Topic familiarity, writing performance and critical thinking skills of English department students

The present study explores critical thinking skills and writing performance of argumentative writing based on topic familiarity. It seeks the evidence for the best pattern of relationship among topic familiarity, writing performance and critical thinking skills. Understanding the patterns of relationship of the three variables is an important step to develop teaching syllabus, material and evaluation method on writing courses. Moreover, examining these skills and finding the patterns of relationship are equal to the steppingstone to further develop learners’ academic achievement and their future academic success. Therefore, this study examined the path model to figure out the true contribution of topic familiarity toward writing performance and critical thinking skills. This study was carried out by employing the ex-post-facto design to English Department students at UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang as the accessible population. All of 121 students taking Writing III course were taken as the sample. The instruments used were writing prompts and rubrics for assessing topic familiarity, writing performance and critical thinking skills. Pilot studies were done prior to the data collection to ensure that the instruments are reliable and valid to achieve the objective of the study. To collect the data on the scores of topic familiarity students are asked to write the mind maps based on the prompts. While the data on the scores of the writing performance and critical thinking skills were taken from the students’ argumentative essays based on the prompts. Path Analysis was used to figure out the best pattern of relationship among topic familiarity, writing performance and critical thinking skills. The verified patterns of relationship show that on student initiated topic critical thinking skills are initiated by topic familiarity and can be mediated by writing performance. Topic familiarity also has direct contribution toward critical thinking skills on student initiated topic. Similarly, on teacher initiated topic, critical thinking skills are initiated by topic familiarity and can be mediated by writing performance as well. However, as there is no significant relationship between the topic familiarity of teacher initiated topic and critical thinking skills, the topic familiarity of teacher initiated topic does not have direct contribution toward critical thinking skills. The finding also indicates that the verified path model serves as the best pattern and can be used as a framework to predict the success of the students’ critical thinking skills. Within the verified patterns of relationship, the writing performance in teacher initiated topic records the highest contribution toward critical thinking skills. It identifies the strong bond between writing performance and critical thinking skills as supported by several studies. It means that the higher the students’ writing performance the better reflection of their critical thinking skills will be. As the implication, writing teachers should foster the students’ writing skills regardless the type of topic chosen to develop their critical thinking skills. Based on the findings, several recommendations are made. English educators are suggested to integrate the training of critical thinking into English language teaching contexts. Writing teachers are suggested to encourage students to develop their background knowledge on various topics for better critical thinking and guide students through effective modelling. Future researchers are recommended to explore critical thinking in broader population, using other instruments to assess different types of writing modes and to see the reflection of critical thinking in various field of expertise

The Interaction and Oral Production Ability Using the Genre - Based Pedagogy in the English Class

The general goal of learning a foreign language is to reach the competences to communicate effectively with others. The interaction and oral production ability are crucial in the achievement of that goal. This research represents an effort to know closer the influence of the genre- based pedagogy (GB pedagogy) on learners’ interaction, and oral production ability towards the use of biographies as textual genre in the classroom. Research findings show that students became familiar with the basic structure and contents of the recount genre mentioned, as a life experience. The stages followed in order to work with biographies were found useful for the students who recognized the importance of structuring a text, to better understand how they work, and improve their communication using information from their own context to learn step by step how express what they really want to say. The deconstruction, joint construction and independent construction as the teaching learning cycle based on the GB pedagogy were placed into practice as an important attempt to fulfill the research goal.MaestríaMagister en la Enseñanza del Ingle

A study on digital-based argumentative writing in English of South Korean university students

In higher education in South Korea, English proficiency has been specifically emphasised by the government (Kang, 2015; Kang, 2018; Kim, 2017; Shim & Park, 2008; Williams, 2015). However, writing skills have had little attention in education settings, including higher education institutions (Kim, 2018; Shin, 2018; Park, 2020; Shin & Hyun, 2020; Yu, 2019), despite a series of educational reforms. Students in South Korean higher education are now facing practical and specific needs for argumentative writing in English (Shim, 2016; Shin, 2018). However, the overall context of English education does not fully reflect their real needs (Kim, 2018; Kwon, 2012; Kwak, 2017; Shim, 2016). South Korean universities require their students to reach a specific level at one of the English proficiency tests (Kim, 2018; Ma, 2018; Shim, 2016), most of which include at least one argumentative writing task. Additionally, the certificate of English proficiency test is widely used as the basic skills reference for their career (Kim, 2018). In the meantime, writing proficiency has increasingly gained its own weight in English language tests (Kim, 2018; Ma, 2018; Shin, 2018), adding to the burden on students to develop their writing proficiency (Kim, 2018; Ma, 2018). Despite students’ need for improvement in English writing proficiency, including English argumentative writing, writing courses given by South Korean higher education institutions are still rare (Kim, 2018; Ma, 2018; Shin, 2018; Yu, 2019) and often allow little room for reviewing tasks (Kim, 2018; Ma, 2018; Shim, 2018), even though they commonly use a process-based approach. Furthermore, in immediate response to their needs, higher education institutions in both the public and private sectors have maintained narrow academic attention, focusing on test specific writing skills (Kim, 2018; Shin, 2018). All these situations have resulted in a lack of educational opportunities for students to receive theoretically and systematically well designed instruction in developing their argumentation skills (Shin, 2018). For South Korean students learning English as a foreign language (EFL), argumentative writing in English includes acquiring an understanding of and the skills for both critical thinking and English-specific conventions for the target genre of writing (Ahn & Park, 2019; Choi, 2008; Shim, 2016). To promote a fast and concrete understanding of argumentation in English, representative organisational structures are often used in instructional practices. While many of the courses for English argumentative writing in South Korea are limited to the delivery of instructions, or creating a rough claim-evidence link in a paragraph, this simple formula-based approach may have a limited influence on the level of argumentation that university students in South Korea are able to develop (Choi, 2008). To enhance students’ in-depth knowledge of and skills for making arguments in English, a systematic and effective instructional model is necessary, targeting argumentation development and investigated by rigorous research. However, with a traditionally narrow focus on writing in English education, studies on English writing itself, including argumentative writing, have been limited, despite the importance of this area. As a way of introducing systematically presented models into instruction in English argumentative writing, the Toulmin model can be an effective option. It suggests a detailed, sequenced, intensively explained process for the logical framework for writing in English. In this sense, it is necessary to explore how to modify and apply Toulmin’s components into the courses for English argumentative writing in South Korean higher education. In addition to the practical applicability of the Toulmin model, it is necessary to consider the common context in which writing courses in South Korean higher education institutions provide some phases for drafting and revision/editing, which are broadly anchored in the process-based writing approach. Considering the practical challenge caused by a lack of time for drafting in writing courses (Kim, 2018; Ma, 2018; Shim, 2018), online based classes can be a better option, enabling more flexibility in time and space. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, diverse synchronous and asynchronous digital writing environments have been utilised in the field of higher education in South Korea to enhance students’ writing performance and also increase the connectivity between learners and teachers. However, the digital environments for English writing in South Korea are still based on a lack of rigour in terms of research evidence, which signals the need for more research into how best to develop digital writing platforms and incorporate necessary support for users. With the two main areas of English argumentative writing and digital learning environments for writing combined, this study explores the effectiveness of a digital-based argumentative writing course in South Korea, as well as the pedagogical implications. To investigate the effects of digital course development for instruction in English argumentative writing for university students in South Korea and derive insights in digital course design for English argumentative writing for university students in South Korea, this study used a sequential mixed-methods design: quantitative phase followed by qualitative phase for collection and analysis of data sets. The English argumentative writing course in this study applies the Toulmin model (1958; 2003) as a specific teaching strategy, with a cycle of drafting and exchanging feedback using the process-based writing approach. To provide the online group with a digital-based collaborative writing1 environment for feedback exchanges, the writing platform, Scholar, was used. In this study, 43 undergraduate students in South Korea participated in a writing course for one semester, 22 participants in a control group (offline course) and 21 participants in an intervention group (online course). They participated in pre- and post-writing tests, two sessions of interviews, and narrative writing for reflection. Also, ten university teaching staff and e-developers took part in one individual interview session each, to provide professional views on the online instructional design that is implemented in the English argumentative writing of this study. In terms of the effectiveness of the online writing course for developing argumentation skills in English, the findings from the quantitative analysis show both online and offline courses had a positive impact on improvement and retention. Although the statistical results present no indication that the online class had higher learning gains than the offline group by any significant difference, this result is supported by the findings from the qualitative analysis, which indicates that the online group performed better in terms of the quality and the quantity of peer feedback. In addition, the findings from the qualitative analysis suggest that the writing course in this study helped students to develop their knowledge and sensitivity in argumentation in English, and the online course facilitated enhanced engagement in feedback tasks. Moreover, despite recognising the value of face-to-face interaction for English argumentative writing, the qualitative findings suggest that the anonymity and convenience of the online writing course in this study encouraged participation in feedback. Finally, the findings from teaching staff and e-developer interviews reveal generally positive perceptions of and evaluations of the usefulness and applicability of the Toulmin model for English argumentation development, and the collaborative writing environment of Scholar. ( 1. In this study, the term, ‘collaborative writing,’ means individual student’s essay writing supported by external feedback, including peer and teacher feedback, not co-authorship in writing one shared essay together.

Arguing on-line and off: a study of students' argumentation in the context of computer-mediated discussion and individually written assignments.

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Teaching programme for 2º Bachillerato: Inglés

Trabajo de Fin de Máster del Máster en Profesor de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idiomas, curso 2021-2022[ES] El presente Trabajo de Fin de Máster detalla una propuesta de programación didáctica de la asignatura de inglés para alumnos de 2º de bachillerato dentro del contexto educativo español. Esta propuesta ha sido diseñada en base a los principios metodológicos del enfoque comunicativo en la enseñanza de lenguas, y específicamente, las actividades propuestas dentro del aprendizaje basado en tareas. Asimismo, se ha incluido una sección dedicada a la evaluación y su importancia en el proceso de aprendizaje. Bajo este marco teórico, se ha diseñado un conjunto de 9 Unidades Didácticas, siguiendo un mismo hilo conductor: los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible establecidos por la ONU. La última sección del TFM corresponde al desarrollo de una unidad didáctica que ilustra el marco teórico explicado.[EN] This Master's Thesis details a proposal for a didactic programme of the subject of English language for students of 2nd year of bachillerato within the Spanish educational context. This proposal has been designed based on the methodological principles of the communicative approach in language teaching, and specifically, the activities proposed within task-based learning. Likewise, a section dedicated to evaluation and its importance in the learning process has been included. Under this theoretical framework, a set of 9 Didactic Units have been designed, following the same guiding thread: the Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN. The last section of the TFM corresponds to the development of a didactic unit that illustrates the theoretical framework explained

Cognition and Rhetoric in English Language Learners' Writing: A Developmental Study

The present study examined the effectiveness of an instructional method in English language writing. The instruction concerned a cognitive process, i.e., Bereiter and Scardamalias (1987) knowledge-transforming, and a discourse genre, i.e., the Toulmin (1958/2003) model of argument. The instruction in the process is significant since generating discourse content was identified as a problem for novice writers. The instruction in the Toulmin model is significant since lack of attention to genre was identified as a problem in cognitive approaches to writing. To teach and research knowledge-transforming composing and the Toulmin model, the tenets of cognitive strategy instruction in writing and sociocultural theory of mind were adopted. Instruction was adopted after Scardamalia, Bereiter, and Steinbach (1984) and had three components: explicit strategy instruction in the Toulmin model, mediation of the writing process through artefacts, and two types of verbalization: (focused) freewriting and languaging. The study had a mixed-methods design with a quasi-experimental quantitative component and a qualitative component consisting of textual analysis, dynamic assessment (DA), semi-structured interviews, and surveys. The results indicated statistically significant gains for two of the categories of the Toulmin model, i.e., rebuttal and response to rebuttal, in the texts generated by the experimental group (EG) (n = 13) when compared with those of the comparison group (n = 13). Specifically, the gains suggested the rise above conflict criterion (Scardamalia et al., 1984) in knowledge-transforming, indicating the effectiveness of instruction. When four participants texts in EG group were analyzed developmentally, they also demonstrated knowledge-transforming and improved rhetorical structure. In particular, some discourse features which were absent in the posttest essays were indeed present in those texts. Also, the text analysis indicated the participants were able to use the mediational artefacts to generate discourse content. The DA results indicated that, with varying degrees of mediation, the participants were able to name, generate, and/or revise the discourse features, some of which were absent in the participants posttest essays. The interviews and surveys indicated the participants positive perceptions of instruction and its effect on cognitive change and rhetorical structure of argumentative texts. The study has implications for L2 academic writing instruction, assessment, and research

A Teacher\u27s Guide in Creating Linguistic Diverse Classroom: Code-Meshing and Translingual Practice in First-Year Composition

This thesis and portfolio are inspired by the recent code-meshing pedagogy movement to promote linguistic justice in the composition classroom along with the author’s personal journey in English learning. The traditional, monolingual practice in the composition classroom often isolates international students who have multilingual abilities above the rest of the students. The idea that there is only one correct use of English—standard English—assumes that one type of English is better than others. However, most native speakers cannot explain the rules and mechanism of standard English, which leaves international students often feeling frustrated and lowers their confidence in English writing and speaking. Code-meshing and translingual pedagogies advocate that all Englishes are equally important, and the rhetorical practices of the language should be the focus of English language learning. This project focuses on three principles for teachers to practice code-meshing pedagogy and translingualism in their own classroom. First, students are language experts that can navigate through their own language learning journey. Second, teachers can offer opportunities for students to perform their language abilities and reflect on the practice of monolingualism. Lastly, assigning low stake, self-directed writing and reading assignments can develop students’ rhetorical sensibility and explore the rhetorical purpose of the author