Seminar with Alister Cumming
Seminar on writing in a foreign language with honorary doctor at UCPH, professor Alister Cumming, OISE University of Toronto.
Programme
1pm – 2pm Alister Cumming, OISE, University of Toronto –
Writing from Sources for Academic Purposes:
A Synthesis of Recent Research
2pm – 2:40pm Sanne Larsen, CIP, University of Copenhagen –
Perceptions of transfer of learning in L2 writing
2:40pm – 3pm Coffee break
3pm – 3:40pm Jan Lindschouw, EnGeRom, University of Copenhagen –
Peer Feedback and Academic Writing in French at the University
Level – Focus Points and Opinions
3:40pm – 4:20pm Dorte Albrechtsen, EnGeRom, University of Copenhagen –
EFL Learners’ Writing Processes over Time in L1 (Danish) and
L2 (English)
Abstracts
Writing from Sources for Academic Purposes: A Synthesis of Recent Research
Alister Cumming, OISE, University of Toronto (With assistance from Hyeyoon Cho and Conttia Lai)
A major challenge for students learning to write for academic purposes is developing the ability to integrate source material effectively into written compositions. This presentation reviews research that has investigated writing from sources systematically from a variety of analytic perspectives and in diverse contexts internationally, including students in universities, colleges, and secondary schools. Five general claims emerged across our analyses of 49 empirical studies published in refereed journals in English since 1993. Each claim warrants further research, evaluation, and refinement: (1) students experience difficulties with the complex processes of writing from sources but can overcome these with certain strategies; (2) prior knowledge and experience influence students’ performance in writing from sources; (3) performance in tasks that involve writing from sources varies by task conditions and types of texts; (4) differences may appear between L1 and L2 students in their understanding and uses of sources in writing; and (5) instruction can help students improve their uses of sources in their writing.
Perceptions of transfer of learning in L2 writing
Sanne Larsen, CIP, University of Copenhagen
This presentation reports on an investigation of students’ perceptions of learning to write in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course and the opportunities for transfer of that learning to academic courses. Data were gathered through observation, collection of student texts and regular text-based interviews over the course of one semester with international students at the University of Copenhagen who concurrently with enrolment in a credit-bearing EAP course were taking other academic courses in which they were required to write in English. The interview data tapped into students’ perceptions of the potential for learning and transfer at the beginning of the semester, over the course of the semester in relation to a number of written assignments and at the end of the semester upon completion of written assignments and papers. The analyses suggests that although all students initially saw the EAP course as important for learning to write in English for their academic courses, they found limited opportunities to transfer learning over the course of the semester. I discuss factors which might have influenced students’ perceptions of (lack of) opportunities for transfer and possible implications for course design.
Peer Feedback and Academic Writing in French at the University Level – Focus Points and Opinions
Jan Lindschouw, EnGeRom, University of Copenhagen
This paper treats the role of peer feedback in a French academic writing course at the University of Copenhagen. The purpose of the study is both to analyse different types of feedback given by the students as well as their subsequent revisions and to discover their opinions about this form of feedback. A qualitative study, consisting of both empirical and introspective data, was conducted in which the feedback, the revisions and the opinions of three groups of students, divided according to their linguistic level in French, were analysed. The results reveal that all three groups of students propose modifications on three different levels (content, textual and grammatical), and generally these proposals lead to revisions of the written product. However, the linguistic level of the students also plays a role on the number of modifications and revisions, since high proficient students propose corrections on all three levels, whereas less proficient students focus primarily on the content and textual level. As for the students’ opinions, this study generally shows a very positive attitude towards peer feedback, even though feedback provided by the teacher is considered essential in order to develop academic writing skills. Again the level of the students plays a role, since proficient students have a much more positive attitude towards this type of feedback than less proficient students, because they often lack confidence in themselves as evaluators.
EFL Learners’ Writing Processes over Time in L1 (Danish) and L2 (English)
Dorte Albrechtsen, EnGeRom, University of Copenhagen
Writing skills are essential for students who aim for university level education. Teachers of Danish and of English as a foreign language address these skills throughout high school to prepare students for the literacy requirements of further education. The claim that expert writing processes are essential for the acquisition of knowledge makes the question of the degree to which students actually develop their writing processes at this educational level worth addressing.
The presentation deals with findings from a longitudinal study of the writing processes of pre-university EFL learners, addressing the relationship between their processes in L1 and L2 over time. For the quantitative part of the study, no statistically significant differences were found with regard to the learners’ processes after a period of 18 months. The issue of establishing development will be discussed in relation to in-depth analyses of individual learners.
This is an Engerom Focus Event organized by the research platform Language in higher education.