In order to discover to what extent the use of the word processor affects the motivation of high school students when engaged in writing tasks, and to determine the effects of the word processing on the length and quality of their work and editing, two groups, carefully matched in terms of prior computer experience, intelligence and language ability were given eight writing tasks. The test group used word processors while the control group used pen and paper. Their behaviour was closely observed and their writing was subsequently compared. It was found that while the test group were more motivated and spent longer both writing and editing their work, the quality of the work of both groups was similar. The degree of editing was greater for the test group. The conclusion is that there is a place for the use of the word processor in the English classroom, but specific strategies need to be developed to optimise its benefits.

Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:44:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 1609324 bytes, checksum: 103a6c4c3403cc0c6a8de069580d21b6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-30 / In the educational context of the Portuguese Language Teaching, Brazilian Curricular Parameters - PCN (Brazil, 1997) and the Curriculum Guidelines for Secondary Education - OCEM (Brazil, 2006), among other official documents, guide to taking writing as a process-discursive activity during which revision and rewriting play an essential role for text improvement and for the students‟ writing skill development. One of the ways for the teacher to monitor and guide their students during this process is through written feedback. This study aimed at investigating whether this type of feedback would prove as an effective tool for the teacher to help her PROEJA (National Program for Integration of Vocational Education with Basic Education for Youth and Adults Modality) students during the process of reviewing and rewriting their articles of opinion and for raising the quality of the texts produced. To do so, we based on Marcuschi (2008), Koch (2011, 2006, 2005), Bronkart (2001) Dolz, Noverraz and Schneuwly (2010), Ruiz (2013), among others, to develop and apply a Teaching Sequence focused on recognition and production of the genre, opinion article. Students received feedback from the teacher during their text revision and rewriting stages through written orientations which focused, separately, on discursive, textual and linguistic aspects of the text. The results indicate that the teacher‟s feedback was able to, significantly, help some, but not all the students. / No contexto escolar de ensino de Língua Portuguesa, os Parâmetros Curriculares Brasileiros - PCN (Brasil, 1997) e as Orientações Curriculares para o Ensino Médio - OCEM (Brasil, 2006), entre outros documentos oficiais, orientam para um trabalho que toma a escrita como uma atividade processual-discursiva em que a revisão e a reescrita exercem papel fundamental para o aprimoramento do texto e para desenvolvimento da habilidade de escrita do aluno. Uma das maneiras para o professor acompanhar e orientar seus alunos durante esse processo é através do feedback escrito. Esta pesquisa objetivou investigar se esse tipo de feedback se mostraria como uma ferramenta pedagógica eficaz para a professora auxiliar alunos do Programa Nacional de Integração da Educação Profissional com a Educação Básica na Modalidade de Jovens e Adultos - PROEJA durante o processo de revisão e reescrita textual e para a elevação da qualidade dos textos de produzidos. Para isso, baseando-nos, entre outros, em Marcuschi (2008), Koch (2011, 2006, 2005), Bronkart (2001) Dolz, Noverraz e Schneuwly (2010), Ruiz (2013), desenvolvemos e aplicamos uma Sequência Didática voltada para o trabalho de reconhecimento e produção do gênero textual artigo de opinião. Os alunos receberam feedback da professora durante as etapas de revisão e reescrita de seus textos através de orientações escritas relativas a aspectos discursivos, a aspectos textuais e a aspectos linguísticos do texto, separadamente. Os resultados indicam que o feedback da professora foi capaz de ajudar, de forma significativa, alguns, mas não todos os alunos.

Orientador: Raquel Salek Fiad / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T21:52:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Possati_JanainaFernandes_M.pdf: 21253457 bytes, checksum: 4704d9a54814ffdad8b8d7ff02402881 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Esta dissertação visa compreender como um texto reescrito num contexto escolar é construído a partir dos diálogos instaurados entre seu autor, outros sujeitos e, principalmente, entre aluno e professor. Como os alunos respondem às sugestões do professor? Quais indícios em sua reescrita demonstram o diálogo instaurado entre o aprendiz e o docente? Esta pesquisa tem a intenção de caracterizar o processo da reescrita, que é considerado um ato de reflexão e de retorno ao texto, como um enunciado integrante e pertencente a uma extensa cadeia discursiva. Na busca pela caracterização da reescrita como uma resposta ativa, como uma réplica a enunciados e a enunciadores anteriores, fazem parte do quadro teórico-metodológico deste estudo a concepção de reescrita segundo Fiad (2009a), o dialogismo segundo Bakhtin (2003) e a abordagem teórica da heterogeneidade da escrita, conforme Corrêa (2004). Segundo Corrêa, existem três eixos que auxiliam na busca e na identificação do modo heterogêneo pelo qual cada escrevente constitui sua escrita: o primeiro corresponde ao diálogo instaurado pelo escrevente com a imagem que tem da gênese da (sua) escrita; o segundo, ao diálogo instaurado pelo escrevente com a imagem que tem do que seria o código escrito institucionalizado e o terceiro, ao diálogo instaurado pelo escrevente com a imagem que tem do que seria a exterioridade (outros textos, outros enunciadores) na constituição de seu próprio texto. Esses eixos auxiliaram na identificação e na definição dos diálogos presentes nas reescritas e na compreensão do modo heterogêneo pelo qual cada escrevente constituiu a segunda versão de seu texto. Nas produções textuais analisadas, provenientes de Oficinas de Leitura e Escrita que desenvolvi com estudantes do Ensino Médio numa escola particular da cidade de Campinas, procurei por indícios - utilizando o paradigma indiciário conforme Ginzburg (1989) - que revelassem como as minhas sugestões, enquanto professora das Oficinas, influenciaram a reescrita de cada texto. Esse é um dos pontos fundamentais da pesquisa, uma vez que é primordial ao trabalho do professor compreender como o aluno interpreta e dialoga com as suas sugestões e observações no processo de ensino-aprendizagem / Abstract: This dissertation aims to understand how a text rewritten in a school context is built from the dialogue between the author, other subjects and, mainly, between student and teacher. How do students respond to the teacher's suggestions? What evidence in their rewriting shows the dialogue established between the learner and the teacher? This research revolves around characterizing the rewriting process, which is considered an act of reflection and return to the text as a statement that integrates and belongs to an extensive discursive chain. In search of the characterization of rewriting as an active response and an active reply to previous statements and enunciators, the following comprises the theoretical and methodological framework of this study: the concept of rewriting, according to Fiad (2009a), the concept of dialogism, according to Bakhtin (2003) and the theoretical approach to heterogeneity of writing, according to Corrêa (2004). According to Corrêa, there are three categories assisting in the search and identification of the heterogeneous manner by which each writer constitutes their writing: the first one corresponds to the dialogue established by writers with the image they have of the genesis of (their) writing; the second one corresponds to the dialogue established by writers with the image they have of what would be the institutionalized written code and the third one corresponds to the dialogue established by writers with the image they have of what would be the exteriority (other texts, other enunciators) when constituting their own text. These categories supported the identification and definition of the dialogs presented in the rewriting and understanding of the heterogeneous mode whereby each writer constituted the second version of their text. In textual productions, produced during the Reading and Writing Workshops which I developed with high school students in a private school located in Campinas, I searched for evidence by using Ginzburg's (1989) evidence method, - which revealed how my suggestions, as the teacher of the Workshops, influenced the rewriting of each text. This is one of the research key points, since understanding how students interpret and dialogue with their suggestions and comments in the teaching-learning process is of vital importance to a teacher's job / Mestrado / Lingua Materna / Mestra em Linguística Aplicada

University teaching staff are employed because of their knowledge in their particular disciplines. Many do not have a qualification to teach at a higher education institution upon commencement of their academic career. In that group there are few who have the research experience required to assist at postgraduate level. This should be developed as one of the three core activities of higher education, in which they have to be involved. This study is the result of a problem that I encountered as a higher education practitioner. In keeping with my being a practitioner researcher within an action research paradigm, this report is written mainly in the first person. The study reports on how my personal theories grew over a period resulting in the need to constantly improve my own practice. These personal theories culminated in the development of an instrument (ADaM), to assess writing. ADaM was used primarily to facilitate reflection in post-graduate writing practice. In this study, there were three sets of workshops comprising 13 practical sessions each, where lecturers engaged with the process of reading, writing, computer-mediation and, to a limited extent, with the concept of mentorship. The purpose was to answer the research question: Can a writing assessment instrument be used to sensitise staff teaching post-graduates to reflect on the complex nature of producing and assessing academic writing? At two points during the 13 practical sessions, data was gathered through semistructured interviews. The data has been analysed using a form of grounded theory referred to as remodeled grounded theory. Since the analysis traversed both the quantitative and qualitative paradigms of research, it was necessary also to place the study within the third paradigm, referred to as mixed methods research. The analysis has been presented via a series of relationships generated first by open coding, then axial coding and concludes with selective coding. In addition, the comments of an independent coder were used to validate the analysis. In accordance with classic grounded theory, it was only after the analysis of the data and the emergence of a substantive theory that I referred to existing theory in the penultimate chapter as validation of my findings. The findings from the study, together with existing literature, allowed me to conclude that “Creating an awareness of writing assessment sensitises academics to their roles as HE practitioners particularly in the areas of writing and mentorship in post-graduate supervision”.

Research in written composition in first language (L1) has undergone a major paradigm shift from interest in product to interest in processes experienced by writers as they compose. Changes in instructional approaches have begun to follow: in many L1 classrooms a variety of process or workshop approaches to the teaching of writing have been implemented. Second language (12) composing research and instruction are also undergoing a similar paradigm shift— with some reservations about the value of implementing a process or workshop approach in the second language classroom. The question now being asked is, "How effective are the various process/workshop approaches in the 12 classroom situation?" The current study, building upon mother-tongue research as well as the mainly case study research which provided the foundation of the English as a second language (ESL) literature on composing, examines the effects of a process or workshop approach on the writing performance of adult English as a second language learners. In addition, the study investigates certain biodemographic variables such as first language, and an affective variable, attitudes toward writing, all of which were hypothesized to interact with the treatment. This study is a controlled experiment in which the treatment consisted of instruction in writing using a workshop format. Two pre- and posttest measures-informal (classroom conditions) and formal (test conditions) writing tests-were used to ascertain writing growth. On each test overall scores were analysed as well as two sub scores, one for content and organization, and one for structure and mechanics. In addition, a pre-instruction background survey was given to elicit information on seven biodemographic variables, and a post-instruction survey on attitudes toward writing was administered. Results were mixed. For writing quality, only results obtained on the formal (test-like) measure were significant or near significant in favor of the treatment, the workshop approach. Of the biodemographic variables, only length of time in an English-speaking environment could be interpreted because of a cell distribution problem: it may be that those students with less than two years in a second language environment benefit more from the workshop approach than students with more time and experience in their adopted culture. Regarding attitudes toward writing, the workshop group showed significantly more positive attitudes than the product group. In addition, the content of responses to an open-ended question about writing revealed differences between the two conditions. The workshop students' comments showed awareness of (1) writing as communication and (2) writing as a process requiring time for the development, revision, and editing of ideas and language. These findings indicate that this variety of workshop approach may offer a viable alternative to product-oriented instruction. The formal (test conditions) measure suggests that the workshop may be of benefit in helping students improve their writing, particularly the content and organization aspects. Results from the attitude survey imply that students in the writing workshop are receptive to this approach and that they exhibit more positive attitudes toward writing than do students in the product group. If attitude is indeed the key to improved motivation and performance, as many suggest, these results have important implications for the L2 classroom. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

This research investigates the development of writing in children who are learning English as a second language (ESL). Its underlying hypotheses are that: 1) ESL children will learn to write independently when placed in a social and psychological setting that facilitates language learning; and 2) they will use the same strategies and follow the same general patterns of development as those reported for English-speaking children. Current research on emergent literacy provided the theoretical framework for this study. This investigation followed eleven ESL children from the beginning of Kindergarten to the end of Grade One. The children's writing samples were collected daily and were analyzed and classified within Gentry's (1982) stages of writing development. The data were examined for implied strategies, knowledge and understandings. Observational notes on the children when writing revealed characteristics and behaviours found at each level of writing development. The results point to the similarities between how ESL children and English-speaking children learn to write when challenged to discover the English writing system for themselves. The theoretical perspective of writing as a developmental process was evident throughout the study. Additional findings highlighted the significant role of literature in ESL learning and the importance of a learner-centred approach to literacy instruction. The implications of the research findings for ESL methodology is discussed together with an account of the children's development in writing. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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