Ferris, D. (2003). Responding to writing. In Kroll, B. Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing. 119-140.
1. Giving and responding to feedback is a complex and dynamic process and students need individualized feedback. What factors do teachers need to take into account when they give feedback on student papers?
2. Ferris points out some limitations of previous research in her chapter. One of the limitations mentioned is that many studies examine the effects of feedback in revisions on the same paper. If a student gets a comment on a certain aspect of their writing and revises accordingly in a subsequent draft, does it mean that the student acquires that aspect? If you design a longitudinal study to observe the effects of feedback on students’ writing ability, what methodologies do you want to use to measure a long-term effect?
3. It may be difficult for teachers to distinguish between appropriation and necessary intervention in their teaching practices. How can you find a balance between these two concerns in an L2 writing classroom?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Oral and literate connections in second language / November 18, 2009
Williams, J. The speaking-writing connection in second language and academic literacy development
One of the most interesting arguments to me in this chapter is that “retrieving a form repeatedly in planned production, such as in writing, increase the likelihood that it will be produced later in a more spontaneous setting such as conversation” (p. 13). It is interesting because I intuitively believe that repeated production in writing facilitates my spontaneous oral production. But I didn’t know that this connection is actually researched in the field and have some ground to argue for the connection.
This argument can be more valuable in EFL settings where learners have truly limited opportunities to speak English in real life. Not only that, writing is less stressful to learners because it’s not spontaneous, which is why it would be easier to provide students with writing opportunities in the classroom. In contrast to some people making a case that repetition is useless and should be removed in language classrooms, I want to argue that repeated production of unfamiliar forms in writing should be encouraged in and out of the classroom. Simple repetition of discrete and decontextualized words may not be that helpful. If possible, teachers need to try to come up with ways to get students to use some constructions in a meaningful context.
One of the most interesting arguments to me in this chapter is that “retrieving a form repeatedly in planned production, such as in writing, increase the likelihood that it will be produced later in a more spontaneous setting such as conversation” (p. 13). It is interesting because I intuitively believe that repeated production in writing facilitates my spontaneous oral production. But I didn’t know that this connection is actually researched in the field and have some ground to argue for the connection.
This argument can be more valuable in EFL settings where learners have truly limited opportunities to speak English in real life. Not only that, writing is less stressful to learners because it’s not spontaneous, which is why it would be easier to provide students with writing opportunities in the classroom. In contrast to some people making a case that repetition is useless and should be removed in language classrooms, I want to argue that repeated production of unfamiliar forms in writing should be encouraged in and out of the classroom. Simple repetition of discrete and decontextualized words may not be that helpful. If possible, teachers need to try to come up with ways to get students to use some constructions in a meaningful context.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Writing to read, Reading to write: November 11, 2009
Writing is not simply to transcribe our thoughts and ideas onto paper or computer screen.
I strongly agree that writing strengthens reading and facilitates learning. That’s why writing needs to be incorporated into English classes for other modalities such as reading and speaking. Although it would be better not to separate those modalities in the first place, reading and speaking teachers can encourage students to keep uncontrolled journals, or take notes etc. when organizing the structures of classes are beyond the control of teachers.
Yuko’s acquisition of academic literacy in Spack’s (1997) article is interesting because writing played an important role in her academic life. While Yuko’s efforts were worth being appreciated, I believe that teachers’ support must have been there. “The experience of writing and revising journal entries in her sociology class showed her a way to use writing to clarify reading and to put social scientists’ ideas into her own words” (p. 46). When she entered college, it seemed that she didn’t expect the beneficial effect of writing in her learning. One or some of her teachers must have encouraged her to keep journals and revise her journals. Or the teacher must have shown strategies of using writing for her learning and reading. This is what we teachers need to do.
A small change in teaching practices can make a big difference in our students’ learning path. I observed that even teachers’ passion about a topic and care about our students made a difference in student learning in classrooms. No matter how insignificant what teachers do in the classroom look, it can have a great or small but sustainable impact on students’ success. Teachers need to acknowledge the value of writing and try to incorporate writing in their teaching.
I strongly agree that writing strengthens reading and facilitates learning. That’s why writing needs to be incorporated into English classes for other modalities such as reading and speaking. Although it would be better not to separate those modalities in the first place, reading and speaking teachers can encourage students to keep uncontrolled journals, or take notes etc. when organizing the structures of classes are beyond the control of teachers.
Yuko’s acquisition of academic literacy in Spack’s (1997) article is interesting because writing played an important role in her academic life. While Yuko’s efforts were worth being appreciated, I believe that teachers’ support must have been there. “The experience of writing and revising journal entries in her sociology class showed her a way to use writing to clarify reading and to put social scientists’ ideas into her own words” (p. 46). When she entered college, it seemed that she didn’t expect the beneficial effect of writing in her learning. One or some of her teachers must have encouraged her to keep journals and revise her journals. Or the teacher must have shown strategies of using writing for her learning and reading. This is what we teachers need to do.
A small change in teaching practices can make a big difference in our students’ learning path. I observed that even teachers’ passion about a topic and care about our students made a difference in student learning in classrooms. No matter how insignificant what teachers do in the classroom look, it can have a great or small but sustainable impact on students’ success. Teachers need to acknowledge the value of writing and try to incorporate writing in their teaching.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Reading and writing connections in second language: Reader Response Theory as a social process/ November 4, 2009/ Hirvela chapter 1
Viewpoints about reading-writing relations have changed a lot in at least in research and in L1 domain. Unfortunately practitioners, especially teachers in EFL settings, might not have an opportunity to be exposed to the viewpoints suggested by research studies in the field. Among them is the belief that writing developments mean “mastery of spelling conventions; with mastery of skills and subskills” (p. 29). I don’t mean here that these skills should not be taught in school. Rather, I want to warn against the tendency to delay teaching other aspects of writing until students master these skills and to be reluctant to provide students with plenty of opportunities to be engaged in meaningful literacy experiences.
Even advanced writers can make mistakes in various forms. That students got a bad grade in grammar test does not necessarily mean that they cannot be engaged in meaningful literacy practices. In EFL setting where students have limited access to input of target language, students’ exposure to a target language is usually through textbooks with grammar drills and short instructional stories which are very limited both in the types of genres and the amount of reading. It is vital to help students read a various genres extensively in and out of EFL classrooms.
Even advanced writers can make mistakes in various forms. That students got a bad grade in grammar test does not necessarily mean that they cannot be engaged in meaningful literacy practices. In EFL setting where students have limited access to input of target language, students’ exposure to a target language is usually through textbooks with grammar drills and short instructional stories which are very limited both in the types of genres and the amount of reading. It is vital to help students read a various genres extensively in and out of EFL classrooms.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Genre Theory/ October 28, 2009
Although process approaches have contributed to the improvement in student writing in classrooms and still have worth pursuing in today’s writing classroom, there are some aspects that attract critical responses from researchers and practitioners. Among them are the fact that process models “disempower teachers and cast them in the role of well-meaning bystanders” (p. 19). Process approaches emphasize self-discovery of knowledge, individualism, learner-centered, and implicit learning, which renders teachers to become a facilitator or collaborator. But we cannot rule out a strong possibility that ESL students who are educated in totally different cultures might be disadvantaged in the process classroom.
Teachers in the process classroom expect students to “glean knowledge [about appropriate forms] from unanalyzed samples of expert writing” without explicit explanations, and from “growing experience of repetition” (Hyland, 2003, p. 19). But if an international student enters a masters program, they are expected to write different genres of writing in different major courses over a period of 3 or 4 semesters. Given that they had no access to literacy practices that are dominant in the US academic settings before starting the program, the overall coursework might not be long and repetitive enough for them to ‘glean’ the knowledge they need. Some students might have written a critical review of a research article only once over the course of the whole graduate years.
Teachers need to be flexible enough to be sensitive to and suit students’ needs. Teachers can give clear guidelines about their writing assignments and explicit instructions on genres that students are expected to write “when necessary,” rather than simply waiting them to discover the knowledge they need by themselves. But I don’t mean that teachers have to provide explicit instruction all the time and go back to the teacher-centered classroom. They don’t have to choose one. Rather, teachers can alternate their roles on a great timing; sometimes facilitators, other times explicit instruction giver. So, it is imperative for teachers to decide when and how to give explicit instruction.
Hyland, K. (2003). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 17-29.
Teachers in the process classroom expect students to “glean knowledge [about appropriate forms] from unanalyzed samples of expert writing” without explicit explanations, and from “growing experience of repetition” (Hyland, 2003, p. 19). But if an international student enters a masters program, they are expected to write different genres of writing in different major courses over a period of 3 or 4 semesters. Given that they had no access to literacy practices that are dominant in the US academic settings before starting the program, the overall coursework might not be long and repetitive enough for them to ‘glean’ the knowledge they need. Some students might have written a critical review of a research article only once over the course of the whole graduate years.
Teachers need to be flexible enough to be sensitive to and suit students’ needs. Teachers can give clear guidelines about their writing assignments and explicit instructions on genres that students are expected to write “when necessary,” rather than simply waiting them to discover the knowledge they need by themselves. But I don’t mean that teachers have to provide explicit instruction all the time and go back to the teacher-centered classroom. They don’t have to choose one. Rather, teachers can alternate their roles on a great timing; sometimes facilitators, other times explicit instruction giver. So, it is imperative for teachers to decide when and how to give explicit instruction.
Hyland, K. (2003). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 17-29.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Second Language Literacy in K-12 context/ October 21, 2009
ESL students include a wide range of students in terms of their ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. But clearly there is a tendency, especially practitioners in school settings, to view ESL students as a homogeneous group, one that is referred to non-mainstream students. A closer look at the students’ ethnicity, the number of years in the US, and personal experiences etc. would reveal how disparate they are. In addition, considering the importance of representations of them in identity (re)creation and attitudes toward learning, images that are not that representative, type of assignments and placement tests based on them obviously do harm students’ development.
When you are an immigrant who has lived in the US more than 10 years and feels more comfortable with English than with your heritage language, yet you are supposed to write about ‘your country,’ it’s not difficult to imagine that you are unwilling to deal with the topic. For this student, the ‘country’ topic may be very tricky. The student might feel that he/she belongs to neither of the two countries: where he/she lives now nor where he/she comes from but doesn’t know much about how it is now. If this instructor had been open to the possibility that there are other students than newly-arrived international students in the classroom, the teacher would not have given this topic for assignment or at least would have given more choices from which students can decide.
Although I guess it’s inevitable for teachers to have some kind of images about their target students, it’s imperative to realize that diversity is there and diverse needs wait to be met. Unless teachers try constantly and consciously to be sensitive to their students, it’s possible to exert a damaging influence on their students without realizing it.
When you are an immigrant who has lived in the US more than 10 years and feels more comfortable with English than with your heritage language, yet you are supposed to write about ‘your country,’ it’s not difficult to imagine that you are unwilling to deal with the topic. For this student, the ‘country’ topic may be very tricky. The student might feel that he/she belongs to neither of the two countries: where he/she lives now nor where he/she comes from but doesn’t know much about how it is now. If this instructor had been open to the possibility that there are other students than newly-arrived international students in the classroom, the teacher would not have given this topic for assignment or at least would have given more choices from which students can decide.
Although I guess it’s inevitable for teachers to have some kind of images about their target students, it’s imperative to realize that diversity is there and diverse needs wait to be met. Unless teachers try constantly and consciously to be sensitive to their students, it’s possible to exert a damaging influence on their students without realizing it.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Second Language Writing Support in College
Some people assume that acquisition of English is “easy and natural” for nonnative speakers (Kubota & Abels, 2006, p. 84) whatever its source might be: monolingualism, Anglo-conformity, or individualism. Or it might be simply because they have never learned any foreign language in their entire lives. In this case, it’s not surprising that they don’t know how hard it would be to write a complete sentence with voice or to speak in a second/ foreign language.
But if you are one of the decision makers about the policy on international students who need support, you should try to understand the challenges international students face. Among the efforts are rejecting prevalent attitude that views language support to nonnative speakers as “remedial rather than developmental”(p. 85). This can be traced back to the deficit model which regards foreign students as having some problems to be fixed. But as the authors point out, when Americans learn a foreign language, people rarely call it remedial.
Of course, how to provide developmental support is tricky. Various factors should be taken into account: how many international students or 1.5 students need support, how much existing resources the school has, or how much financial resources the school has etc.. Some schools might not have enough students to develop a program for support. So, decision makers and educators need to consider specific contexts in terms of the institution and their students. This would be easily said than done, though. As this is a difficult task, it is valuable to refer to a lot of real cases by reading an article or a book.
But if you are one of the decision makers about the policy on international students who need support, you should try to understand the challenges international students face. Among the efforts are rejecting prevalent attitude that views language support to nonnative speakers as “remedial rather than developmental”(p. 85). This can be traced back to the deficit model which regards foreign students as having some problems to be fixed. But as the authors point out, when Americans learn a foreign language, people rarely call it remedial.
Of course, how to provide developmental support is tricky. Various factors should be taken into account: how many international students or 1.5 students need support, how much existing resources the school has, or how much financial resources the school has etc.. Some schools might not have enough students to develop a program for support. So, decision makers and educators need to consider specific contexts in terms of the institution and their students. This would be easily said than done, though. As this is a difficult task, it is valuable to refer to a lot of real cases by reading an article or a book.
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