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Volume 7, Number 1 (1998)
Staying Out of Trouble:
Apparent Plagiarism and Academic Survival
PAT CURRIE
Carleton University, Canada
Textual borrowing by
second language students in academic settings has traditionally been
viewed as an intentional violation of Western norms and practices. As we
have learned from recent discussions, however, the issue is not that
simple, but fraught with complexities. In order to understand the degree
of complexity, it is worthwhile to examine one instance of such borrowing.
This paper explores the apparent plagiarism of one second language student
writer in a university course. It considers her behavior in relation to
the context of her course, the demands of her task, her developing English
language skills, and her general learning processes.
An Aspect of Holistic
Modeling in Academic Writing: Propositional Clusters as a Heuristic for
Thematic Control
HUGH GOSDEN
Tokyo Institute of Technology
It is a major challenge
for teachers of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to devise meaningful
exercises and techniques which can function as research tools for EAP
practitioners and as heuristic procedures for L2 writers. If exercises are
to be authentic in helping students accomplish their real concerns, they
need to be holistic in their modeling of the academic writing process.
That is, they need to integrate attention to textual, cognitive, and
social aspects of the texts students are required to produce in order to
enter into the academic/discourse community. As a contribution to this
effort, this study presents one potentially valuable procedure,
Propositional Clusters (PCs), which aims to help L2 writers handle one
crucial aspect of text organization, namely thematic control. The use of
PCs is demonstrated with reference to Japanese graduate students drafting
their first research papers in English.
"If I Only Had More
Time:" ESL Learners' Changes in Linguistic Accuracy on Essay Revisions
CHARLENE POLIO
CATHERINE FLECK
NEVIN LEDER
Michigan State University
This study examines
whether or not English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students edit for
sentence-level errors during revision and whether or not additional
editing instruction helps reduce sentence-level errors in revised essays.
Examining 64 ESL students' 30-minute drafts and 60-minute revisions, both
at the beginning and at the end of a semester, we found that students'
linguistic accuracy improved both over the semester and from draft to
revised essay. However, an experimental group, who received additional
editing instruction and feedback, did not perform any better than the
control group on measures of linguistic accuracy. We conclude that while
the improvement in accuracy on the revised essays is statistically
significant and theoretically interesting to researchers in the areas of
second language acquisition and second language writing pedagogy, it may
be too small to have practical implications in the context of writing
assessment.
An Investigation of L1-L2
Transfer in Writing among Japanese University Students: Implications for
Contrastive Rhetoric
RYUKO KUBOTA
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Many studies of
contrastive rhetoric have confirmed that Japanese writers prefer an
inductive style which is negatively transferred to ESL writing, whereas
one study found similarities in rhetorical patterns used by good Japanese
and English LI writers. This study investigated whether individual
Japanese students use the same discourse pattern in L1 and ESL writing and
how each individual's use of similar/dissimilar patterns affects the
quality of ESL essays. University students in Japan wrote one essay in
Japanese and another in English. A total of 22 students wrote on an
expository topic, and 24 students wrote on a persuasive topic. Each
participant was interviewed later about their writing and views on
rhetorical styles. Both Japanese and ESL essays were evaluated in terms of
organization and ESL essays were also rated in terms of language use. The
location of the main idea and the macro-level rhetorical pattern were
coded for each essay. Results showed that about half of the writers used
similar patterns in L1 and L2. Results also revealed a positive
correlation between Japanese and ESL organization scores, but no negative
transfer of culturally unique rhetorical patterns. The data suggest that
L1 writing ability, English proficiency and composing experience in
English affect the quality of ESL essays.
Volume 7, Number 2
(1998)
ESL Students' Perceptions
of Effectiveness in Peer Response Groups
GAYLE L. NELSON
JOAN G. CARSON
Georgia State University
This study investigated
Chinese and Spanish-speaking students' perceptions of their interactions
in peer response groups in an ESL composition class. In a
microethnographic study, three peer response groups in an advanced ESL
composition class were videotaped for six consecutive weeks. After
videotaping, researchers met with individual Chinese (N = 3) and
Spanish-speaking (N = 2) group members. In each session, the researcher
and the student viewed the videotapes of the peer response group in which
the student had participated, and the students answered researcher
questions about the group's interactions. The interviews were audiotaped,
and the tapes were transcribed. The transcripts from the interviews were
examined recursively by the researchers, and patterns were noted. This
analysis yielded a description of the key participants' perceptions of
their construction of peer response interaction. The analysis indicated
that both the Chinese and Spanish-speaking students preferred negative
comments that identified problems in their drafts. They also preferred the
teacher's comments over those of other students and viewed grammar and
sentence-level comments as relatively ineffective. The Chinese and
Spanish-speaking students had different views, however. about the amount
and kind of talk that was needed to identify problems.
Searching for Kiyoko:
Bettering Mandatory ESL Writing Placement
RICHARD H. HASWELL
Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi
This essay proposes ways
to improve mandatory college placement for ESL writers and explores them
through theory, an experiment, and a case study. Current methods of
placement have problems with reader bias and instructional validity and
sometimes disregard common facts of writing diagnosis. The proposed new
method intends to avoid the problems by combining and balancing these
cognitive acts. It divides readers into two tiers. The first is
non-specialist faculty, who read essays with information about the writer
hidden, but who can only place students into the most desired course; the
second tier is specialist faculty who read with foreknowledge of the
writer's name and background. Six years of placement outcomes of this
system are reported at one university. Results are also reported of an
experiment (participant N= 124) in the reading of the placement writing of
a Japanese student (Kiyoko) in which foreknowledge about the writer was
systematically varied. Results supported the proposed new system in that
ethnic and language-status inferences about the writer (some incorrect)
and foreknowledge about the writer's background were systematically
associated with changes in evaluation and placement. Finally, the actual
placement history of Kiyoko and the possible effects of knowledge about
contrastive rhetoric on the placement are considered as further support of
the method.
Transitions: The
Balancing Act of Bilingual Academics
CHRISTINE PEARSON CASANAVE
Keio University, Japan
Grounded in Lave and
Wenger's (1991) notion of situated learning, this qualitative case study
examines the Japanese and English academic writing activities and
attitudes of four bilingual Japanese scholars, educated at the graduate
level in the United States, who then returned to work at a Japanese
university. In particular, the study focuses on the transitional
experiences of the two younger scholars who were just starting their
academic careers. On returning to Japan, they found themselves juggling
two sets of values and expectations. Residing in Japan, yet not wishing to
forego ties with the English speaking academic community, they faced
difficult decisions regarding what scholarly activities to pursue, what
values to place on those activities, and what shape their professional
identities would take. All four informants found writing in Japanese and
English to be central in their professional lives, and all perceived
differences in the two writing worlds, in spite of many broad
commonalities. I conclude this paper by reflecting on the complex and
local nature of the informants' writing experiences, on the impossibility
of situating these scholars in one cultural camp or the other, and on the
expanded view of academic writing that seems called for.
The Composing Processes
of Three Southeast Asian Writers at the Post-Secondary Level: An Exploratory
Study
SUSAN BOSHER
College of St. Catherine
The purpose of this study
was to explore the writing processes of Southeast Asian students with
different educational backgrounds. The secondary purpose was to determine
if the methodology used was valid and reliable. Students were given an
article to read and then asked to write their opinion about the topic.
Students were videotaped as they wrote, with the camera focused
specifically on the movement of their pen on paper. They were then
interviewed about their writing process and about what they had been
thinking during selected pause times, which had been captured on videotape
and were played back to stimulate recall of the students' thought
processes. Their responses were transcribed and then categorized according
to what aspect of their writing they had been attending to during their
pauses as well as what strategies they used to help generate a solution to
a perceived problem in their writing (Cumming, 1989). The students
differed in their degree of metacognitive awareness, their ability to
integrate information from the reading into their writing, the amount of
attention paid to different aspects of their writing, and the quantity and
variety of problem-solving strategies employed. Directions for future
research are discussed.
Volume 7, Number 3
(1998)
The Impact of Teacher
Written Feedback on Individual Writers
FIONA HYLAND
Open University, Hong Kong
This study investigates
ESL writers' reactions to and uses of written feedback. Using a case study
approach and a variety of data sources including observation notes,
interview transcripts and written texts, overall findings on six students'
use of written feedback throughout a course will be briefly discussed. The
paper then focuses on two student writers who show contrasting patterns of
feedback use and who also both become much less positive about their
writing during the course. The student revisions after receiving teacher
written feedback are analyzed and contextual data is used to gain a deeper
understanding of the students' motivations and responses to the feedback.
The data show that use of teacher written feedback varies due to
individual differences in needs and student approaches to writing. It also
appears to be affected by the different experiences students bring with
them to the classroom setting. Some implications for teachers giving
feedback are also given. It is suggested that there needs to be a more
open teacher/student dialogue on feedback, since the data suggest that the
feedback situation has great potential for miscommunication and
misunderstanding.
Undergraduates Arguing a
Case
SUSHEELA A. VARGHESE
SUNITA A. ABRAHAM
National University of Singapore
This essay describes an
instructional study in which students were trained in two key aspects of
argumentation, namely, the structural and interpersonal components. The
structural aspects were taught and measured in terms of Toulmin's (1958)
framework of argument analysis (i.e., the quality of claims, grounds and
warrants used). The interpersonal aspects in turn were measured in terms
of the creation of a clear persona, audience adaptiveness (the appropriate
use of rational and emotional appeals), and stance towards the unique
discourse of argumentation. Students performed a pre-instruction writing
task, underwent eight weeks of explicit instruction in argumentation, then
performed the task again. Findings contrasting pre-and post-test results
reveal statistically significant improvement in students' abilities to
formulate claims, to offer specific and developed grounds, and to use more
reliable warrants. Students also showed improvement in the interpersonal
aspects of argument, building better writer credibility, developing fuller
rational and emotional appeals, and conveying both sides of an argument in
order to resolve the problem at hand.
Feedback on Student
Writing: Taking the Middle Path
GEORGE M. JACOBS
SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, Singapore
ANDY CURTIS
Chinese University of Hong Kong
GEORGE BRAINE
Chinese University of Hong Kong
SU-YUEH HUANG
Tunghai University, Taiwan
Among the many
controversies in second language writing instruction is the issue of
whether or not to employ peer feedback. The current study collected
anonymous questionnaire data on whether second language learners prefer to
receive peer feedback as one type of feedback on their writing.
Participants were first-and second-year undergraduate ESL students of
lower intermediate to high proficiency, 44 in a university in Hong Kong
and 77 in a university in Taiwan. All were enrolled in writing courses in
which peer, self, and teacher feedback were used. The chi-square test was
used to analyze the questionnaire data, with the alpha level set at .05. A
statistically significant percentage of participants (93% ) indicated they
preferred to have feedback from other students as one type of feedback on
their writing. This finding, as well as students' written explanations of
their choices, is discussed with reference to how best to incorporate peer
feedback into second language writing instruction.
Effects of Prewriting
Discussions on Adult ESL Students' Compositions
LING SHI
University of Hong Kong
This study assessed
whether peer talk and teacher-led prewriting discussions affected the
quality of students' compositions. Forty-seven adult ESL students from
three pre-university writing classes participated. Each student wrote
three drafts of opinion essays under conditions of peer discussion,
teacher-led discussion, and no discussion. Nonparametric tests of rating
scores showed no statistically significant differences overall in the
writing under the three conditions. However, students were found to write
longer drafts in the condition of no discussion, shorter drafts after
teacher-led talk, and drafts with a greater variety of verbs after peer
talk. Comparison of students' use of verbs in both written and spoken
texts traced the effects of various prewriting conditions. Whereas the no
discussion condition led to longer drafts (presumably because students had
more time to write than in the talk-write sessions), prewriting
discussions provided social contexts where either the teacher scaffolded
students In the whole class situation to conceptualize their thinking, or
students assisted each other in peer groups to explore more freely and
generate diverse vocabulary and ideas for the writing tasks. These results
imply that teachers may usefully balance these prewriting conditions to
generate various types of thinking and discourse processes that facilitate
adult ESL students' writing. The study also highlights the importance of
the time factor and the relationship between length and quality in L2
writing.
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