This study built and supported arguments for the use of diagnostic assessment in English as a second language (ESL) academic writing. In the two-phase study, a new diagnostic assessment scheme, called the Empirically-derived Descriptor-based Diagnostic (EDD) checklist, was developed and validated for use in small-scale classroom assessment. The checklist assesses ESL academic writing ability using empirically-derived evaluation criteria and estimates skill parameters in a way that overcomes the problems associated with the number of items in diagnostic models. Interpretations of and uses for the EDD checklist were validated using five assumptions: (a) that the empirically-derived diagnostic descriptors that make up the EDD checklist are relevant to the construct of ESL academic writing; (b) that the scores derived from the EDD checklist are generalizable across different teachers and essay prompts; (c) that performance on the EDD checklist is related to performance on other measures of ESL academic writing; (d) that the EDD checklist provides a useful diagnostic skill profile for ESL academic writing; and (e) that the EDD checklist helps teachers make appropriate diagnostic decisions and has the potential to positively impact teaching and learning ESL academic writing. Using a mixed-methods research design, four ESL writing experts created the EDD checklist from 35 descriptors of ESL academic writing. These descriptors had been elicited from nine ESL teachers’ think-aloud verbal protocols, in which they provided diagnostic feedback on ESL essays. Ten ESL teachers utilized the checklist to assess 480 ESL essays and were interviewed about its usefulness. Content reviews from ESL writing experts and statistical dimensionality analyses determined that the underlying structure of the EDD checklist consists of five distinct writing skills: content fulfillment, organizational effectiveness, grammatical knowledge, vocabulary use, and mechanics. The Reduced Reparameterized Unified Model (Hartz, Roussos, & Stout, 2002) then demonstrated the diagnostic quality of the checklist and produced fine-grained writing skill profiles for individual students. Overall teacher evaluation further justified the validity claims for the use of the checklist. The pedagogical implications of the use of diagnostic assessment in ESL academic writing were discussed, as were the contributions that it would make to the theory and practice of second language writing instruction and assessment.

This study built and supported arguments for the use of diagnostic assessment in English as a second language (ESL) academic writing. In the two-phase study, a new diagnostic assessment scheme, called the Empirically-derived Descriptor-based Diagnostic (EDD) checklist, was developed and validated for use in small-scale classroom assessment. The checklist assesses ESL academic writing ability using empirically-derived evaluation criteria and estimates skill parameters in a way that overcomes the problems associated with the number of items in diagnostic models. Interpretations of and uses for the EDD checklist were validated using five assumptions: (a) that the empirically-derived diagnostic descriptors that make up the EDD checklist are relevant to the construct of ESL academic writing; (b) that the scores derived from the EDD checklist are generalizable across different teachers and essay prompts; (c) that performance on the EDD checklist is related to performance on other measures of ESL academic writing; (d) that the EDD checklist provides a useful diagnostic skill profile for ESL academic writing; and (e) that the EDD checklist helps teachers make appropriate diagnostic decisions and has the potential to positively impact teaching and learning ESL academic writing. Using a mixed-methods research design, four ESL writing experts created the EDD checklist from 35 descriptors of ESL academic writing. These descriptors had been elicited from nine ESL teachers’ think-aloud verbal protocols, in which they provided diagnostic feedback on ESL essays. Ten ESL teachers utilized the checklist to assess 480 ESL essays and were interviewed about its usefulness. Content reviews from ESL writing experts and statistical dimensionality analyses determined that the underlying structure of the EDD checklist consists of five distinct writing skills: content fulfillment, organizational effectiveness, grammatical knowledge, vocabulary use, and mechanics. The Reduced Reparameterized Unified Model (Hartz, Roussos, & Stout, 2002) then demonstrated the diagnostic quality of the checklist and produced fine-grained writing skill profiles for individual students. Overall teacher evaluation further justified the validity claims for the use of the checklist. The pedagogical implications of the use of diagnostic assessment in ESL academic writing were discussed, as were the contributions that it would make to the theory and practice of second language writing instruction and assessment.

Although many aspects of English as a second language (ESL) academic writing instruction have been well researched, Leki, Cumming, and Silva (2008) note that, "There have been surprisingly few research-based descriptions of L2 writing classroom instruction" (p. 80). Although research related to the use of critical and feminist pedagogy in ESL is increasing, Kumaradivelu (2006) notices that it is still not clear how the critical awakening “…has actually changed the practice of everyday teaching and teacher preparation” (p. 76). The purpose of this study was to provide an individual response to the gaps identified by both sets of authors by investigating how critical and feminist theories could be utilized to develop an orientation to interactions in the everyday practices of an ESL academic writing classroom. In order to achieve this purpose, an autoethnographic study of an eight-week ESL academic writing course in an Intensive English Program (IEP) was conducted. The participants in this study included the teacher-researcher and seven learners. The data collected included the following: lesson plans, instructional materials, teacher field notes, teacher reflexive journal, transcripts of everyday class interactions, transcripts of multiple interviews with learners, learner written reflections, and learners’ written assignments for the course. Analysis of findings revealed that the critical and feminist theories selected for the course were realized even though there were some internal and external obstacles. Learners experienced positive shifts in their feelings about the topic of academic writing and their own abilities as academic writers. Learners’ written texts also reflected positive shifts with respect to the teacher’s goals for learners. These findings suggest that critical and feminist theories can be enacted in everyday classrooms and can be helpful with regard to improving teachers’ and learners’ experiences of everyday ESL academic writing classrooms.

Since the publication of Truscott’s paper in 1996 arguing against the effectiveness of grammar correction in second language (L2) writing, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). This debate has continued due to conflicting research results from research examining short-term effects of WCF and scarcity of research investigating its long-term effects (Ferris, 2004, 2006). Using a mixed-method research design, this study investigated the effects of direct and indirect WCF on students’ revision accuracy of the same piece of writing as well as its transfer effects on new pieces of writing over time. The present study also investigated the differential effects of direct and indirect CF on grammatical and non-grammatical errors. Using a stimulated recall strategy, the study further explored students’ perception and attitude regarding the types of feedback they received. Fifty-three intermediate level English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students were divided randomly into four groups: direct, underlining only, Underlining+meta- linguistic, and a control group. Students produced three pieces of writings from three different picture prompts and revised those over a three-week period. To examine the delayed effects of feedback on students’ writing skills, each group was also asked to produce a new piece of writing two weeks later. The results demonstrated that all three feedback groups significantly outperformed the control group with respect to revision accuracy in all three writing tasks. WCF did not have any significant delayed transfer effects on improving students’ writing skills. Short-term transfer effects on overall accuracy, however, were found for Underlining+metalinguistic CF, but not for other feedback types. In terms of grammatical and non-grammatical accuracy, only Direct CF displayed significant short-term transfer effects on improving grammatical accuracy. These findings suggest that while Direct CF was successful in improving short-term grammatical accuracy, both direct and indirect CF has the potential to improve accuracy in writing. The findings also clarify that no single form of CF can be effective in addressing all types of linguistic errors. Findings from the qualitative study demonstrated that different aspects of direct and indirect CF helped learners in different ways to successfully attend to different types of CF. In the case of Direct CF, learners who successfully corrected errors believed that the explicit information or correction was useful for them. They believed that it helped them understand what errors they made and helped them remember the corrections. Learners who were successful in correcting errors from indirect CF in the form of underlining and in the form of underline in combination with metalinguistic CF indicated that these two types of indirect CF helped them notice the errors, think about the errors, guess the correct form(s) or feature(s) and also remember the correction. The findings also indicated that both grammatical and non-grammatical errors could be difficult for learners to correct from indirect CF if they do not have sufficient L2 proficiency. Findings from the qualitative study also indicated that while learners considered both direct and the two indirect CF as useful, indirect CF in the form of underlining together with metalinguistic CF was preferred by a majority of learners as it provided valuable information about the errors made as well as promoting thinking and better understanding. / Graduate / 0290 / khaledk@uvic.ca

This study uses a predominantly quantitative approach to explore the effect of different error correction feedback mechanisms on students’ English as a Second Language writing (narrative and descriptive) amongst high school students in Botswana. A longitudinal, quasi-experimental design is used, with a control group that received no correction feedback while the experimental groups received direct, coded and uncoded feedback. Three hypotheses define the study in terms of fluency, correction success and accuracy development over time. No significant increases in fluency were found between the pretests and posttests. Correction success achieved by the three treatment groups when rewriting texts reflected the explicitness of the feedback, with the direct group highest, followed by the coded and uncoded groups. Findings were mixed on the important issue of accuracy development, although they strongly suggest that for spelling, any type of feedback is significantly better than none and that coded feedback is better than direct feedback despite the latter being more explicit. Students from all the treatment groups expressed similarly positive opinions on correction feedback. / Applied Language / M.A. (Spec. in Applied Linguistics)

The aim of this study was to measure the level of ESL writing anxiety experienced by Chinese English majors. The effects of ESL writing anxiety on English writing performance, the students’ perception of the main causes of ESL writing anxiety and their learning style preferences in ESL writing class were also examined, which provided pedagogical implications of successful learning and teaching strategies for reducing ESL writing anxiety. This study was based on quantitative research and three questionnaires were used to collect data. The results of the SLWAI showed that there is a high level of ESL writing anxiety among Chinese English majors, and the Cognitive Anxiety is the most common type of ESL writing anxiety. The differences in the level of English writing anxiety between the groups of freshmen and sophomores reached the level of statistical significance. The sophomores were found to suffer significantly higher levels of English writing anxiety than the freshmen. Correlation analysis results suggested a negative relationship between measure of ESL writing anxiety and measures of writing performance (course grade and timed writing grade). An in-depth analysis of the causes of ESL writing anxiety revealed that linguistic difficulties, insufficient writing practice, fear of tests (TEM), lack of topical knowledge and low self-confidence in writing performance constitute the main sources of ESL writing anxiety experienced by Chinese English majors. Furthermore, suggestions on learning and teaching strategies for reducing ESL writing anxiety were provided on the basis of the acknowledge of sources of ESL writing anxiety and students’ learning style preferences in ESL writing class.

Svenska skolor blir gradvis mer digitaliserade, vilket gör att fler lärare vänder sig till Google Drive för att förbättra elevers samarbete, särskilt ESL-lärare, som detta examensarbete fokuserar på. Syftet med denna studie är därför att ta reda på hur användandet av Google Drive kan påverka ESL-skrivning i gymnasiet. Detta examensarbete är kvalitativt och undersöker personliga åsikterna från tre ESL-lärare och tre ESL-elever på gymnasiet i Sverige. Dessutom ger papperet en inblick i hur bra lärarnas digitala utbildning i Google Drive motsvarar uppdraget att förbättra elevers engelska skrivförmåga. Utöver ger det här dokumentet en översikt över tidigare forskning om Google Drive som en plattform för samarbete. Baserat på resultaten hävdar deltagarna att gemensamt skrivna texter i Google Drive kan öka elevers motivation och förbättra flera aspekter av deras engelska, om det används idealt. Hur som helst så är några viktiga faktorer som bestämmer plattformens framgång: medvetande om och förebyggande av plagiering, obalanserad arbetsbelastning och grundläggande digital utbildning för lärare, som då kan vidarebefordras till deras elever. / Swedish schools are gradually becoming more digitalized, which cause more teachers to turn to Google Drive for improving students´ collaborative writing, especially ESL teachers, which this degree project focuses on. Hence, the aim of this study is to find out how using Google Drive can influence upper secondary collaborative ESL writing. This degree project is qualitative in nature and explores the personal opinions of three ESL teachers and three ESL students at an upper secondary school in Sweden. Moreover, the paper offers an insight to how well the teachers’ digital training in Google Drive corresponds with the mission of improving students´ English writing ability. Furthermore, this paper provides an overview of previous research on Google Drive as a platform for collaborative learning. Based on the findings, the participants argue that collaborative writing in Google Drive can increase students’ motivation and improve several aspects of their written English, if used ideally. However, some key factors that determine the success of the platform are awareness and prevention of plagiarism, unbalanced workload and fundamental digital training for teachers, which then could be passed on to their students.

No description available.

Several decades of research into the effectiveness of corrective feedback on ESL writing have resulted in the emergence of a consensus on a number of best practices. This study aims to investigate what recommendations the Swedish National Agency for Education provides upper secondary English teachers to use when responding to students’ writing, and if these recommendations are aligned with current research on corrective feedback. Through a content analysis, I examine four support resource materials from the Swedish National Agency for Education explicitly aimed at helping teachers with using feedback. The findings of this study show that the four resources from Skolverket depict a unified perception of what type of feedback teachers should provide: the feedback needs to be didactically considered, taking the learning goals of the syllabus, the individual student’s learning needs, and the level of detail it should contain in consideration both before and during the responding. It also needs to be indirect so that it does not constrain students’ writing style, yet it needs to provide constructive explanations so the students are not left confused by the feedback. The findings further show that for the most part, the four resources and the research are aligned when it comes to the content and the focus of the feedback, however, they differ in areas regarding how extensive and explanatory the feedback needs to be.

For several years, the use of translation and specifically Machine Translation - including Free Online Machine Translation (FOMT) tools - in L2 curricula has been the subject of ongoing debate. Even though the use of such tools is commonly discouraged in L2 classrooms by educators, the persistence of English as a second language (ESL) students in utilizing the tools has inspired many scholars to investigate whether it is helpful to develop effective strategies that transform FOMT into a teaching/learning tool in the ESL/English for specific purposes (ESP) classroom. Specifically, scholars have examined how FOMT can impact or enhance the writing quality of ESL students' compositions in terms of coherence and cohesion. In line with the same research interests, this project examined ESL students' typical coherence/cohesion challenges in academic writing at an Ontario post-secondary institution offering courses in French. The study explored the writing behaviours, such as the use of technologies including FOMT, that influence these challenges. In addition, this project sought to ascertain whether ESL students can be trained to better achieve coherence/cohesion in academic writing and how this training affects their writing behaviours, with particular attention to the use of technologies such as FOMT. In doing so, the study employed a mixed-methods research design and collected survey data, writing samples and screen recordings from 6 high-intermediate-level ESL students. Survey data was also collected from 23 ESL instructors about ESL students' practices, including tool use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the students and 3 instructors who evaluated the writing samples. Based on the survey results, all the students demonstrated a positive attitude toward FOMT tools, and 5 students used the tools during the writing process in this project. In contrast, the instructors reported divided opinions about such tools for ESL writing purposes. The results showed that instructions can assist students with improving their text quality in terms of coherence and cohesion. As well, based on the results, FOMT can assist the students in constructing their texts during the writing process. The results demonstrated that this assistance can also have a subsequent positive impact on the coherence and cohesion levels in the produced texts.