This study addresses a gap in the second language writing research through examining processes occurring during the pre-writing and drafting stages of adult second language learners' writing when computer-mediated communication (CMC) pre-writing activities are involved. The theoretical framework adopted in the study is Writing-as-process approach with a focus being the pre-writing and drafting stages of the writing process. The design of the study is a parallel component mixed method design with an ongoing dominant qualitative stage and a nested less-dominant quantitative stage. In the qualitative stage of the project, two case studies were conducted: a group case study of the 60 intermediate level ESL learners who participated in the study and a more focused instrumental case study of eight learners selected based on their post-treatment writing gains. The research focus was on the social environment, including the learning task, peer interaction, mode of communication, and the intertextual connections between pre-writing discussions of the participants and their first drafts. The qualitative stage findings suggested that the CMC mode of communication (synchronous vs. asynchronous) affected differently the participants' patterns of interaction as well as the intertextual connections of their first drafts with the pre-writing discussions. In the quantitative stage, the researcher compared the first-draft writings of students who participated in asynchronous and synchronous pre-writing discussions (treatment) through the analysis of eight textual features of students' first drafts, namely: (1) syntactic complexity, (2) the amount of information present in a single focus, (3) the quantity of overall information present, (4) lexical information per clause, (5) vocabulary complexity, (6) rhetorical soundness, (7) presentation and development of main ideas, and (8) overall language use. The first five textual features, presented with continuous scores, were analyzed using five ANCOVA tests with significance level alpha being set at .05; the concomitant variables were the corresponding pre-treatment scores for each of the measures. Textual features 6-8, presented with ordinal scores, were analyzed through two-tailed Mann-Whitney U tests. While no differences were found for any of the eight proposed features when the writings of the participants in the asynchronous CMC and the synchronous CMC groups were compared, the consideration of the qualitative findings suggested that further analysis of an additional textual aspect of students' first drafts, more specifically - distinct lexical items, could be informative. The quantitative analysis of distinct lexical items of students' writings completed after synchronous and asynchronous pre-writing discussions was performed through the application of a two-tailed t-test. The results of this analysis led to the conclusion that at significance level alpha = .05, the CMC mode in which the pre-writing discussion was completed influenced differently students' first drafts on a lexical level: the intertextual connections between the pre-writing interactions and the first drafts of the participants from the asynchronous group at a lexical level were significantly stronger than those of their counterparts who participated in synchronous pre-writing discussions.

The purpose of this study was to examine students' experiences and perceptions of multiple interaction activities (self-directed, peer, and teacher feedback) implemented in a large multilevel EFL writing class in one private technological university in the southern part of Taiwan. Large size writing classes, quite common in private institutions of higher education in Taiwan, cannot be effectively operated to meet individual students' needs in improving their writing performance. Low achievers have difficulties in keeping up with competent writers in learning writing skills while advanced students complain of their learning too little from the class. This research, based on the activity system model proposed by Engestrom (1987), was a case study in which interviewing student participants, observing classroom activities, audiotaping peer response sessions, and examining students' drafts and feedback sheets were the methods to collect data. The qualitative software, ATLAS.ti, was employed to analyze interview and peer response data according to the code lists developed for this purpose. A rubric was developed to examine the changes students made after having incorporated the three types of feedback into their drafts. Major findings indicated that intermediate and low achievers, though making more efforts in conducting self-directed feedback, felt unsatisfied with this activity while high achievers, investing less energy and time, gave more positive opinions to this activity. However, intermediate and low achievers gave a higher percentage of satisfaction to peer response activities than high achievers because the former could obtain more constructive peer feedback than the latter. In addition, all students were in favor of modified teacher feedback but gave negative opinions to traditional teacher feedback. On the whole, intermediate and low achievers, based on their preference, ranked teacher feedback the most important, then peer feedback and finally self-directed feedback whereas high achievers placed teacher feedback first, self-directed feedback second, and peer feedback last. Student writers' responses to each type of feedback were closely related to the amount of constructive comments they received. The more helpful suggestions they obtained, the more positive opinions they gave to a certain type of feedback. In the end of the study, recommendations were made for curriculum designers, classroom practitioners, and further studies.

This study evolved because of the researcher’s need to inquire whether visualmotor integration and fine motor coordination contribute to a child’s readiness to acquire handwriting skills. As school-going age is a controversial topic in the South- African context, the researcher set out to compare the readiness to acquire handwriting skills between two groups of Grade 1 children. This study was developed to determine whether a relationship existed between visual-motor integration and fine motor coordination as part of handwriting readiness, and acquiring handwriting skills in two age groups namely five-year-old children and six-year-old children. Initially the characteristics of the two age groups were determined. This was followed by establishing the level of development for visual-motor integration, fine motor coordination and handwriting skills in both age groups as well as comparing the levels of development. The abovementioned was obtained through the Miller Function and Participation Scales en the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. Lastly, the scores for visual-motor integration and fine motor integration were correlated to the six categories of the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. Both age groups presented with overall age appropriate abilities in visual-motor integration and fine motor coordination. The six-year-old group did better on all six of the categories for handwriting in the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment when compared to the five-year-old group. There was a significant difference (p=0.0049) between the visual-motor integration scores between the two age groups. No significant difference between the two age groups was recorded in fine motor coordination. A significant negative correlation was detected between visual-motor integration and the categories of legibility (r=-0.4029), form (r=-0.4300), size (r=-0.4087) and spacing (r=-0.3832) in the five-year-old group. The six-year-old group presented with a strong negative correlation between visual-motor integration and the category of rate (r=-0.3930). When correlating the fine motor coordination score with the categories of the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment, a strong negative correlation was detected with the categories of legibility (r=-0.3850) and spacing (r=-0.4697) in the five-yearold group. The six-year-old group did not present with significant correlations between fine motor coordination and the six categories of the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. This study confirmed that a relationship exists between visual-motor integration, fine motor integration and handwriting skills. This relationship was not always clear and was influenced by different aspects such as age, maturity as well as the assessment instruments used. This study focused on only one district in Tshwane, which limited the data. The two age groups in this study were not matched for gender, ethnicity and handedness. / Dissertation (MOccTher)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Occupational Therapy / unrestricted

This diploma thesis is focused on discovering pre-writing and pre-reading developmental skills in preschools with the "Step by Step" programme and a traditional preschool programme. The theoretical part is focused on explaining school maturity and school readiness, analysing pre-writing and pre-reading skills, analysing Framework Education Programme for Preschools within the frame of these skills and introduction of working principals in preschools with a "Step by Step" programme. The aim of the practical part of this diploma thesis was to discover the preschool children's level of pre-writing and pre-reading developmental skills with the "Step by Step" programme in comparison with a traditional preschool programme. Data were collected by using a mixed method research design: a questionnaire, an observation, worksheets and didactic games were used. One hundred and eight children participated in this research in September 2018. The research was repeated in May 2019 with participation of one hundred and five children. Eleven teachers filled up the questionnaire. The research results shown that the children from preschools with "Step by Step" gained better results overall when filling worksheets in comparison with the children from preschools following the traditional preschool programme in September...