Self-compassion has consistently been found to contribute significantly to psychological well-being, and previous research has found that it can be increased using a simple writing task. As the mechanism underlying task efficacy is unknown, this study investigated the role of belief. Belief was found to predict change in self-compassion, self-esteem, and depression, with higher levels being associated with less improvement, an effect in the opposite direction as hypothesized. However, increase in belief across the three trials was positively correlated with improvement in self-compassion, depression, anxiety, and stress, indicating that change in belief represents a different psychological effect than absolute level of belief. Further, those who increased in belief reported improvement in well-being, while those who decreased did not. Results suggest that task efficacy, at least in part, depends on the degree to which perspectives are reappraised to become more congruent with self-compassionate perspectives, as opposed to simply depending on task repetition.

This study was conducted to compare the writing performance (writing products and writing processes) of the TOEFL iBT integrated writing task (writing from source texts) with that of the TOEFL iBT independent writing task (writing from prompt only). The study aimed to find out whether writing performance varies with task type, essay scores, and academic experience of test takers, thus clarifying the link between the expected scores and the underlying writing abilities being assessed. The data for the quantitative textual analysis of written products was provided by Educational Testing Service (ETS). The data consisted of scored integrated and independent essays produced by 240 test takers. Coh-Metrix (an automated text analysis tool) was used to analyze the linguistic features of the 480 essays. Statistic analysis results revealed the linguistic features of the essays varied with task type and essay scores. However, the study did not find significant impact of the academic experience of the test takers on most of the linguistic features investigated. In analyzing the writing process, 20 English as a second language students participated in think-aloud writing sessions. The writing tasks were the same tasks used in the textual analysis section. The writing processes of the 20 participants was coded for individual writing behaviors and compared across the two writing tasks. The writing behaviors identified were also examined in relation to the essay scores and the academic experience of the participants. Results indicated that the writing behaviors varied with task type but not with the essay scores or the academic experience of the participants in general. Therefore, the results of the study provided empirical evidence showing that the two tasks elicited different writing performance, thus justifying the concurrent use of them on a test. Furthermore, the study also validated the scoring rubrics used in evaluating the writing performance and clarified the score meaning. Implications of the current study were also discussed.

Nos últimos cinco anos, os vestibulares das conceituadas universidades públicas paulistas, como a UNESP, USP e UNICAMP, têm exigido dos candidatos proficiência em leitura, em especial, nas provas de redação. Nas proposições dessas provas, são oferecidos, aos candidatos, fragmentos de textos verbais (excertos), dos quais, devem-se abstrair o tema (ou o contexto) ou é oferecida uma coletânea de excertos de textos, dos quais os alunos devem fazer uso para a produção de suas redações. Em minhas atividades como professora plantão de Redação no ensino médio e curso pré-vestibular, observei que os usos da coletânea integrante do enunciado de provas de Redação são feitos de maneiras variadas e, muitas vezes, insuficientes ou não adequadas. Considerando-se que capacitar o aluno a interpretar diferentes textos que circulam socialmente é uma das atribuições da escola e que essa habilidade é um requisito para a execução de provas de redação em vestibulares, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral analisar: a) os editais e b) os enunciados (proposição e coletânea) das provas de redação aplicadas nos vestibulares 2007 da UNESP, UNICAMP e USP. O corpus de análise é composto por enunciados de três provas de redação (dissertação). Os resultados finais da análise indicam que todos os conhecimentos exigidos para a execução das provas foram previamente explicitados nos editais; as provas apresentaram graus de complexidades diferentes, além de exigir conhecimento de diversas áreas do saber. / Since last five years, the most known São Paulo universities entrance examination as UNESP, USP and UNICAMP have required reading proficiency, specially in writing task. Those tasks offer to the candidates verbal text fragments and they have to infer the theme (or the context) or it is offered to them a set of text fragments extracted from different sources that has to be used in their compositions. In my activities as writing attendance teacher in high school level, I have observed that the set of text the students have to use in their compositions has been used by different ways and, frequently, in insufficient and inappropriate way. Considering that leading students to interpret different kind of texts is one of the school maim role and that the reading comprehension ability is the basic requirement for text production examination, this study assumes as main purpose analyzing: a) announcement, b) text production examination writing task (proposition and the set of texts), carried on by UNESP, USP and UNICAMP, in 2007. The data were composed by three writing task (dissertation). The results have shown that: a) each writing task was elaborated in accordance to the announcement spread by the university; b) the writing task required several scientific areas knowledge.

nÃo hà / Este trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa de cunho quantitativo que analisa se e de que maneira o esforÃo cognitivo e a fluÃncia de escrita nos processos cognitivos envolvidos na produÃÃo escrita em inglÃs (L2/LE) sÃo afetados pela tarefa de produÃÃo (anÃncio, aviso e convite) e pelo meio (celular, tablet e computador). Partindo de uma lacuna nos estudos sobre tecnologia e escrita em lÃngua estrangeira, e tendo como aporte teÃrico os modelos cognitivos de escrita (HAYES, FLOWER, 1980; HAYES, 1996; BEREITER, SCARDAMALIA, 1987, 1992) e estudos sobre esforÃo cognitivo (KELLOGG, 1987; PIOLAT et al, 2001; OLIVE et al, 2009) e fluÃncia (KELLOGG, 1996; STAPLETON, 2010; LATIF, 2013), nosso estudo verificou o esforÃo cognitivo, medido pelo tempo despendido no processo de planejamento e no processo de traduÃÃo na produÃÃo textual em funÃÃo da tarefa realizada e em funÃÃo do meio utilizado. TambÃm nos propomos a observar a fluÃncia, estimada pelo nÃmero de palavras digitadas em um minuto no processo de traduÃÃo, na produÃÃo de gÃneros textuais distintos em celulares, tablets e computadores. Para isso, tivemos como participantes da pesquisa 34 professores brasileiros de inglÃs (LE), graduados (ou graduandos) em Letras com habilitaÃÃo em inglÃs. A seleÃÃo dos participantes se deu por amostragem de conveniÃncia. Cada participante teve que realizar trÃs tarefas de escrita, uma em cada um dos meios estudados na pesquisa. Durante a produÃÃo, a tela dos dispositivos foi gravada usando os programas Camtasia Studio e Mobizen, alÃm de uma cÃmera externa. Em seguida, foram tabulados os tempos gastos no processo de planejamento e no processo de traduÃÃo na realizaÃÃo de cada tarefa em cada um dos meios, bem como a quantidade de palavras produzidas em cada tarefa e em cada um dos meios. Realizados testes estatÃsticos para comparaÃÃo das diferenÃas no esforÃo cognitivo e na fluÃncia de escrita em funÃÃo das tarefas e em funÃÃo dos meios, os resultados mostraram que o esforÃo cognitivo no processo de planejamento pode ser influenciado tanto pelo meio quanto pela tarefa de produÃÃo. Jà o processo de traduÃÃo sofre maior influÃncia da tarefa do que do meio. Os resultados indicaram que a tarefa de produÃÃo à o principal fator influenciador na quantidade de palavras, e que a fluÃncia de escrita nÃo à influenciada pelo meio, mas pode ser influenciada pela tarefa proposta. Esta pesquisa se mostra relevante por lanÃar luz sobre como os processos cognitivos do escritor podem ser afetados pela tarefa e pelo meio, e pode auxiliar professores de lÃngua estrangeira no processo decisÃrio de como inserir a tecnologia nas aulas de escrita. / This quantitative research analyzes if and how cognitive effort and writing fluency in the cognitive processes of text writing in English (ESL/EFL) are affected by the writing task (advert, notice, and invitation) and by the writing medium (cellphone, tablet, and computer). Considering a gap in the studies about technology and writing, the theoretical foundations of this research include the cognitive models of writing research (HAYES, FLOWER, 1980; HAYES, 1996; BEREITER, SCARDAMALIA, 1987, 1992), research on cognitive effort (KELLOGG, 1987; PIOLAT et al, 2001; OLIVE et al, 2009) and writing fluency (KELLOGG, 1996; STAPLETON, 2010; LATIF, 2013). Our research analysed cognitive effort, measured by the time spent in the planning process and in the translation process of written production, in relation to the task and in relation to the medium. We also observed the writing fluency, estimated by the number of words typed in one minute in the translation process, in relation to the task and in relation to the medium. 34 Brazilian teachers of EFL volunteered to take part in our research. They were selected through convenience sampling, under the conditions of being familiar with the type of text to be produced in the research, with the medium of composition used in the research, and the condition of being a licensed (or almost) teacher, so as to guarantee the language proficiency. We pilot tested our method with 4 participants, and the results helped us refine our data collection method. Each participant was asked to write three texts (advert, notice, and invitation), each text in one of the media studied. During the production, the screen of each device was recorded using Camtasia Studio and Mobizen, and a phone camera. After all data were collected, the time spent in each task and each medium as well as the number of words typed in each task and each medium were sorted, compared and statistically tested for significance. Results show that cognitive effort in the planning process may be affected either by the writing task or by the writing medium. In the translation process, cognitive effort is more affected by the the task than by the the medium. Results also show that the demands of the task are the highest influencing factor to the increase of the number of words produced. The fluency is not affected by the writing medium but might be affected by the writing task. The relevance of this research resides in its shedding light onto the manner the cognitive processes of writing may be affected by the task proposed and by the writing medium. It might also help EFL teachers in the deciding process as to how to insert technology in writing classes.

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