viernes, 8 de abril de 2011

Teacher Impact: Providing Feedback to Student Essay Writing Regarding Coherence

Teacher Impact: Providing Feedback to Student Essay Writing Regarding Coherence

Aleyda Jasmin Alfonso Vargas

Abstract

This research study is aimed at describing and analyzing how teacher written feedback regarding content can affect coherence in essay writing of college students. The population studied consisted of Spanish speakers students specializing in Bilingual Education at a college in Bogotá, Colombia. The data was collected through: surveys, students’ writings samples, essays, informal interviews, participant observation and field notes. The study suggests that the written feedback provided by the teacher is an effective tool to improve essay writing of college students.

Keywords: Essay writing in L1; essay coherence; teacher’s feedback; content level feedback

Resumen

Este estudio describe y analiza la influencia que los comentarios escritos por el profesor ejercen en la coherencia de ensayos elaborados por estudiantes universitarios. La población estudiada estuvo conformada por estudiantes cuya lengua materna es Español y quienes se especializan en Educación Bilingüe en una Institución Universitaria en Bogotá, Colombia. Para llevar a cabo este estudio se analizaron los datos recogidos a través de encuestas, ejercicios de escritura de los estudiantes, entrevistas informales, las observaciones hechas y notas tomadas durante la intervención. Los resultados sugieren que los comentarios escritos por el profesor en los textos de estudiantes universitarios ejercen una influencia positiva para mejorar la escritura de ensayos.

Palabras clave: Escritura de ensayos en Español, coherencia del ensayo, comentarios escritos, comentarios a nivel de contenido.

Background

How to respond to student writing is an important aspect to be considered by teachers not only in second language, but also in first language writing instruction. One of the most difficult issues to deal with is the development of writing skills in any language, even students’ mother tongue. Different studies have analyzed the effect of teacher feedback on students writing in English, but little research has been done to explore writing skills in Spanish. In this regard, this study aimed at finding out the effects of the written feedback Spanish teachers can use in order to help students learn how to write coherent academic papers.

Literature Review

This review of related literature and the analysis of three variables can shed some light on how to help students write academic papers in their first language, more specifically, how Spanish-speaking students can improve coherence in essay writing. The explanation of three variables: writing strategies, written feedback, and text quality will now be presented.

Writing Strategies

Some researchers agree on the importance of writing strategies as a practice that is related to writing development. Applebee and Langer (2006) analyzed existing data sets from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in U.S. middle and high schools. The study concluded that concerning the use of writing strategies, in this case revision and drafting, 68% of students reported that they had made changes to fix mistakes, and 39% reported that they had written more than one draft. Similarly, Hildebrand, Alarcón and Arensburg (2009) analyzed the writing process of 18 young adults who were native speakers of Spanish, specializing in Bilingual Education. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyze how the scaffolding strategy of peer and teacher coaching can affect college students’ essay writing, and what kind of advantages can result from this process. The authors found that teacher and peer coaching were positive in the improvement of students’ essays. Mistakes were spotted and advice was provided in order to correct these miscues. The use of rubrics for peer and teacher coaching was also found to be positive because these rubrics helped students learn about essay structure and how to improve their essay writing.

Written Feedback

Regarding the nature of teachers’ written feedback as a critical element of the writing process, Bolaños (1994) studied this process in 17 students from a Modern Languages Teacher Training Program in Colombia. The goal of this study was to show that the feedback provided by the language teacher on the compositions written by students might prove very useful to improve students’ future performance in this skill. An evident result of the study was that the teacher was not providing enough feedback on the content of the compositions that students wrote, since 88.2% of the students asked for more feedback on this aspect. Another finding was related to the comments provided by the teacher. A high percentage (88.1%) of the students turned out to have understood these comments. Moreover, in a study investigating the effect of teacher’s written feedback on early drafts of 64 students’ pieces of writing, and its influence on the quality of their subsequent writings, Pattey-Chavez, Matsumura and Valdes (2004) found that students received little content level written feedback. In other words, students did not receive comments to delete, reorganize, add information, ask questions, or solve problems. Consequently, students’ writing showed little improvement in their final drafts. Most of the written feedback students received was on surface level. This means, it only considered grammar aspects, spelling and punctuation. The researchers concluded that middle school students who received content level feedback increased the length and improved the quality of their essays, whereas middle school students who only received surface-level written feedback showed improvement in aspects related to punctuation, grammar and spelling.

Text Quality

Some researchers consider coherence as a key element in the writing process. A recent study was done by an investigation group about how do Colombian children and young people write? “¿Cómo escriben los niños y jóvenes Colombianos?”DiLeMa (2009). The study analyzed 3,200 short stories which were presented at the Gabriel Garcia Marquez National Short Story Contest. This research study aimed at answering questions such as: What is the writing ability of the students and what kind of teachers’ practices are reflected on the quality of students’ writing? What can be done to improve the teaching of writing? The researchers found that students can write correct simple sentences, but they have problems with complex sentences. In addition, evidence showed that young writers have difficulties in the areas of coherence and cohesiveness, and that they are able to create oral stories, but not stories in writing. Another major finding was that teachers focused more on teaching content than on written production and revision. Therefore, teachers need to understand the content in the role of writing, in order to provide students with balanced instruction in both aspects: form and content.

Participants

The participants in the study were 12 students specializing in Bilingual Education. These Spanish speakers, between 16 and 25 years of age, were taking Spanish II classes at a private college in Bogotá, Colombia. This course provides training in written communication, specifically essay writing in Spanish which is students’ mother tongue.

Methodology

The research for this study was qualitative and quantitative in nature and data was collected through surveys, students’ writing samples, essays, informal interviews, participant observation, and field notes. Two surveys were given to the twelve participants in this study. The first survey was conducted after students had written their first draft of the essay and it gathered information about their feelings and attitudes towards written feedback in regards to content. The second survey was given to the studied population at the end of the intervention. The purpose of this survey was to corroborate if students considered they had improved essay-writing aspects such as use of transitions, writing of main ideas followed by supporting ideas, and the structure of the conclusion. Moreover, students were able to determine the utility of the feedback given by the teacher and its influence on their writing, and they also shared their thoughts about the aspects they think had improved because of this feedback.

The students’ writing samples included sentences, paragraphs, introductions, and conclusions. These exercises were written during class and worked as practice and application after specific instruction of essay structure. Students were asked to write sentences, paragraphs, an introduction and a conclusion related to the topic they had chosen to write their essays about. Another main data collection source was students’ essays. A first draft was written after specific instruction of essay structure, in which comments were written by the teacher. These comments had to do with positive aspects of the essays and specific points to improve, for example, the use of transitions or the writing of a an appropriate structured conclusion and some suggestions to guide students towards the writing of a coherent essay. A rubric was used to assess if students were writing coherent essays. This tool also gave them an overall idea of what was expected from them in terms of essay structure and paragraph coherence. A second draft was later submitted by students, after the feedback session held with the teacher. The two drafts were compared to see if the young writers had improved or modified their papers according to the suggestions and comments written.

In addition, a short informal interview was conducted with students which facilitated data-gathering about feelings and attitudes towards teacher’s written feedback in regards to content. Half of the target population was invited to answer an informal interview about their experience throughout the writing process. Field notes were also taken by the researcher during classes about important statements students made, students’ attitude when receiving feedback, and questions they asked.

Findings

As a result of the data collection, two general themes emerged from the analysis of surveys, students’ writing samples, essays, interviews, observations, and field notes.


Written Feedback

The data provided by the first survey showed students’ awareness of the feedback written by the teacher on their essays. All of the students expressed that they took into account this feedback to correct their papers. The comments written as feedback were related to aspects such as the use of transitions, main ideas followed by supporting arguments, examples or details and structure of the introduction and conclusion. Apart from the survey findings, the variable written feedback was also measured by the actual essay samples and a rubric. The analysis of these essays showed different levels of understanding and knowledge of the above mentioned aspects that involve coherence in an essay. The data provided by the first draft revealed that a high percentage of students had some previous knowledge of an adequate structure of the introduction. Ten out of twelve students wrote an appropriate introduction that called the readers’ attention, included a good thesis statement, and wrote about several aspects that supported their thesis.
Most of these young writers wrote well-structured paragraphs that included main ideas supported by arguments and examples. Other less developed aspects in essay writing were the use of transitions, the structure of the conclusion, and citations. The analysis of the essay samples pointed out that in the first draft 42% of the students did not include transitions between sentences and paragraphs. Students were given explicit teaching instruction on the use of transitions, and were provided with feedback on how to include certain transitions on their final drafts. Nevertheless, students did not show any improvement on this feature so, their papers lacked sequence and coherence. Despite a general good writing of paragraphs, there was major lack of transitions within and between the paragraphs. Students tended to jump from topic to topic without informing their readers of the upcoming explanations of the aspects that supported their thesis statements. This might be because students did not have enough practice with transitions or because they were more focused in other text aspects such as content. On the other hand, there was a very significant improvement of the structure of the conclusion in the final version of the essay. The analysis of the first draft revealed that 92% of the students did not write an appropriate conclusion that should include a paraphrasing of the author’s position and possible measures to improve the situation stated in the paper. However, the final paper clearly showed that 54% of the writers modified and improved their conclusions based on the feedback the teacher had given them previously.

The data from class observation also showed an important improvement of students’ grades from the first draft to the final version of their essay The whole population studied did modify their essays after the feedback, this resulted in a higher grade in comparison to the one students received on the first draft. The grade of modification in students’ texts ranged from very little to significant changes. Some students corrected specific mistakes such as word choice, verb formation, and concordance. Some writers changed the order of paragraphs, added more information, or rewrote main ideas supported by arguments; other writers included more examples in order to better explain the topic. Most importantly, there was a significant change and improvement in the structure of the conclusion.

Attitude and Motivation

The open-ended answers to the surveys showed that students have a positive opinion and feel comfortable with the written feedback provided by the teacher on their essays. All of the learners agreed that the feedback provided is positive and helpful when it comes to identifying and overcoming difficulties. The following quotes illustrate students’ perception of the feedback: “Los comentarios son buenos porque me ayudan a ver en que fallo”(The comments are good because they help me see my mistakes) “Me dan la oportunidad (los comentarios) de corregir errores y utilizar nuevas formas y herramientas a la hora de escribir” (The comments give me the opportunity of correcting my mistakes and using new tools when it comes to writing) “Los comentarios son de gran ayuda ya que puedo saber mis falencias en términos de escritura” (The comments are of great help because I get to know my weaknesses in terms of writing).
The majority of students wrote that they felt well with the comments the teacher wrote. They considered this feedback a constructive practice where they were told in which areas they worked well and which aspects they still needed to work on. According to the data provided by students in the informal interview, there is a positive attitude towards the written feedback. Most of the students expressed that feedback praised strengths and also highlighted weaknesses. The class observation and the field notes indicated that students were interested in the feedback and willing to improve their writing. In the feedback session, each student was individually called by the teacher and they both went over the comments provided at the end of the first draft. The majority of the students showed concern about the work they had done; other students asked for clarification about a certain comment and help on how to improve it.
In the survey given to students at the end of the intervention, eight out of eleven students corroborated that they still needed to work on the use of transitions. In class, practice was done on the use of transitions, and students received a list of transitions in Spanish. The transitions were classified according to their purpose. For example, transitions to contrast and compare, to show relationship between ideas and to show a sequence. During classes, it was observed that students had to struggle to find the right connector when writing a paragraph. Here, it is important to point out what the observations revealed: students tend to write in an informal style, very similar to the way they speak. It means they do not use transitions when they communicate with peers or family and they could be unaware of them when writing an academic paper. This is an issue worth reflecting on.

Conclusion

Based on the data analysis and interpretation, the following findings are presented:
•Teachers’ written feedback enhances coherence in essay writing. Essay features such as the writing of main ideas followed by supporting arguments and examples, and the structured conclusion significantly improved after the intervention.
•Teacher guidance and support help students to write and improve their essays. There was a special interest and willingness on the part of students to receive feedback. Reading and hearing what their teacher had to say about their writing can improve texts or correct miscues that would not be identified otherwise.
•Even after explicit teaching and guidance about the use of transitions, students continued to have difficulties writing paragraphs that included linking words. There was not a varied use of transitions that gave sequence to paragraphs, which made the essays less coherent and fluent.

Recommendations

Giving written feedback is time-consuming, since each essay has to be read several times and comments regarding text aspects have to be carefully written in order not to discourage students, thus harming their willingness to write. Furthermore, this feedback has to be written clearly so that students understand all the comments and take action according to correction or comments made. It is worth also pointing out that a face to face interchange or oral contact in the form of a conversation has to go on between the participants. In this research study, communication between the teacher and the students was enhanced since after assessing the first draft, each learner and the teacher spent about twenty minutes in a feedback session where they both went over the comments, and explanations and ideas were given in order to create or improve essay coherence.

Finally, it is worth pointing out an interesting finding that came out during this research study. The observations and field notes showed a striking lack of knowledge on citing. The category “sources” was included in the rubric used to evaluate the structure of the essay. This aspect consisted on choosing reliable sources and citing them correctly. In the first draft nine out of the twelve participants included sources, however they were not well cited; two did not include any citation, and only one cited his sources properly. During the feedback session, the students were asked to become familiar with the APA norms for citation. They were also given explicit teaching about the basics of the norm, and they were invited to check GIST, the magazine, and look for examples on how to cite diverse sources. It seems that the target population has not had any explicit instruction on citations before coming to the university. This is another issue worth reflecting upon.

References

Applebee, A. N., & Langer, J. A. (2006). The state of writing instruction in America's school: What existing data tell us. Retrieved October 29, 2009 from the University of Albany Web site:
http://www.albany.edu/aire/news/State%20of%20Writing%20Instruction.pdf

Bolaños, S. (1994) Publicación del taller interuniversitario de lingüística teórica y aplicada de las universidades Nacional, Javeriana y Pedagógica Nacional. Revista Colombiana de Lingüística No 7. Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia

Hildebrand, C., Alarcón, W.D., & Arensburg, F. (2009). Improving essay writing: scaffolding college writing essays at Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana. Unpublished master’s thesis, Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana (UNICA), Bogotá, Colombia.

Investigation Group DiLeMa. (2009). ¿Cómo escriben los niños y jóvenes Colombianos? (How do Colombian children and Young people write?) Retrieved September 20, 2009 from the Ministerio de Educacion Nacional, Republica de Colombia Web site http://www.colombiaaprende.edu.co/html/home/1592/articles-184955_recurso_2.pdf

Pattey-Chavez, G., & Matsumura, L.C. & Valdes, R. (2004). Investigating the process approach to writing instruction in urban middle schools. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 462-477. Retrieved October 25, 2009 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=10&hid=9&sid=4b4770f3-4c5f-4fc0-b795-d6e2bbe87a0d%40sessionmgr12