A Word from the Writing Center (July 2017)

This issue includes: Grammar tip: affect vs effect Opportunity for online writing workshop for scientist

Formative interaction in online writing: making disciplinary expectations explicit

About the book: How to provide appropriate feedback to students on their writing has long been an area of central significance to teachers and educators. Feedback in Second Language Writing: Context and Issues provides scholarly articles on the topic by leading researchers, who explore topics such as the socio-cultural assumptions that participants bring to the writing class; feedback delivery and negotiation systems; and the role of student and teacher identity in negotiating feedback and expectations. This text provides empirical data and an up-to-date analysis of the complex issues involved in offering appropriate feedback during the writing process

The Online Writing Center: Reaching Out To Students With Disabilities

The case for online Writing Center services has been built upon arguments of geographical needs, cost effectiveness, and overall time efficiency. A largely overlooked population who would benefit from these online services is that of students with disabilities. Stephanie Kerschbaum comments on this overlooked population in her text on multimodality stating, “Far too often, disability is an afterthought rather than considered at the incipient design of the digital text.” The case for Online Writing Centers is no different. As centers grapple with which programs to use and how to train tutors to work in this environment, they overlook the use of online tutoring for students with disabilities. In exploring how this interface can preserve identity and promote accessibility, Writing Centers can create a greater outreach to a diverse student body.University Writing Cente

A Pen, A Pencil, or a Keyboard: Writing Center Tutors’ Perceptions

A Pen, A Pencil, or a Keyboard: Online Writing Center Tutors’ Perceptions Author, Adjunct Faculty, Grand Canyon University Abstract Writing can be challenging for some students, even those who have graduated high school and are moving forward to higher learning. Thus, an idea about students and writing support led to a study about writing centers and the individuals responsible for supporting struggling writers. This qualitative case study explored the tutors’ perceptions of online writing tutoring and investigated how tutors perceive their work using both asynchronous and synchronous online tutoring modes at a 4-year university. Though the writing center participating in this study offers onsite and online writing tutoring, the goal was to focus on online writing tutoring. Participants were surveyed, and data were analyzed qualitatively to locate common phenomena by coding participants’ responses. Through this process of analyzing data and coding, multiple themes emerged. Additional documentation was analyzed to provide triangulation to the research process. Findings focused on tutors’ perceptions, training modalities, the use of technology in online writing tutoring, and guiding pedagogy. Thus, the study showed how technology with well-trained tutors and directors could benefit students struggling with writing proficiency. Limitations occur in research, but further studies of an online writing center can promote improvement as pedagogy evolves and technological advances progress. Ultimately, the benefits of an online writing tutoring center are evident. Keywords: asynchronous, synchronous, social constructivism, writing tutoring center, feedback, tutor perceptions, technology, online writing support, professional development, higher education, skilled writin

The Message is the Medium: Electronically Helping Writing Tutors Help Electronically

The history of online writing centers is a history of doubt. I experienced those reservations in 2009, when, in addition to traditional face-to-face peer tutoring, I launched my own online peer tutoring program and began training undergraduates to respond to student submissions. Online writing centers were already common, but the decision the begin tutoring online was not all mine—the university administration was encouraging faculty to create online and web-assisted courses, and it expected its academic support keep up with the pace of technology, distance learning, and even fears that a future pandemic could hinder face to face learning. After consulting with tutors and instructional technology staff, I decided on asynchronous peer tutoring: students would fill out an intake form and questionnaire about their assignment and writing process, and then they would upload what they had written; tutors would then respond via email within 24 hours, even on weekends. This system allowed us to help as many students as quickly as possible, particularly non-traditional, commuting, and working students unable to meet face to face.University Writing Cente

Analysing revisions in online writing

New technology has given new insights into the writing process of professional text producers. Keystroke logging can give the researcher knowledge about how text producers write and revise their texts, both at the level of form and content. With a point of departure in the results of Haugaard’s (2016) study of journalistic writing, this article suggests a reassessment of the online revision taxonomy developed by Lindgren/Sullivan (2006b), with a focus on external revisions. In order to be able to interpret the effect of online revisions on the text by means of keystroke logging, it is proposed that revisions be analysed with a point of departure in the semantic content involved, rather than according to location, i.e. in the text already transcribed (contextual revision) or in the text currently being transcribed (pre-contextual revision), as suggested by Lindgren/Sullivan (2006b). It is argued that contextual and pre-contextual revisions should not be conceptualised as dichotomous entities, but as open categories on a continuum of semantically meaningful context, on the basis of which revisions can be interpreted depending on the degree of completeness of the context in which they are made.&nbsp

The Impact of Using CALL Online Writing Activities on EFL University Students’ Writing Achievement

This study aims to investigate empirically the effectiveness of using CALL online writing activities on EFL university students’ writing achievement. It also attempts to reveal students' attitudes towards using CALL online writing activities in teaching writing. The sample of this study comprises forty randomly-selected male sophomore students. They are assigned to two groups: experimental and control. Both groups are taught via the regular writing teaching method; the experimental group received additional training using CALL online writing activities for eight weeks. An experimental pretest-posttest control group design is employed in this study. The instruments of the study are a writing achievement pre-posttest and a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The results of the study revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the achievement of the experimental group and the control group due to using CALL online writing activities. The results also indicated that EFL university students had positive attitudes towards using CALL online writing activities in teaching and learning writing. They believed that CALL online writing activities were useful, motivating, and enjoyable in addition to enhancing self-confidence and independent learning

“Hanging Out”: Cultivating Writing Groups Online

In this narrative, we describe the process and value of meeting in online writing groups via google hangouts. These groups offer a range of benefits, including just-in-time support, mentoring, and processing of the clamorous, eventful life of the writer. These groups also serve as a life-giving writing environment where we can think out loud and share spoken and written ideas with engaged, supportive, and sympathetic readers

ONLINE WRITING EXCHANGE WITH OVERSEAS STUDENTS: EFL LEARNERS’ ERRORS AND PERCEPTIONS

Writing skill is crucial for non-English students, like agriculture students because students are required to write an abstract of bachelor thesis in English. Nowadays, writing is not only conducted conventionally i.e. using paper and pencil, but also using the internet through online writing exchange. Several studies regarding students’ writing errors have been conducted but error analysis of agriculture students’ writing using online writing is still less researched. To fill this gap, the present study aimed to analyze the types of errors made by agriculture students during joining Online Writing Exchange with Japanese students and students’ perception of the Online Writing Exchange program. 137 students’ writings were analyzed and identified the error and counted the error. Questionnaires and interviews were used to know students’ perceptions.  The results showed that there were three types of error made i.e. mechanical, grammatical, and L1-influence error. Students’ perception toward the online writing was positive although they face several difficulties. It is noteworthy that different writing media affect students’ different writing errors