Writing, an important academic skill for university students to acquire, becomes more important in a distance education institution where assessment is primarily on written work. Successful teaching and learning practices for Open Distance Learning (ODL) incorporate multiple forms of interaction when using technology within a constructivist approach. The study seeks to understand students’ perceptions of wikis within a process writing approach, and the suitability of Web 2.0 technology for tasks designed to teach academic writing. A participatory action research design was selected as it merges social action and research to solve educational problems while increasing human understanding of the phenomena. The findings show that students may be open to using wikis within their actual learning environment. Of significance was the issue of the early integration and engagement of students into online learning communities. The challenges experienced in the study can be addressed adapting Chickering and Ehrmann’s (1996) principles to frame the development of online learning. / Teaching Practice Unit / M.A. (TESOL)

Writing for an academic purpose is not an easy skill to master, whether for a native English speaker (L1) or an English language learner (ELL). In order to better prepare ELL students for success in mainstream content courses at the university level, more must be known about the characteristics of student writing in the local context of an intensive English program. This information can be used to inform ELL writing instructors of which linguistic features to target so that their students produce writing that sounds appropriate for the academic written register. Two corpora of 30 research essays each were compiled, one of L1 student writing done in various departments at Portland State University, and the other of ELL writing produced in an advanced writing course in Portland State University's Intensive English Language Program. The corpora were compared for the frequencies of 13 linguistic features which had been previously found in significantly different frequencies in L1 and ELL essays (Hinkel, 2002). The tokens of each feature in each essay were counted, and the frequency rate was calculated in each case. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test found 6 features with significantly different frequency rates between the two corpora. The following features were more frequent in L1 essays than in ELL essays: modal would, perfect aspect, passive voice, reduced adjective clause, and it-cleft. In addition, the type/token ratio was found be significantly higher in L1 essays than in ELL essays. An analysis of how each of the significant features was used in the context of ELL and L1 essays revealed the following: Both student groups were still acquiring the appropriate use of modal would; the majority of students in both groups did not utilize it-clefts; the lower type/token ratio in ELL essays meant that these students used a more limited vocabulary than did L1 students; and ELL students were still acquiring the accurate and appropriate uses of perfect aspect, passive voice, and reduced adjective clauses, whereas L1 students used these features grammatically and for the standard uses. To apply these findings to the ELL writing classroom, instructors should help students raise their awareness of these six features in their own academic writing by leading students in identifying grammatical and ungrammatical uses of these features and providing practice in differentiating between uses which are standard to the register of academic writing and uses which are appropriate only in conversation. Two sample activities are included to illustrate how to implement these recommendations.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Explores Walt Whitman's use of Thomas Carlyle's language of textiles, as well as the relation of this language to modern science.

This thesis reviews literature regarding English writing placement assessment and its impact on at-risk (under-prepared) college students.

This thesis reviews literature regarding English writing placement assessment and its impact on at-risk (under-prepared) college students.

This research explores peer review in the academic writing of ESL university students. It investigates the problem from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Overall findings showed no significant differences between the holistic coherence ratings given to the original and final drafts of the group of students exposed to a process approach to writing with peer review. Similarly, there were no significant differences between the holistic coherence ratings of this experimental group and control group on their final drafts. However, the findings of finer-grained comparative analyses of each experimental group student's original and final drafts revealed both positive and negative results with respect to changes made. The study also explores the changes in terms of the peer review process, so attempting to analyse in more qualitative detail how coherence is constituted in student academic writing. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

‘A critical review of language errors in the writing of distance education students’ examines linguistic competence and investigates the language errors made by a heterogeneous group of 100 entry-level distance education university students with a view to improving their academic writing skills. The research follows a process of error identification and statistical analysis, and reviews intervention strategies based on the findings. Despite the continuing debates on the value of error correction, especially in relation to ‘World Englishes’, language accuracy remains a key factor in determining academic success. This is of particular concern in the South African multi-lingual context and in the light of the under-performance of South African students as evidenced in international comparative studies. The implications of the bimodal pattern of distribution in the review findings are discussed and pedagogically appropriate approaches and intervention strategies are suggested. / English Studies / M.A. (TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages))

Graduation date: 2006 / Curricular models and teaching techniques that support college students as the primary authors of their writing-across-the-curriculum experiences remain largely unexplored. This thesis addresses that research gap by investigating the use of a start-of-term writing self-assessment and goal-setting questionnaire (STQ) for upper-division undergraduates taking writing-intensive (WI) college courses in their majors. The tool was piloted in 23 WI sections at Oregon State University during winter term 2004. Feedback obtained through an end-of-term writing self-evaluation showed that students who completed the start-of-term questionnaire tended to take the effort seriously, fill out the questionnaire completely, and use the tool for its intended purposes of reflective self-assessment and goal-setting. Students saw the tool as something that could help them with their writing, and study results suggest that its benefits may have been reinforced by students’ end-of-course review of their STQ responses. Feedback from participating instructors indicated that the tool helped with their teaching as well as their students’ learning, and most instructors planned to continue using the STQ beyond the pilot study. Study results also suggest that the questionnaire can serve as a program-level research and assessment tool, providing WI program administrators and policy-makers with new insights on students’ writing needs and goals. Campus-wide use of the STQ may lead to WI program enhancements, generate new ideas for WI instructor training, and support department, college, and institutional writing-curriculum development efforts.

This research explores peer review in the academic writing of ESL university students. It investigates the problem from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Overall findings showed no significant differences between the holistic coherence ratings given to the original and final drafts of the group of students exposed to a process approach to writing with peer review. Similarly, there were no significant differences between the holistic coherence ratings of this experimental group and control group on their final drafts. However, the findings of finer-grained comparative analyses of each experimental group student's original and final drafts revealed both positive and negative results with respect to changes made. The study also explores the changes in terms of the peer review process, so attempting to analyse in more qualitative detail how coherence is constituted in student academic writing. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

In this thesis, I examine the resistance, privileges, and costs of Chicana textual identity issues in an academic arena that, by design, fragments voice and dictates choice. The scarcity in research of Chicana identity through mixed-language writing in composition depicts an existing chasm between academic demographics and university sentiments. Educational institutions that neglect to investigate, engage, and participate in textual identity perpetuate accepted pensamiento. Therefore, insight to Chicana thought, culture, and educational experiences may assist and inform the teaching dominant culture, not to separate, but to conjoin information with experience for those seeking diversity.