond the teaching of “ACT prep” writing skills that must be considered, particularly when teaching marginalized groups. This study found that the following are important: building and sustaining positive rapport; using their language as part of the learning process; creating space for students to write regularly; writing on a variety of topics; reflecting on and monitoring their writing; and receiving timely and targeted feedback.Originality/valueThis paper discusses the impact of the writing intervention and describes the practices that were a part of the intervention for marginalized students in an urban school to increase their writing scores.

Study of the Effects of Direct Focused Versus Direct Unfocused Written Corrective Feedback on the Accuracy of Prepositions in English Writing of High School Students

Study of the Effects of Direct Focused Versus Direct Unfocused Written Corrective Feedback on the Accuracy of Prepositions in English Writing of High School Students

Understanding teachers’ self-directed development through drama-based pedagogy: a case study of one English writing classroom

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study explores the trajectory of one English writing teacher’s self-directed development. The teacher’s self-directed development incorporated the use of drama-based pedagogy, in assisting student writers’ topic knowledge development. The study shows that the teacher’s initial journey of self-directed development was zigzag, as it required him to constantly adapt his teaching based on understanding and meeting each student’s individual needs. The interaction between the student writers’ perceived usefulness of drama-based pedagogy in relation to their individual needs and the teacher’s constant agency in solving emerging issues also enhanced the teacher’s conceptualisation of the self-directed development.

The Impact of Parental Involvement on Student Writing Ability: A Meta-Analysis

The impact of parental involvement on student academic achievement has been confirmed by many studies. However, researchers differ on whether parental involvement can statistically improve student writing skills. Furthermore, the association between parental intervention duration and student writing ability is unclear. Consequently, this study examines the impact of parental involvement on student writing ability through a meta-analysis of 13 studies conducted between 1996 and 2021, with effect sizes of 117 and 1449 participants. Three main findings in the meta-analysis results werek identified. First, the overall effect of parent writing participation on student writing ability was statistically significant, resulting in a moderate positive effect (g = 0.666 95% CI [0.324, 1.008]), p < 0.001). Second, parental participation behavior methods and student educational stages had no significant impact on student writing ability. Third, differences in school area and parental intervention duration had a significant impact on student writing ability, suggesting that parental involvement has a greater role in promoting an improvement in student writing ability in urban schools, and that long-term intervention is more conducive to improving student writing ability.

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CAMEROONIAN ENGLISH

Social media has emerged as a popular new technology that has spread all over the different sectors in Cameroon: education, business, government, print media, audiovisual media, etc. This new means of communication has eased the exchange of thoughts and ideas. The internet, as an aspect of new technologies, came along with a deviant form of writing peculiar to the younger generation in general and the Cameroonian youth in particular. This new system of communication gave rise to what is known as computer-mediated communication, which had become widely spread within the educational milieu in Cameroon. Social media has negatively influenced the use of Standard English in Cameroon, especially written texts, given that aspects of computer-mediated communication have rapidly replaced conversational writing forms. Such development in communication has affected language, which has gradually shifted from its original sound, sign, or symbol and complex sentence structures governed by grammatical rules to the language of text messaging with its simple syntax, incomplete sentence forms, informal structures, and modified ideograms known as emojis (happy faces, sad faces, excitement figures, blushing faces, etc.). This research aimed at analysing the writings of students at the University of Yaounde 1 to show the extent to which the use of social media has affected the written rendition of these students. To elucidate this, a study was done by analyzing their scripts and text messages. The communication accommodation theory was adopted to arrive at the expected results.

Etude théorique sur l'analyse des erreurs en production écrite chez les apprenants arabophones libyens

Written production is complex activity that occupies an important place in the teaching / learning of French as a foreign language. It remains one of difficulties that Arabic speakers continually encounter in the process of learning the French language. Teaching French to Arabic speakers leads to contacts between Arabic mother tongue and French as foreign language. Theses contacts generate errors that influence student's writings. In this article, we try to approach the analysis of the errors (problems and perspectives) and notion of the errors, as well as the origins of the errors.

Critical friendship and collegial conversations

In this reflective article, a case study, we draw upon scholarship on a critical friendship (Schuck & Russell, 2005; Silva, 2003) that grew in 2020 as we worked to assist one another in creating NWP writing programs for teachers and youth. At the heart of our professional collaboration was our desire to maintain and cultivate community engagement (Deans, Roswell, & Wurr, 2010; Preece, 2017), while advancing racial literacies in digital spaces (Price-Dennis & Sealey-Ruiz, 2021) and as we worked with a framework for instructional equity (Muhammad, 2020). Weekly meetings led us to using Padlet for 189 hours of professional development, 9 programs with 511 youth, and 7 courses with 320 students. Padlet became a location for curation, especially as we worked to promote diverse, inclusive children’s and young adult texts as models for classroom teacher and student writers.

Corrective Feedback Towards Student’s English Writing of Hospital Administration Students at STIKES Baptist Hospital Kediri

Administration students at STIKES Baptist Hospital Kediri using descriptive qualitative approach. The subjects was 9 students of second semester. Collecting data about corrective feedback used questionnaire and interview about students’ response in terms of attitude. Analysis data based on three concurrent flows of activities: data reduction, data display, and conclusion. The result showed that the teacher gave direct corrective feedback in students’ English writing by circling the students’ errors and providing the correct answer in grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, preposition, article and content. The data from questionnaire for students’ attitude showed most of students agreed that the teacher should point out grammar errors. The students have positive responses by remembering their grammar mistakes and feel more motivated to go on learning when the teacher corrects their error in writing. They answered that they will revise their writing if their errors are corrected by the teacher. It can be concluded that most of the students have positive attitude to teacher’s corrective feedback.

Utilizing Technology to Check the Assignments of Food Beverage Product Students

This research utilizing technology to check the assignments simulates the use of Grammarly as one assessment tool for identifying errors in essays in writing English. The result analysis shows that Grammarly is used to assess the students’ grammatical and mechanical writing errors. From Grammarly report, it represents the quality of writing. Grammarly is an online proofreading service that checks for students’ grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Grammarly automatically verifies or detects the work typed based on various factors and reveals a variety of student writing errors, both in terms of grammatical and mechanical. This finding suggests that lecturers can use Grammarly, as automated software to implement corrective evaluation of Food Beverage Product Students' writing. This research is descriptive qualitative research. Researchers classify the issues in Grammarly: (a) Correctness (b) Clarity, (c) Engagement, (d) Delivery, the data taken only for the male of Food Beverage Product Students. Based on results and discussion, total Correctness 610, Clarity 12, Engagement 8, Delivery 1. For this research, male Food Beverage Product Students have more errors in Correctness, including Improved spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and one student writes in Indonesian. Keywords: Utilizing Technology, Food Beverage Product Students, Grammarly, Assignments

Comparative Analysis of Syntactical Errors in the Writings of ESL Students at Secondary Level in Pakistan

In this comparative study, the researchers analyzed the syntactical errors in English writings of secondary-level Pakistani ESL students; though syntactical errors are commonly found in each language, it is mostly committed by ESL students in English language writings. The present study was formed on the quantitative method. The population of the study was one government and one private secondary school in the district of Lahore. Due to ethical considerations, the schools' names were not mentioned. The researchers selected 60 students’ sample from both schools; the G-group 30 students represent government schools and P-group 30 students represent private schools; the questionnaire was divided among these students as a research instrument for data collection. The data was analyzed in statistical charts, and mentioned in numbers and percentages. The findings of this comparative study disclosed that private school students committed fewer syntactical errors than government school students justifying the role of medium of instruction.