Volume 8, Number 1 (1999)
The Case for Grammar
Correction in L2 Writing Classes: A Response to Truscott (1996)
DANA FERRIS
California State University, Sacramento
John Truscott's 1996
Language Learning article, "The case against grammar correction in L2
writing classes:' has led to a great deal of discussion and even some
controversy about the best way to approach issues of accuracy and error
correction in ESL composition. This article evaluates Truscott's arguments
by discussing points of agreement and disagreement with his claims and by
examining the research evidence he uses to support his conclusions. The
paper concludes that Truscott's thesis that "grammar correction has no
place in writing courses and should be abandoned" (1996, p. 328) is
premature and overly strong and discusses areas for further research.
The Use of Restructuring
Strategies in EFL Writing: A Study of Spanish Learners of English as a
Foreign Language
JULIO ROCA DE LARIOS
LIZ MURPHY
ROSA MANCHON
Universidad de Murcia, Spain
This article presents two
small-scale studies which analyze how Spanish learners of English use
Restructuring, an important formulation strategy in L2 composing.
Restructuring is the search for an alternative syntactic plan once the
writer predicts, anticipates or realizes that the original one is not
going to be satisfactory for a variety of linguistic, ideational or
textual reasons. Data for Study 1 were obtained from think-aloud protocols
of five intermediate EFL subjects on two tasks. Results indicate that
Restructuring has different functions in L2 composing processes: it can
compensate for the lack of linguistic resources typical of L2 learners,
but it can also serve stylistic, ideational, textual and procedural goals.
In Study 2 we analyze the protocols of students at two proficiency levels
in order to find the effects of L2 proficiency on the different uses of
Restructuring uncovered in Study 1. Results show that while both groups
used Restructuring in L2 writing, the intermediate group restructured for
compensatory purposes significantly more than the advanced group, whose
main goals were of an ideational and textual nature. Thus, L2 proficiency
seems to playa role in determining the focus of concerns of Restructuring
in L2 composing.
Individualism, Academic
Writing, and ESL Writers
VAI RAMANATHAN
DWIGHT ATKINSON
University of Alabama
Recent research has
pointed to the cultural values implicit in L1-oriented composition
pedagogy-a form of pedagogy which is increasingly being encountered by
university ESL writers. In this article we examine four principles and
practices of L1-oriented composition which appear to tacitly incorporate a
U.S. mainstream ideology of individualism: voice, peer review, critical
thinking, and textual ownership. We discuss ways in which these principles
and practices may not comport well with the cultural approaches taken by
many ESL students, depending substantially on past studies to support our
discussion. In concluding, we argue that the ideology of individualism
described in this article also underlies recent critiques of
cross-cultural writing research, and we end by restating the primary
rationale of cross-cultural writing research-that sociocultural knowledge
regarding our students contributes vitally to knowing who they really are.
Local Coherence and its
Limits: A Second Look at Second Sentences
DESMOND ALLISON
SUSHEELA VARGHESE
WU SIEW MEI
National University of Singapore
Our article takes up Joy
Reid's (1996) proposal that "second sentences deserve a second look" in
academic writing research and pedagogy. Reid's data and commentaries
indicate that second sentences, the sentences following topic sentences,
make important but generally underrated contributions to the (in)coherence
of students' written paragraphs. Her study, in a U.S. university, found
that English as a second language (ESL) student writers often developed
paragraphs that did not meet the expectations of experienced native
English speaker (NES) readers. We offer a contextualized critique and
partial replication of Reid's exploratory study. Our research, in
Singapore, investigates second sentence writing by English-knowing
bilingual (EKE) students, and the expectations of experienced EKE academic
readers. A comparison of our findings with Reid's yielded differences on
the same three prompts as in the original study. These results lead us to
conclude that our student writer sample is interestingly distinguishable
from Reid's NES and ESL groupings. Special attention will be paid to
responses, both by students and by academic readers, which did not conform
to Reid's expectations for paragraph development in second sentences. Our
discussion pursues questions about local and global coherence in academic
writing, including expectations about topic development, and suggests
implications for an investigative writing pedagogy.
Volume 8, Number 2 (1999)
The Case for "The Case
Against Grammar Correction in L2 Writing Classes": A Response to Ferris
JOHN TRUSCOTT
National Tsing Hua University
Ferris ( 1999) rejects my
case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes (Truscott, 1996) and
attempts to build her own case for the practice. This paper responds to
her criticisms. I argue that these criticisms are both unfounded and
highly selective, leaving large portions of my case unchallenged and, in
some cases, even strengthening them. If the case for correction has any
appeal, it rests on a strong bias-that critics must prove beyond any doubt
that correction is never a good idea, while supporters need only show that
uncertainty remains.
Writing for Scholarly
Publication in English: The Case of Hong Kong
JOHN FLOWERDEW
City University of Hong Kong
With English becoming
increasingly dominant as the international language of research and
publication, there is a need to empirically investigate the question of
international scholarly publication in English on the part of non-native
speakers of English, This paper presents the results of a large-scale
survey concerning publication in international refereed journals in
English by Hong Kong Chinese academics who have Cantonese as their first
language. The survey seeks answers to the following questions: What
exposure to English have these Hong Kong scholars had? What are their
attitudes towards publishing in English? What are their problems? What are
their strategies for successful publishing? And what change to the
language of publication, if any, do they see accompanying the reversion of
sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain to China?
ESL Student Revision
after Teacher-Written Comments: Text, Contexts, and Individuals
SUSAN M. CONRAD
Iowa State University
LYNN M. GOLDSTEIN
Monterey Institute of International Studies
In this study, we
investigate the relationship between written comments and students'
subsequent revisions for one teacher and three students in an advanced ESL
composition course. Data include the teacher's comments, the students'
drafts before and after the comments, and discussions during conferences
that shed light on the students' revision processes. Associations between
characteristics of the comments and the success of students' subsequent
revisions are first examined. While it initially appears that certain
formal characteristics of the comments were associated with successful
revision (e.g., declaratives rather than questions), further analysis
reveals that only one feature typically related to revision success: The
type of revision problem that was addressed. Students tended to be
successful in resolving many types of revision problems (e.g., adding
examples, increasing cohesion), but they were unsuccessful in revising
problems related to explanation, explicitness, and analysis. However,
there were exceptions to this typical pattern, and to better understand
these exceptions, we describe each student's revision process. Factors
such as content knowledge, strongly-held beliefs, the course context, and
the pressure of other commitments provide explanations for students'
revision decisions and account for unexpected success or lack of success
in their revising. The study shows that, in order to understand how
students revise in response to written feedback, we must look not only at
the nature of the comments themselves, but also at the types of problems
students are being asked to revise and at individual factors affecting the
students.
Toward a More
Comprehensive View of L2 Writing: Foreign Language Writing in the U.S.
MELINDA REICHELT
University of Toledo
In order to be accurate
and inclusive, a theory of second-language writing must take into account
information about foreign language (FL) (i.e., non-English) writing. This
article reviews over 200 published works concerning FL writing and
research pedagogy in the United States and proposes directions for inquiry
in FL writing, focusing especially on the need for discussion of the
purpose of writing in the FL course. The article also outlines ways in
which ESL writing specialists can benefit from becoming familiar with FL
writing research and pedagogy.
Volume 8, Number 3 (1999)
The Effects of Trained
Peer Response on ESL Students' Revision Types and Writing Quality
E. CATHRINE BERG
University of Pennsylvania
Since the late 1980s, peer
response to writing has gained increasing attention in the English as
Second Language (ESL) field. Whereas affective benefits have been reported
in the literature, little is known about the effects of peer response on
ESL students' revision and writing outcomes. This study investigates these
effects and also considers an often-cited suggestion for successful peer
response, that is, training students to effectively participate in the
peer response activity. The principal question addressed by the study is
whether trained peer response shapes ESL students' revision types and
writing quality. Effects of trained peer response were investigated
through a comparison of 46 ESL students divided into two groups, one
trained in how to participate in peer response to writing and the other
not trained. Revision types were identified based on a taxonomy that
discriminates between two types of changes: those that affect text meaning
and those that do not (Faigley & Witte, 1981). Writing quality was
determined by a holistic rating procedure of first versus revised drafts.
Results of the investigation indicate that trained peer response
positively affected ESL students' revision types and quality of texts.
Problems in Writing for
Scholarly Publication in English: The Case of Hong Kong
JOHN FLOWERDEW
City University of Hong Kong
Through in-depth
interviews, this paper identifies a range of problems which confront Hong
Kong Chinese scholars in writing for publication in English and which they
feel put them at a disadvantage vis-a-vis native speakers of that
language. These problems are as follows: they have less facility of
expression; it takes them longer to write; they have a less rich
vocabulary; they find it difficult to make claims for their research with
the appropriate amount of force; their process of composition may be
influenced by their L1; qualitative articles are more problematic than
quantitative articles; they are restricted to a simple style; and the
introductions and discussions to scholarly articles are particularly
problematic parts. Given the reduction of emphasis on English in Hong Kong
following the reversion to Chinese sovereignty, these problems are likely
to increase. A number of recommendations are made to remediate the
situation.
The Effect of Peer and
Teacher Feedback on Student Writing
TRENA M. PAULUS
Indiana University
Although teacher and peer
feedback, together with required revision, is a common component of the
process-approach English as Second Language (ESL) writing classroom, the
effect that the feedback and revision process has on the improvement of
student writing is as yet undetermined. The researcher analyzed II ESL
student essays in detail: categorizing the types and sources of revisions
made according to Faigley and Witte' s ( 1981) taxonomy of revisions,
evaluating the first and final drafts of the students' essays, and
recording students' verbal reports during revision. While the majority of
revisions that students made were surface-level revisions, the changes
they made as a result of peer and teacher feedback were more often
meaning-level changes than those revisions they made on their own. It was
also found that writing multiple drafts resulted in overall essay
improvement.
Rhetorical Consciousness
Raising in the L2 Reading Classroom
SIMA SENGUPTA
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
This article outlines how
rhetorical consciousness was developed in a group of L2 tertiary student
readers and examines how such consciousness influenced students' reading
and writing. The participants were 15 Chinese, Year-1 EA students
attending small-group tutorials that aimed to help them with their
readings for a course entitled "Language and Society ." Rhetorical
consciousness was developed through regular discussions regarding the
features of texts that students perceived as "reader-friendly." The
classroom discussions were recorded and analyzed. In-depth interviews were
conducted, and the essays written were analyzed. These data were
complemented by retrospective protocol data. Students identified and
elaborated four textual elements as reader-friendly, which, they believed,
had enabled them to formulate a more acceptable overall gist of a text,
thus making them "better" readers. However, they did not apply the
reader-friendliness features to their texts although they perceived an
increased ability to detect their textual problems. The interview data
suggested that with evolving rhetorical consciousness, these L2 students
had become more aware of the nature of written discourse. As readers, they
effectively used devices that make texts reader-friendly to get a gist of
a text read, and as writers, they were able to explain why they saw school
sponsored writing as a distinct genre.
Thoughts on Some Recent
Evidence Concerning the Affective Advantage of Peer Feedback
SHUQIANG ZHANG
University of Hawaii at Manoa
This paper is a response
to Jacobs, Curtis, Braine, and Huang's paper (1998) that critiqued Zhang's
study (1995) on the oft-claimed affective advantage of peer feedback over
teacher feedback in the English as Second Language (ESL) writing class. An
examination of the results reported by Jacobs and associates (1998)
revealed that their findings validated Zhang's (1995) finding, as well as
his summary of research conclusions drawn prior to 1995, that peer
feedback does not have an affective advantage over teacher feedback in the
ESL writing class. This paper addresses the methodological concerns raised
by Jacobs et al. ( 1998) and emphasizes the need to reexamine assumptions
about the ESL writing process in order to better address the affective
disadvantage of peer feedback relative to teacher feedback in the ESL
writing class.
Individualism and the
Teaching of Writing: Response to Vai Ramanathan and Dwight Atkinson
PETER ELBOW
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
I am grateful to the
editors for inviting me to respond to "Individualism, academic writing,
and ESL writers" by Vai Ramanathan and Dwight Atkinson, (JSLW 8.1 [1999]).
I was invited because the authors refer repeatedly to my work as a problem
for ESL students. I can say that I am largely in agreement with what I
would call their root claim, namely, that certain common principles and
practices of U.S. university writing pedagogy can carry individualistic
implications that can be problematic for some ESL students. But I have
some substantial reservations about the various ways in which they pursue
this general point. I will focus my response on two key ambiguities that I
find central to their essay-treating the first one briefly and the second
one at length.
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