ESL writing

Presentation can be viewed with animation at https://sites.google.com/site/itbecunningham/home/teacher-­‐student-­‐perspectives-­‐on-­‐ screencast-­‐text-­‐feedback-­‐in-­‐esl-­‐writing-­‐calico-­‐2016

Abstract:
In making choices about technology-mediated feedback, an understanding of the considerations from both the student and instructor perspectives is important. This presentation reports on the findings of a study of student and instructor perspectives on screencast and MS Word comment feedback on student ESL writing. The multiple measures within-groups study looks at how these perspectives change with continued exposure and how student and instructor perspectives compare.

A five day scaffolded lesson plan to cater to the specific needs of English language learners (ELL students).  The lesson plan developed helps build academic English, and strengthen reading comprehension while establishing a collaborative learning environment.

Although a great paucity exists in scholarly studies on education in Somalia, the scarcity is more evident in the English studies area, particularly English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) (used interchangeably in this study), where almost none had existed until Mohamed Eno's MA TESOL Dissertation in 2005 and his recent article in the Journal of Somali Studies in 2017. Influenced by both the paucity and the latter study in 2017 1 , which recommended further examination of ESL/EFL area studies, this research investigates EFL students' perceptions of what they consider as more motivating or most motivating skill among the four second language acquisition (SLA) skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. 2 Consequently, the results reveal that learners do not perceive more listening as a very motivating factor compared to more speaking, identified as the most motivating skill and ahead of more writing in the overall ratings. With very low results on the whole, more reading, on the other hand, is much below both speaking and writing in significance, though ahead of listening as a potential motivator. Interestingly, the findings also reveal persistent learner misunderstanding of the interlinkedness of the four skills, with a misperception that acquisition of one skill is independent of the others, as captured from an analysis of the vagaries in their responses.

The scope of this article is Prescriptive Grammar.
Any English user may need a quick reference concerning conditionals in general. However, many users have an incorrect idea that, when we use past perfect in the if clause, it is ALWAYS incorrect to use “would or would not + base form of verb” in the main clause.
Therefore, the objective of this article is:
1. to define CONDITIONAL (IF) sentences in general and their BASICs; and
2. to correct the incorrect idea that, when we use past perfect in the if clause, it is ALWAYS incorrect to use “would or would not + base form of verb” in the main clause. We use this pattern in MIXED CONDITIONAL.
Whether we use “would/wouldn’t + have + past participle” or “would/wouldn’t + base form of verb” depends on whether the event is a Third Conditional or Mixed Conditional event.

As was the case with many newly independent African nations, Somalia was beset by a language problem whose complexity had begun well before independence and the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland in 1960. With three languages (English, Arabic, and Italian) used as media of communication in government offices and in schools, various Somali administrations struggled to contain the impasse but found no tangible solution. Barely three years after Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in October 1969, he had his military regime introduce the Somali orthography in the Latin alphabet. Based on this milestone, Siad Barre's military rule is highly commended for taking a remarkable step forward in what came to be known as the Somalization project. However, officials of the government and Somali scholarship failed to

This book consists of 15 short stories written by Tibetan students in English. Each story is followed by grammar and comprehension activities. The stories have been simplified for English learners, and are based on the 1,000 most common words in English.

Some  previous  studies  have  examined  the  use  of connectors  by  second  language  writers  of
English, particularly studies comparing connector usage of L2  and  native English writers.  This
study  does  so  with  corpora  of written  essays,  comparing  the  frequency  of connector  usage
between  native  English  writers  from  the  U.S. and  U.K.,  and  English  essays  by  Korean  ESL
learners  in  the  US.  The  statistical  comparisons  used  here  also  offer  some  refinements  over
previous  corpus  studies.  The  Korean  writers  overused  and  underused  various  connectors
compared  to  the  native  writers,  specifically  in  their  use  of  contrastive  markers,  topic
transitionals, there is and there are, markers for enumerating sequences, and exemplifiers. They
also  certain  expressions  used  incorrectly  as  connectors  due  to  apparent  transfer  errors. These
data indicate a number of issues for ESL/EFL writing teachers to address, and some suggestions
for teaching are discussed below.

This study investigates students‘ perceptions of learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Specifically, it aims to obtain students‘ views of what they consider as their areas of weakness among the four communication skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. It also seeks to understand their perceptions concerning the quality of the instructional material they use in the ESL class and the method of teaching they experience during the teaching/learning sessions. The findings reveal the existence of potential areas of weakness, some of which the learners are consciously aware of and others which they are unaware of—but which require appropriate solution in order to
facilitate effective learning. In addition to the identification of the learners‘ areas of weakness, the study attempts to highlight possible causes of the problems and provides suggestions for further studies in order to tackle the predicament.

This paper describes a portfolio-based assessment scheme that rewarded students in higher education for exhibiting behaviour typical of good language learners. By setting performance objectives in these terms, outcomes could be clearly identified and quantified, with the aim of developing good learning habits in students that would benefit them beyond the immediate language-based objectives of the course.

A writing needs analysis was undertaken at  the Department of English of Aligarh Muslim University
(AMU), India to determine  the writing needs of  the undergraduate ESL students offering Compulsory
English1 course. This study used variety of sources and methods to investigate the writing perception of
the ESL  learners  at AMU,  their writing needs  and difficulties  encountered  as part  of  the compulsory
English course. Based on  the  findings of  the needs analysis,  this paper  focuses on  suggesting a  task-
based module  and  syllabus  on writing  skill.  The  suggested  activities  and  tasks  attempts  to  take  up
certain challenging issues related to the needs of mixed abilities ESL learners so as to make it accessible
and practicable in the given  context.

This study examines the erroneous use of English pronouns and their antecedents by Hausa native speakers at secondary school level with a view of identifying the types and the causes of such errors. The spoken and the written English of some students, randomly selected from two schools were analyzed. It was observed that the third person pronouns and the first person pronoun (plural) occur together with their antecedents in the same syntactic group, which is wrong in the English grammar. For example, ⃰Musa he is going to a market, instead of Musa is going to a market, or He is going to a market. This shows a clear case of mother-tongue interference. This is because in Hausa language, in certain constructions, pronouns occur together with their antecedents. For example, in the sentence: Musa ya tafi kasuwa, ya is the pronoun and Musa is the antecedent. The paper also reveals the respondents' poor exposure to English as another factor for the wrong usage of the English pronouns. Finally, the study suggests that when teaching English pronouns particularly to students in the rural areas, a comparison should be made with that of Hausa for that would help in the students’ understanding. Also, practical method of teaching where the students would be given the opportunity to use the language should be adopted by the teachers for improved performance.

"In the writing classroom, peer response (Liu & Hansen, 2002) is used as a method of developing learners’ language awareness and editing abilities, as well as their meta-cognitive strategies and interpersonal skills. However, few studies have looked at whether the number and type of revisions made depends on the types of comments received and the proficiencies of the writer and also the reviewer (Ferris, 2010), even though proficiency is likely to influence the number and type of revisions made (Chaudron, 1983; Connor & Asenavage, 1994). Moreover, although most studies have focused on peer response in academic contexts, none have directly addressed its suitability as a method for helping raise awareness of register-appropriate language, which is a primary aim of many English for Academic Purposes courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The present study involves the analysis of general and register-related revisions made by students following peer response, with a statistical analysis of the impact of writer and reviewer proficiency upon the distribution and types of revisions. The first and second drafts of written research reports from 70 first-year undergraduate university students were collected and the number and type of revisions were coded. In addition, we used a computational tool, Coh-Metrix, to analyse the differences in the textual qualities of initial and revised drafts (such as average sentence length, the number of words before verbs and lexical diversity). This analysis provides further evidence to the role of peer review in the creation of more complex and register-appropriate texts. 
Results revealed both general and register-related revisions with significant differences in both the type and number of revisions being related to proficiency. Based on these findings we will discuss the importance of training at different stages of peer response and how to support learners at different levels of proficiency in this process. "

“Introduction,” “body,” and “conclusion” are the most accessible words in the instructional lexicon for ESL writing teachers when they want to describe the structure of a typical five paragraph
persuasive or argumentative essay or its shorter variations for standardized tests such as TOEFL and IELTS. However, although ESL teachers and learners might use the same words to begin, develop, and end an essay, they usually refer to completely different concepts.

The recent developments in technology imposes the presence of mobile learning (m-learning) as an inseparable technique in the development of language skills in ESL classroom. The paper discusses how Padlet (a mobile app) is capable of enhancing the writing skills of Egyptian students.

The Google Art Project can be used to unlock student interest and motivate them to use language creatively as they explore the world’s museums. It offers an international platform that connects users with art and objects around the world and throughout time, allowing visitors to explore and connect with culture and language in new and intriguing ways.

Cunningham, K. J. (2013). Exploring language through the worlds' museums. Paper presented at the MIDTESOL 2013: "Engaging Learners, Building  Community", Lawrence, KS.
in Morrison, J. (ed.) (2015). The conference proceedings of MIDTESOL: Cultivating best practices in
ESL. http://midtesol.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/MIDTESOL-Proceedings_Final-document_2013-14.pdf

An analysis, verification, and proposed solutions to troublesome areas in writing for English language learners (ELL students).  There are a total of 30 exercises, with accompanying resources, to aid in teaching ELL students how to effectively build a foundation of writing skills by scaffolded methods, differentiated teaching methods, and individualized intervention plans.

Using two groups of university students who enrolled in English 102, one from the Philippines and one from Thailand, this study looked into the role feedback and conferencing played in the process writing approach of the respondents. This study used a descriptive-qualitative causal design, adopting Dana Ferris' 1995 research in multiple-draft composition classrooms done at the California State University in Sacramento. To suit the speci$c needs of this study, Ferris' questionnaire was modi$ed. Survey results were tabulated and questions placed under ordinal categories were averaged using SPSS. Results were analyzed using Categorical Data Analysis (CDA). Other questions were dealt with using a qualitative survey data analysis, a process of systematically searching for and arranging the answers to open-ended questions. This study underscores four major $ndings. First, students preferred both the quantitative and qualitative forms of assessment of their essays. Second, students...

Using two groups of university students who enrolled in English 102, one from the Philippines and one from Thailand, this study looked into the role feedback and conferencing played in the process writing approach of the respondents. This study used a descriptive-qualitative causal design, adopting Dana Ferris’ 1995 research in multiple-draft composition classrooms done at the California State University in Sacramento. To suit the specific needs of this study, Ferris’ questionnaire was modified. Survey results were tabulated and questions placed under ordinal categories were averaged using SPSS. Results were analyzed using Categorical Data Analysis (CDA).Other questions were dealt with using a qualitative survey data analysis, a process of systematically searching for and arranging the answers to open-ended questions. This study underscores four major findings. First, students both the quantitative and qualitative forms of assessment of their essays. Second, students preferred the p...

This research investigated the strategies in writing adopted by the students that developed higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model was incorporated in the writing classroom. This study, a qualitative study explored and investigated the strategies in writing that students adopted in order to complete writing tasks which require them to exercise their higher order thinking skills. The objective of the study is to investigate the writing strategies adopted by the students and how the writing strategies develop higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model is incorporated in the writing classroom. The study was conducted on 13 form 4 students in an urban school. The collection of data was via structured reflective journal. The study revealed that the strategies that developed higher order thinking skills were brainstorming, jotting down ideas in whatever order they came in, explaining the assignment to others, gathering more information from written materials, seeking clarifications from friends, seeking clarifications from the teacher and discussing on the content of the essay by asking one of the group member to write during the discussion and to read again the essay aloud to others in the group. These strategies in writing developed the higher order thinking skills of analysing, evaluating and creating. This study provided insights on the strategies that English teachers should focus on in the writing classroom to develop students' higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model is used.

The researchers investigated the advantages and disadvantages of the sudden shift to e-learning from the perspectives of Saudi EFL students during COVID-19. That shift was the only learning option for a long time to come after the existence of new variants of the virus. Studying students' perspectives during the pandemic was important to display how they took responsibility for their learning, interact with the teachers, and collaborate. The researchers performed this study to describe: (a) EFL students' perspectives on e-learning, (b) advantages of e-learning for EFL, and (c) disadvantages of e-learning for EFL in Saudi Arabia during Coronavirus variants. A self-devised questionnaire and individual interviews were administered virtually during COVID-19 with male EFL students while they were studying an integrated-skills English course as an intermediate-level course in the PYP of a Saudi university. Using the Constant Comparative Method to analyze the qualitative data resulted in eight benefits and four drawbacks of e-learning for the Saudi EFL context. Most students viewed that e-learning and Social Media as supporting platforms of their learning while a few of them did not think favorably of e-learning. Recommendations were offered to enhance the benefits and decrease the drawbacks.

This research investigated the strategies in writing adopted by the students that developed higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model was incorporated in the writing classroom. This study, a qualitative study explored and investigated the strategies in writing that students adopted in order to complete writing tasks which require them to exercise their higher order thinking skills. The objective of the study is to investigate the writing strategies adopted by the students and how the writing strategies develop higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model is incorporated in the writing classroom. The study was conducted on 13 form 4 students in an urban school. The collection of data was via structured reflective journal. The study revealed that the strategies that developed higher order thinking skills were brainstorming, jotting down ideas in whatever order they came in, explaining the assignment to others, gathering more information from written materials, seeking clarifications from friends, seeking clarifications from the teacher and discussing on the content of the essay by asking one of the group member to write during the discussion and to read again the essay aloud to others in the group. These strategies in writing developed the higher order thinking skills of analysing, evaluating and creating. This study provided insights on the strategies that English teachers should focus on in the writing classroom to develop students' higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model is used.

This research investigated the strategies in writing adopted by the students that developed higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model was incorporated in the writing classroom. This study, a qualitative study explored and investigated the strategies in writing that students adopted in order to complete writing tasks which require them to exercise their higher order thinking skills. The objective of the study is to investigate the writing strategies adopted by the students and how the writing strategies develop higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model is incorporated in the writing classroom. The study was conducted on 13 form 4 students in an urban school. The collection of data was via structured reflective journal. The study revealed that the strategies that developed higher order thinking skills were brainstorming, jotting down ideas in whatever order they came in, explaining the assignment to others, gathering more information from written materials, seeking clarifications from friends, seeking clarifications from the teacher and discussing on the content of the essay by asking one of the group member to write during the discussion and to read again the essay aloud to others in the group. These strategies in writing developed the higher order thinking skills of analysing, evaluating and creating. This study provided insights on the strategies that English teachers should focus on in the writing classroom to develop students' higher order thinking skills when a CPBL model is used.

The aim of this study was to compare the performances of EFL learners belonging to various personality groups in listening tests. A group of 30 high school EFL learners were selected for this study. All of them were at low-intermediate level of general English proficiency. Based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality questionnaire (2017), these participants were classified into four pairs of contrasting personality groups. The analysis of the participants " personality types was conducted online and took about twenty minutes. Then, they took a test of listening for minimal pairs. Scores of contrasting personality groups were compared with each other by running four paired t-tests. Results obtained by these t-tests showed that intuitive participants outperformed sensing ones, and perceiving participants outperformed judging ones in the listening test. No significant difference was found between the performances of contrasting personality groups in the two pairs of extrovert/introvert and thinking/feeling. Flexibility, adaptability, and being open to a larger set of options are suggested to be possible reasons behind the success of these groups. However, the influence of large set of interacting factors that might have a significant impact on the performance of people in listening test cannot be denied. Depending on the type of listening test, some of these factors might play a more significant role compared to other competing factors.

Note.- this book was priced at $5.99 to be affordable for scholars in developing countries. You may download kindle apps for free on various devices if you do not have a kindle.

This book is designed to help English as Second Language scholars get published in English language peer-reviewed journals. Even though there are many books on academic writing and publishing, the needs of ESL Scholars are unique. The authors provide specific guidance to write strong, scholarly articles and tips to overcome the challenges of creating those articles in a language that is not their first. Scholars from the sciences, arts and humanities, professional disciplines, and the behavioral and social sciences learn a step-wise approach from generating ideas, through creating the architecture of an article, to managing the peer review process.

Writing is one of the four language skills which is given emphasis in second language learning. In the Malaysian secondary educational scene, students learn different genres of writing like descriptive, expository, recount and narrative based on the prescribed syllabus of the Ministry of Education. The mastery of the writing skills is crucial since constant evaluation either formative or summative is conducted to gauge students" acquisition of their writing skills based on their writing performances. Hence teachers adopt and adapt various methods in the writing classrooms to ensure that the students excel in writing. One of the methods recommended in teaching writing is the incorporation of cooperative learning (Kagan 2002). This study investigates the effects of cooperative learning in enhancing the writing performance of form one students in an urban school. The research instrument used is the pre-test and post-test of the narrative essay. The data are analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The students" writing performance is evaluated using analytical scoring on the composite scores and the five components of writing which are content, vocabulary, organization, grammatical accuracy and mechanics. The findings indicate that the students perform better in the post-test compared to the pre-test after the inclusion of cooperative learning in the writing classes. The findings lend credence to the positive effects of cooperative learning in enhancing writing performance.

"Relief: Observations on Creative Nonfiction as Pedagogy" offers a case study in the possibilities of using creative writing as a pedagogical tool with ESL students. Analyzing the experience, comments, and creative work of a Chinese nursing student named Wei Wan at Ryerson University, the essay explores the benefits of personal writing and peer workshops as tools for self-exploration, aesthetic appreciation, and confidence building. While urging teachers to see the advantages of this methodology, the paper also reflects on the literary values of creative work in hybrid, non-standard English forms. As a teacher of literature and occasionally creative writing at Cape Breton University (a small institution with a traditionally homogenous, English-speaking, population), I hadn't given much thought to the possibilities of creative writing and second-language learning. That changed this past summer when I had the opportunity to teach a class at Ryerson University, a large, urban institution in downtown Toronto with an ethnically diverse student body including many new immigrants. Since this creative writing course was classified as a "liberal arts elective," one that could be counted for credit by students in almost any program, the class attracted a diverse group from a wide range of majors. While I didn't design the class for "second-language learning" as such, it turned out that some of the students who benefitted most from the class had chosen it with exactly this goal in mind. This essay explores the experience, comments, and creative work of one such student, a Chinese nursing student named Wei Wan, whose writing I'd like to consider as a case study in the possibilities of using creative writing, particularly creative nonfiction, as a pedagogical tool. Wei Wan produced two remarkable personal essays, one of which is reproduced below. After the course was completed, I asked her to share some of her thoughts and recollections about the class. I think Wei Wan's writing is illustrative in two ways: first, her experience and comments attest to the potentially transformative powers of writing and creative workshops as tools for self-exploration, aesthetic appreciation, and confidence building. Second, her final pieces (particularly before they were subjected to rigorous "correction" for syntax and grammar) reveal the stylistic nuance possible in a hybrid English that educators may be too quick to correct out of existence. Here Wei Wan reflects on choosing the course and her experience of the first few classes: This past spring, I needed to choose an elective. Since English is my second language, writing is really painful. I enjoy writing in my native language but transferring that to English is very difficult. Therefore, I wanted a course that would improve my English skills and be interesting at the same

Teaching a particular grammar point is an everyday occurrence for most language instructors. For students, these lessons often seem more of a rehash of information filled with contradictory rules. The grammar focus for this paper is with the determiner where we will focus on the general use of the articles: a, an, the. With upwards of fifty rules governing their usage, students whose first language does on have the article, the learning to use them is a daunting challenge. The objective of this paper is to show the learner of English that some rules may be better applied as a generalization and that if general rules are applied, experience will guide remaining errors to improvement.

While the field of materials development has grown in the past twenty years, covering areas like EAP and ESP, there remains a need to elaborate further the strategies and to develop a process for developing materials for EALP courses such as legal writing. Legal writing in particular poses unique challenges like the complex system of legal writing genres and the interferences created by multiple languages, cultures, and legal systems. This article expands on existing strategies offered by the scant literature on legal writing materials development. The article takes into account the work of materials development scholars who have proposed SLA-derived principles. The article also considers factors that affect materials development, including learner, teacher, and contextual factors. Additionally, the article considers the role of theoretical frameworks in shaping decisions in materials development. Most importantly, the article relies on methods in legal writing pedagogy to inform the strategies and process for legal writing materials development. The article ultimately proposes a process for developing materials for legal writing courses that requires the consideration of the (1) purpose, (2) audience, (3) course and curriculum requirements, (4) length and number of assignments, and (5) sociocultural and legal context of the materials

Drawing from socio-constructivism, Universal Design for Learning and the multiliteracies framework, this paper encourages language teachers to weave the four digital practices of communication, collaboration, and creativity into academic writing instruction to encourage students to create multimodal essays. This, the researcher feels, can address two problems that perturb most ESL teachers: the disconnect of writing as a skill as taught in ESL instruction context with real world writing requirements; and the inability to ensure meaningful and productive participation of all students due to the assorted student profile in any classroom. Presenting insights from a multimedia academic writing course, the presentation proposes how disruptive technologies, in this context web 2.0 tools can be used to facilitate the development of digital literacy and multimodal writing skills in students. Digital tools were used by the students of the course to (1) to gather and synthesise ideas/ information (2) to collaborate with peers and others to enhance and structure one’s understanding, and (3) to produce argumentative essays augmented by multimedia resources. It was observed that, compared to the print, linear essays created by the same group of students, their multimedia argumentative essays evidenced better clarity of purpose, clearer structure, more variety of supporting sentences, reduced instances of fallacies, and a better understanding of audience. Across similar tasks, there were also instances of increase in the use of multimodal resources, remixing of available resources, and creating new sources of information. Students reported ability to think clearly when using multimedia aids, awareness of the effects of different modes on communication of messages, and better understanding of intersemiotic interaction of multiple modes. They also reported heightened metalinguistic awareness and language gains. Use of multimodal resources helped some essayists venture into newer genres of writing by employing words and ideas from one’s own and peers’ cultural and L1 resources, emoticons, and hybrid paragraphs (where multiple multimodal resources worked together to replace paragraphs), and creating conclusions that were not merely reiterations, syntheses or summaries, but alternate forms like plea for help, call for action, exhortation to think differently, etc.

The purpose of this study was to develop a curriculum to teach visual concept mapping and improve student attitudes on writing and the quality of their examination essays. We used visual word and image connections to improve the working memory and language aptitude students and gathered a small amount of data. The study took place during the summer module of an English preparatory program and was voluntary. We developed the workshop and the methodology for students who were continuing the English preparatory program into summer school. We gave surveys and personal interviews to students and workshop instructors after the workshops to ascertain students' attitude and knowledge of the material as well as the effectiveness of the program. Research partners took notes and recordings of the workshops. End of course writing exams were referenced for quantitative data but was limited due to the workshops being voluntary. The workshops were peripheral to the course module and aimed to be as casual and accommodating to student’s heavy workload as possible while targeting specific tasks that they were responsible for in the course and final examination. Further research is needed but the limited data suggests a correlation between student’s inclusion of mind mapping techniques and their ability to complete the demands of the final exam writing rubric.
Key words: Mind maps, L2 writing, metacognitive, outlines.
Fikirleri kollara ayırmak: Kavram haritalarının hafıza ve L2 üzerindeki etkisi
Öz
Bu çalışmanın amacı, görsel kavram haritalamayı öğretmek ve öğrencilerin yazma konusundaki tutumlarını ve sınav yazmalarının kalitesini geliştirmek için bir müfredat geliştirmektir. Öğrencilerin çalışma belleği ve dil becerilerini geliştirmek ve az miktarda veri toplamak için görsel kelime ve görüntü bağlantıları kullandık. Çalışma, bir İngilizce hazırlık programının yaz modülü sırasında gerçekleşti ve gönüllü oldu. İngilizce hazırlık eğitimi programına devam eden öğrenciler için yaz okuluna atölye ve metodoloji geliştirdik. Öğrencilerin materyallerin tutum ve bilgilerini ve programın etkinliğini tespit etmek için atölye çalışmalarından sonra öğrenciler ve atölye eğitmenleri ile anketler ve kişisel görüşmeler yaptık. Araştırma ortakları, çalıştayların notlarını ve kayıtlarını aldı. Kurs sonu sınavları, nicel veriler için referans alınmış, ancak çalıştaylar gönüllü olmuştur. Çalıştaylar, ders modülüne çevre birimleriydi ve öğrencilerin ders yükünden ve final sınavından sorumlu oldukları belirli görevleri hedeflerken, mümkün olduğunca öğrencinin ağır iş yüküne rahat ve yardımsever                                                             
olmayı hedefliyordu. Daha fazla araştırmaya ihtiyaç vardır, ancak sınırlı veriler, öğrencinin zihin haritalama tekniklerini içermesi ve final sınavı yazma sınavının taleplerini tamamlama yetenekleri arasında bir ilişki olduğunu göstermektedir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Zihin haritaları, L2 yazma, metabilişsel, ana hatlar.

In the present study, I investigate the effects of using a flipped classroom teaching method on the effort and proficiency of students learning English composition writing in an English as a foreign language (EFL) environment. A total of 17 undergraduate college students attending a university in northeast Japan took part in the quasi-experimental study. Effort was measured by the number of words written by students in each composition with a statistically significant increase being observed between the pretest and the posttest (t(16) = 10.26, p <.001, d = 3.13). Following the advice of recent studies in second language (L2) motivation research, the author also looked at the dynamics of effort throughout the course, where a Friedman test showed a statistically significant difference throughout the 12 topics written by students throughout the course (χ2 (11, N = 14) = 67.87, p < .001). Finally, changes in the proficiency levels of students were also measured by having native speakers rate each composition. Significant improvement was seen in the post-test in comparison to the pre-test conducted at the beginning of the course (t(50) = 6.48, p < .01, d = 1.17). Based on the salient improvements seen in both the effort and proficiency of students, the author recommends the flipped classroom method as an effective way of teaching EFL, especially in the Japanese context.

This paper proposes that teacher correction often has very little transfer effect on a student's later language behaviour. It examines reasons for this, and the motivational paradigm within which students operate. The paper argues that student self-correction is more likely to have a measurable long term effect. A mechanism to motivate directed self-correction is therefore proposed. This mechanism involves subtracting marks from assessed essays, and indicating line locations where there is a problem, without however explaining the problem. The procedure gives students the option to recover the lost marks through re-editing and re-submission within a time frame. The system has been tested empirically and found to yield promising results. The method of error evaluation also results in a lower burden of pointless correction for teachers.

This paper questions the role of grammar in language teaching and learning. Firstly it identifies the constituencies in academic language teaching, and their often conflicting notions of language programs. Several kinds of learners are discussed, with particular attention to the large group who are uncomfortable with any technical analysis, including formal grammars. Some conventional ideas about what a natural language grammar actually is are challenged. The consequences of a connectionist view of language processing are briefly explored. The power of collocation sets is identified as a key to language acquisition. Language is set in the broader cognitive context of memory processes and patterns of generalization. Pedagogical grammars are viewed as forced external generalizations with little organic presence in memory, but some suggestions are made about how to make use of them. Actual student language memory, as well as teacher self-insight into L1 are both contrasted with the idealized patterns assumed by academic language programs. Finally, the stubborn problem of average teacher behaviour is set against the real ways in which people appear to use grammars and learn languages.

Adrian Wallwork Via Carducci 9 56127 Pisa Italy adrian.wallwork@gmail.com ISBN 978-1-4419-6590-5 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-6591-2 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-6591-2 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2010930012 © ...

Screencast video feedback is often seen as positive, easier to understand and more personal by students while leading to the same or higher rates of successful application. Augmented by glimpses of student perspectives, this presentation will turn the focus on the instructors giving the feedback. The presentation discusses results of a semester long counterbalanced study of the perspectives of 4 ESL writing instructors implementing screencast feedback in their classes for the first time as they compare using it to using MS Word comments. How does the use of text and screencast feedback impact the instructor giving the feedback?

This paper qualitatively analyzes reflective data gathered from learners’ electronic and paper writings about their cultural learning in and about New Zealand. The data comes from three intakes of learners in “Culture and New Zealand Society,” a second-year tertiary-level course for migrant and international learners within a Bachelor of Arts in English as an Additional Language (BA [EAL]) at a tertiary institute in New Zealand. As part of an assessment of cultural learning, students write and reflect on their cultural observations and experiences. They submit reflective writings in two forms: a 150-word e-text journal entry using the rhetorical e-spaces of Blackboard, and a 1,000-word paper journal account of cultural and linguistic learning during community participation. After the data in the e-writings had been open coded, a range of themes emerged. This paper presents results in two key areas: the development of identities through reflective positioning (Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004), and the useful ‘realness’ of community placement to highlight and complement class ‘content.’ Themes emerged from analyzing the e-texts and matched themes in the journals. The analysis suggests that e-writings have the potential to make students “think beyond the square” (Coster & Ledovski, 2005). E-text journal entries are at least as useful as paper texts in mapping learner’s cultural and metacognitive awareness. This poses the question that e-moderated writings might reflect more candor and could hence reflect deeper mirrors of learning.