Handling the loss of innocence: first-time exchange of writing and feedback in doctoral supervision

ABSTRACT

The first time of many significant encounters is the most intense, raising awkwardness, anxiety and hope. This article presents data from doctoral students (n?=?80) who described the first time that they submitted writing to their supervisor and received feedback. The first writing/feedback exchange is an initiation into the cultures of academia. Student accounts captured the intensity of the initiation for students, excitement or dread on submitting writing, with increased emotional reaction when going through the feedback process, that liminal first time. Close focus on the first-time writing feedback exchange makes a contribution to the literature on the social interactions of doctoral writing. Data backs our argument that students and supervisors need to carefully manage the first-time exchange of writing. Our findings are analysed thematically and through an autoethnographic lens of the lead author, who was both a research assistant for the research survey and an international doctoral student experiencing the same processes in his cross-disciplinary joint doctorate. We draw on conceptual threshold-crossing theories established in regard to doctoral learning.     

Evaluation of an intervention to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by improving their authorial identity

Students with poorly developed authorial identity may be at risk of unintentional plagiarism. An instructional intervention designed specifically to improve authorial identity was delivered to 364 psychology students at three post‐1992 universities in London, UK, and evaluated with before‐and‐after measures of beliefs and attitudes about academic authorship, using the Student Authorship Questionnaire. Changes in questionnaire scores showed that the intervention led to significantly increased confidence in writing, understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism, and top‐down approaches to writing, and significantly decreased bottom‐up and pragmatic approaches to writing. For understanding of authorship, knowledge to avoid plagiarism and pragmatic approaches to writing, significant intervention by year of study interaction effects showed that the greatest improvements were among year one undergraduates. Direct evaluative feedback showed that 86% of students believed the intervention helped them avoid plagiarism and 66% believed it helped them write better assignments. Post‐intervention focus groups revealed changed student understandings about authorial identity and academic writing. The results show that interventions can help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by adopting more authorial roles in their academic writing. Further research could explore other influences on authorial identity, and examine the impact of authorial identity interventions on other outcome indicators.     

Engaging Pre-Service Teachers in Read Alouds

ABSTRACT

Today, reading aloud is considered ‘a significant component of instruction across grade levels’; particularly as a tool for teaching reading in elementary classrooms. It is basically an essential literacy practice for all student teachers to understand how to implement. In this study, authors understand the importance of modelling effective read-aloud practices and they demonstrate how they support engagement in reading and writing instruction with undergraduate students. Student teachers responded to the read alouds using reflective essays, and tables. Themes emerged that indicated that the use of read alouds in the undergraduate classrooms enhanced their understanding of identity, pedagogy, and empathy.     

Profiles of self-perceived competencies and conceptions of academic writing in university students / Perfiles de competencias y concepciones sobre la escritura académica en estudiantes universitarios

Abstract

This study analyses Spanish undergraduates’ perceptions of their competency in academic writing, as well as their perception of the criteria that define its quality. We identified student profiles and examined their relationship with (1) certain sample characteristics, such as years of university experience, area of study and students’ gender, and (2) variables related to the process of writing, namely the students’ perception of the writing process and the importance they attribute to its characteristics. The data obtained came from the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) which was administered to 1,044 students from nine Spanish universities. Profiles were identified by means of k-means cluster analysis. The relationship between these profiles and the variables studied was examined by means of chi-squared analyses and univariate ANOVAs. Two profiles were identified: students who are confident about their writing skills and who acknowledge the importance of writing in their field of knowledge; and students who are relatively confident about their writing ability and who consider writing to be relatively important in their subject area.     

Collaborative chain writing: effects on the narrative competence of primary school students / Escritura colaborativa encadenada: efectos en la competencia narrativa de estudiantes de Educación Primaria

Abstract

This study compared the effect of different classroom writing practices on narrative competence. The participants were 91 primary school students, who were assigned two writing practice conditions (individual and collaborative) and one control condition. Within each condition, the students drew from different support resources to plan and revise their texts. The results show the advantages of collaborative writing when certain kinds of support are provided (particularly when the students planned their stories using a question guide and co-evaluated them using a rubric). The analysis of the verbal interaction during the collaborative writing activities also confirms that the pairs who used a rubric showed a higher number of verbal co-evaluation messages focused primarily on the overall coherence of the text (more than on semantic, grammatical or orthographic issues). Finally, the educational implications of these conclusions in terms of teaching writing in primary school are discussed.     

Influences of Writing Tasks on Students' Answers to Recall and Higher-Level Test Questions

This paper reports on two inter-related studies that examined the use of non-traditional writing strategies within secondary school science classrooms. The first study involved Year 10 students who incorporated one letter writing experience into the learning sequence when studying genetics. The second study was with Year 9 students who used both a non-traditional laboratory writing heuristic and letter writing as part of the learning sequence when studying a topic on light. The same teacher was involved in both case studies. A higher-level analogy question was added to the teacher-prepared tests for each study to examine if students who participated in writing-to-learn activities were able to perform significantly better as a group than a group of students who completed traditional teacher directed laboratory activities and note-taking. Results indicate that for the first study there was not a significant difference using t-test analysis, while for the second study involving two writing treatments there was a statistically significant difference using t-test analysis. There was no statistically significant difference in responses between treatment and control groups when answering low level recall questions for either case study. Student interviews indicated awareness by students of the metacognitive value gained by using the non-traditional writing types.     

Enhancing student engagement in student experience surveys: a mixed methods study

Background

Measuring the student experience is becoming increasingly important in higher education in the UK. Student experience surveys are used as indicators of quality and form the basis of rankings of higher education institutions. They are also used by them as tools to assist their quality enhancement initiatives. However, these surveys frequently suffer from low response rates, which can reduce the reliability and usefulness of their data. The UK Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is a relatively new survey and suffers from a low response rate. As this survey is new, little is known about why students do not respond to it.

Purpose

This study aimed to explore the reasons why postgraduate students do not respond to the PTES.

Sample

Three hundred and fifty-five postgraduate taught students from four health faculties in one UK higher education institution completed an online survey. Of these, seven participated in one of two focus groups.

Design and methods

The online survey was completed both by students who completed the PTES in 2011 and those who did not. This provided us with cross-sectional data to compare both groups’ knowledge of PTES and their reasons for completing or not completing it. We used multivariate regression analysis to explore which variables were associated with response to PTES. We led two focus groups to explore the themes that emerged from the survey in more depth. This data was analysed by two researchers using thematic analysis.

Results

The cross-sectional data found that students who were not clear about the purpose of PTES were less likely to respond, independent of other potential predictor variables. Focus group data indicated that if postgraduate students felt a stronger connection to the university community they may be more likely to respond to PTES.

Conclusions

This study suggests that higher education institutions may wish to review their strategies for advertising student experience surveys to focus more on their purpose rather than their impact.     

A yearlong,professional development model on genre-based strategy instruction on writing

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to (a) design and examine the effects of a yearlong professional development model on the writing quality of 3^rd to 5^th graders across genres and on their teachers’ confidence, and (b) to make revisions based on results and teacher’s feedback. Participants were 11 teachers, 273 students, and a principal. The study had a one-year duration, and instruction was based on genre-based strategy instruction for the genres of opinion, story, and compare-contrast. Data were collected across the academic year, and results showed that students’ writing quality improved across genres taught during the academic year while there were no gender differences on performance. Teachers expressed challenges regarding time to teach writing and meet with peer. Further they shared the need to be provided with quality resources and continuous PD. Revisions for Cycle 2 are included and implications for research and practice are further discussed.     

Evaluation of an adaptive tutorial supporting the teaching of mathematics

ABSTRACT

Adaptive tutorials enable engaged, personalised and interactive online learning that includes instant adaptive feedback. By integrating an adaptive tutorial into a large and diverse engineering mathematics course, we explored its potential to support and guide students’ learning from afar. The aim of this study was to assess whether students provided with an adaptive tutorial, could benefit from its use and whether they would engage in and take responsibility for their learning. Comparisons were made between students who did and did not use the tutorial. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses determined the impact of including an adaptive tutorial in a blended learning environment, where 58% of students engaged with the tutorial and 74% of them completed it. Improved confidence and understanding was reported by 98% of the participants. A comparison of examination results indicated that median scores for students who utilised the tutorial were significantly higher than those who did not.     

Writing as an Act of Courage:The Inner Experience of Developmental Writers

ABSTRACT

Developmental writing programs often include a small number of students who seem unable to respond to instruction and to acquire sufficient writing skills to move on. Many common writing difficulties reflect ambivalence about expression. A core issue is that expression is related to trust in the anticipated response to what is expressed. An understanding of the underlying emotional and interpersonal aspects of writing can lead to effective strategies for instructors and counselors to reach these students and facilitate increased writing skills.     

Examining the use of multiple writing and discourse tasks in 5th grade mathematics

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how fifth grade students were impacted by the infusion of multiple writing tasks in mathematics. In this study, writing tasks provided opportunities for students to communicate prior knowledge, share ideas to construct and justify arguments, for reflection, and assessment. In this deductive qualitative study, students’ work samples were analyzed. Findings indicated that students grew in their understanding of mathematics and ability to self-reflect and self-evaluate through multiple opportunities to write for a variety of purposes. The opportunities for constructing mathematical understanding with activities that included writing and discourse also fostered learning between peers. The findings suggest a variety of opportunities to write and engage in mathematics discourse encouraged reflection, evaluation, and learning. Implications for future research include the need to examine the impact of these activities on students’ mathematics understanding as measured by assessments or an analysis of student work samples.     

Social and cognitive effects of professional communication on software usability

We designed and piloted a technical communication course for software engineering majors to take concurrently with their capstone project course in software design. In the pilot, one third of the capstone design course students jointly enrolled in the writing class. One goal of the collaborative courses was to use writing to improve the usability of students’ software. We studied the effects of writing on students’ user‐centered beliefs and design practices and on the usability of their product, using surveys, document analyses, expert reviews, and user test results. When possible, we compared the usability processes and products of teams who did and did not take the writing class. Our findings suggest that the synergy of this interdisciplinary approach effectively sensitized students to user‐centered design, instilled in them a commitment to it, and helped them develop usable products.     

Conducting Writing Assignments

Abstract

Inviting students to take an active role in planning writing assignments and developing grading criteria opens the lines of communication between instructors and students, leading to a nurturing collaborative learning environment. This article explores the stages of the writing assignment and offers suggestions for making each step purposeful and successful. Student feedback allows instructors to improve the course and instructor guidance allows students to improve their coursework. Although it does take time and effort, a collaborative atmosphere provides support to both groups so that common goals can be met.     

Practice-based professional development and Self-Regulated Strategy Development for Tier 2, at-risk writers in second grade

In this randomized controlled study, we investigated implementation of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) in story writing by 11 second grade teachers who first collaborated in practice-based professional development in SRSD. Students at-risk for failure in writing were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions in each teacher’s classroom. Teachers implemented SRSD with small groups of students at-risk for failure in writing (referred to as Tier 2 intervention in the Response to Intervention, or RTI, model) in their classrooms; control students at-risk in writing received regular classroom instruction from their teachers. Integrity of strategies instruction and social validity were assessed among the participating teachers. Student outcomes assessed included inclusion of genre elements and story quality, generalization to personal narrative, and teacher perceptions of intrinsic motivation and effort for writing. Teachers implemented strategies instruction with high integrity; social validity was positive. Significant effects were found for inclusion of genre elements and story quality at both posttest and maintenance; effect sizes were large (.89–1.65). Intervention also resulted in significant generalization to personal narrative (effect sizes were .98 for elements and .88 for quality). Teachers reported significantly higher perceptions of both intrinsic motivation and effort (effect sizes were 1.09 and 1.07, respectively). Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

‘I wish color had no history’: an exploration of identity through student performance poetry

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on multiracial student experiences using co-created ethnographic data with two students’ spoken word poetry. The students considered their own history, their origins and discovered a complexity – and found that their struggle was not exclusively internal. External expectations of singular categorizations and social understanding of behavior played a role in students’ identity construction. The students exhibited an internalization of expectations, as they reflected on their developing identities in their writing. They also indicated that they found ways to resist the expectations and forms of power. The results further discussions related to the modern understanding of identity fluidity and raises the question of why identity, in the modern context, continues to be seen as fixed. The research enabled students to reflect on the complex nature of identity and present a nuanced picture of their unique identity struggles, and their awareness of the social constructs and expectations of others.     

The role of motivation between perceived teacher support and student engagement in science class

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the relationships among the middle school students’ perceptions of science teacher support, students’ motivation and students’ engagement in learning science. Student motivation was addressed with task value and academic self-concept while student engagement included aspects of agentic, behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement. In the study, survey method was used and the data were collected though previously validated self-report questionnaires. Valid data were obtained from 1006 middle school students enrolled in one of the nine public schools in Turkey. The path analysis revealed that perceived science teacher’s support positively predicted students’ task value and academic self-concept in science. Furthermore, students who reported high levels of task value and academic self-concept showed higher levels of engagement in science. Accordingly, it seems important for science teachers to listen to the students, behave fairly and help them to solve their problems in order to motivate them for learning science and increase their engagement in science class.     

The effect of inquiry-based learning experiences on adolescents’ science-related career aspiration in the Finnish context

ABSTRACT

Much research has been conducted to investigate the effects of inquiry-based learning on students’ attitude towards science and future involvement in the science field, but few of them conducted in-depth studies including young learners’ socio-cognitive background to explore mechanisms which explain how inquiry experiences influence on career choices. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate in what ways and to what extent the inquiry learning experiences in school science affect students’ future career orientation in the context of socio-cognitive mechanisms based on socio-cognitive career theory(SCCT). For the purpose, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 data were used focusing on science literacy, and the sample of Finnish 15-year-old students (N?=?5782) was analysed by structural equation modelling with the hypothesised Inquiry-SCCT model. The results of the study showed that inquiry learning experiences were indicated as a positive predictor for the students’ career aspiration, and most of its effects were mediated by outcome expectations. Indeed, although self-efficacy and interest in learning science indicated positive correlations with future aspiration, outcome expectation presented the highest correlation with the science-related career. Gender differences were found in the model, but girls indicated higher outcome expectation and career aspiration than boys in Finland.     

Using Art Media During Prewriting: Helping Students with Dysgraphia Manage Idea Generation Before Encoding Text

Many students struggle with writing skills. This study focuses on three students (second and fourth grades) who were classified with a learning disability by their school. These children had writing goals and objectives (i.e., characteristics of having dysgraphia) included in their Individual Education Plan. In a single case design format, each student was taught the Ask, Reflect, Text (ART) mnemonic strategy to help improve story content and quality. The components of ART include students Ask themselves a series of seven questions; the students then Reflect on their answers and illustrate their story-content responses with art media (e.g., paints, colored markers, play dough); and from this prewrite illustration, students generate their Text. All participants improved greatly in story content. They also improved in story quality but to a lesser extent.     

Learning to teach history writing: discovering what works 1

Statistics indicated under achievement by 18-year-old Advanced (A) level History students in a mixed comprehensive school, by comparison with their results in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) at 16. Further investigation highlighted a weakness in essay writing. A teaching strategy was developed to improve essay writing by (a) clarifying the purpose of essay writing; (b) enhancing essay structuring; (c) ensuring students obtained a firm understanding of the topics studied; and (d) providing students with appropriate study skills to enable them to work effectively. An action plan, which drew heavily on the ideas of phenomenography (Hounsell, 1984, 1987), was devised to tackle these areas. The results of students who were taught in this way and who took their examinations in 1998 showed a dramatic improvement over the three previous years.