| 1. |
- Casal, J. Elliott, et al.
(författare)
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Syntactic complexity and writing quality in assessed first-year L2 writing
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 44, s. 51-62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores the relationship between syntactic complexity and writing quality in assessed source-based research papers produced by ESL undergraduate writers in a first-year writing course through a combination of holistic and fine-grained measures of complexity. The analysis is based on a corpus of 280 student papers across three grade tiers: high, mid, and low. A one-way MANOVA was used to explore the statistical significance of differences of five commonly used syntactic complexity measures (assessed using Lu’s Second Language Syntactic Complexity Analyzer, 2010) across these grade tiers. Results reveal little variation in clausal subordination and coordination, but statistically significant lower complex nominal densities, mean length of clauses (phrasal measures), and mean length of T-units (global measure) in low-rated papers. Analysis of complex nominal composition using the Stanford Tregex with differences assessed with a one-way MANOVA shows that the highest densities of complex nominal types are present in high-rated papers, with statistical significance in adjectival pre-, prepositional post-, and participle modification, and the lowest densities in low-rated papers. While clausal complexity did not demonstrate a relationship with assessed quality, both global and phrasal complexity features appear to be important components. We conclude with implications for syntactic complexity research and ESL composition pedagogy.
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| 2. |
- Kaatari, Henrik, PhD, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the effects of target-language extramural activities on students’ written production
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Frequent engagement in English extramural activities (i.e., activities that take place outside the classroom) has been found to have a positive impact on EFL learners’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. In the present study, we aim to extend our knowledge of the possible impact of extramural activities into the realm of second-language writing. Specifically, we investigate the relationship among a number of English extramural activities and two aspects of writing development: lexical diversity and noun phrase complexity. The data are drawn from the Swedish Learner English Corpus (SLEC) which includes texts produced by Swedish secondary school students. The corpus also includes information on how many hours per week students (i) engage in conversations in English, (ii) communicate in English while playing computer/video games, (iii) read in English, (iv) spend time on social media with English content, (v) and watch TV shows or movies in English. The results show that reading in English leads to higher frequency of adjectival modification, whereas conversing in English and watching TV programs positively impact lexical diversity. The results of the study have implications for discussions about the role of L2 classroom instruction vis-à-vis learners’ extramural activities.
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| 3. |
- Langum, Virginia, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Writing academic english as a doctoral student in Sweden : narrative perspectives
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 35, s. 20-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The expectation that doctoral students publish during their studies has increased in recent years. The standard of having international academic publications before entering the job market has long been perceived to pose an even greater challenge to doctoral students in non-English speaking countries who are often expected to publish in English, rather than their national language. This deficient perspective has, however, recently been questioned. We undertook a narrative inquiry at a Swedish university in order to better understand the experience, self-perception, and needs of doctoral students writing academic English. From these narratives, two themes relating to the doctoral students' journeys towards academic writing emerged: deficit and commonality. After reviewing the data, we argue that it is important to support doctoral students in their journey into bi-literate academic writers, rather than focus on the notion of the privileged position of the native speaker.
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| 4. |
- Lee, Joseph, et al.
(författare)
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Interactions in L1 and L2 undergraduate student writing: Interactional metadiscourse in successful and less-successful argumentative essays
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 33, s. 21-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores interactional metadiscourse in successful and less-successful (i.e., A- vs. B-graded) argumentative essays written by Chinese ESL university students, and how these ESL writers compare with high-rated L1 students. The analysis is based on three corpora of student writing: 25 successful ESL essays, 25 less-successful ESL essays, and 25 successful L1 English papers. Using Hyland’s (2005a) model of interactional metadiscourse, these papers were compared to examine the extent to which successful and less-successful student-produced argumentative essays differ in their employment of stance and engagement resources. Findings of the analysis suggest that successful essays, both L1 and L2, contain significantly greater instances of particularly hedging devices than less-successful essays. For some interpersonal resources, such as boosters and attitude markers, no significant differences were found. The analysis also reveals that, unlike their L1 peers, ESL students were overwhelmingly reluctant to establish an authorial identity in their writing. The paper concludes with a few implications for L2 writing pedagogy.
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| 5. |
- Lindgren, Eva, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Interactional resources in the letters of young writers in Swedish and English
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - Oxford : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 22:4, s. 390-405
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines the use of interactional resources in letters to a penfriend of Swedish 11-year-olds in Swedish (L1) and English (FL) from a multi-competence perspective. The objectives of the study are to ascertain whether the language in which the letters were written and the gender of the writers influenced the extent to which interactional meanings were expressed, and also to examine the textual resources that the young novice writers employed to convey interactional meanings in FL. The texts are analysed in terms of both content and discourse-semantic expression, with the discourse-semantic analysis drawing on a Systemic Functional Linguistic framework known as Appraisal. The quantitative results show that, when the amount of text produced is taken into account, there are few significant differences in the frequency of expression of interactional meanings in L1 and FL, but slightly more for gender. The qualitative description identifies a number of language-specific and non-language specific resources used by the writers to enable them to express interactional meanings in FL. In the discussion, these findings are linked to the notion of multi-competence.
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| 6. |
- McGrath, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Introduction to the special issue: Innovation in L2 writing task design
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Second Language Writing. - 1060-3743. ; 62
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This article is the introduction / editorial to the Journal of Second Language Writing Special Issue on "Innovation in L2 writing task design": https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2023.101073 The introduction offers an overview of the trends in L2 writing research in the past 10 years, and points to potential valuable areas of further research with a focus on task. In this special issue, we reinstate and refresh Swales’ argument of the centrality of tasks in L2 writing (Swales, 1990). Our focus on innovation highlights the need to continue to develop tasks not only as pedagogical tools, but also as opportunities for theoretical exploration, methodological innovation, and even interdisciplinary integration.
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| 7. |
- Negretti, Raffaella, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Fostering metacognitive genre awareness in L2 academic reading and writing : a case study of pre-service English teachers
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 20:2, s. 95-110
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although the concept of metacognition has received considerable attention for its impact on learning across disciplinary areas, it has not been sufficiently discussed in the context of L2 academic reading and writing. In this paper, we bring together two theoretical frameworks, genre analysis and metacognition theory, and discuss the concept of metacognitive genre awareness. Drawing on the analysis of the data collected from a group of pre-service English teachers at a major Swedish university, we examine the process of building this awareness within ESP genre-based academic reading and writing instruction and show how it influences L2 students’ ability to interpret and compose academic texts. It was found that all study participants developed declarative (what) and procedural (how) metacognitive knowledge of genre-relevant aspects of academic texts, but only a few demonstrated conditional (when and why) knowledge of the genre in their reading analyses and writing assignments. It is concluded that using a metacognition framework to study L2 academic writing provides us with new insights and practical applications for L2 instruction.
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| 8. |
- Negretti, Raffaella, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Scaffolding genre knowledge and metacognition: insights from an L2 doctoral research writing course
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Second Language Writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743. ; 40:June 2018, s. 12-31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates how genre knowledge and metacognition can be scaffolded in a genre-based course for doctoral students engaged in writing research articles. We argue that current definitions of genre knowledge development encompass the development of metacognition, and thus adopt an inter-disciplinary approach to illustrate how metacognition—specifically metacognitive knowledge—can be scaffolded in the genre classroom. We developed two tasks for this purpose. In the first, students were asked to describe their writing context and genres. For the second task, at the end of the course, students submitted a visual conceptualization of the research genres in their specific scientific community. This visualization was accompanied by an account of students’ observations about genre, and a reflection on how these insights could be applied to their ongoing writing situation. Students were also interviewed two to six months after the course to explore how they reported using genre knowledge in their writing. Results showed that the metacognitive tasks elicited an integrated view of genre and encouraged students’ conceptualization of this knowledge as a tool for writing. In interviews, students reported using facets of genre knowledge metacognitively in their writing, by describing how they engage with reader expectations, conventions, variation, and the possibility of strategic deliberate choices.
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| 9. |
- Pecorari, Diane, 1964-
(författare)
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Good and original : Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing
- 2003
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 12:4, s. 317-345
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plagiarism is regarded as a heinous crime within the academic community, but anecdotal evidence suggests that some writers plagiarize without intending to transgress academic conventions. This article reports a study of the writing of 17 postgraduate students. Source reports in the student-generated texts were compared to the original sources in order to describe the relationship between the two. Interviews were also conducted with the student writers and their supervisors. The student writing was found to contain textual features which could be described as plagiarism, but the writers' accounts of their work and the textual analysis strongly suggest absence of intention to plagiarize, thus providing empirical verification of similar suggestions in the literature. Implications of these findings are discussed and include a recommendation that the focus on preventing plagiarism be shifted from post facto punishment to proactive teaching
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Pecorari, Diane, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Types of student intertextuality and faculty attitudes
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 21:2, s. 149-164
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Intertextuality is a prominent feature of academic writing, and the ability to use sources effectively and appropriately is an essential skill which novice writers must acquire. It is also a complex skill, and student performance is not always successful. It is presumably beneficial for students to receive consistent messages about what source use is and is not appropriate, but some evidence suggests that university teachers and other gatekeepers may fall short of this consistency. This paper reports the findings of semi-structured text-based interviews aimed at understanding the basis of teacher attitudes and responses to intertextuality in academic writing. Teachers who were asked to evaluate the same examples from student texts differed in their judgments about whether the examples were appropriate, and provided different types of explanation for their judgments. These explanations enable us to develop a four-part typology of intertextuality which allows analytic discussion of differing judgments. The implications both of the teacher judgments and of the typology for second language writing instruction are discussed and an assessment of the relevance of our findings for the theme of this special issue is provided.
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| 12. |
- Sánchez, Laura, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Grasping the effects of storyline complexity, task structure and proficiency in narrative writing performance
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Task complexity has attracted the attention of researchers interested in syllabus design and language pedagogy since the eighties. A scarcely investigated feature is storyline complexity, and its effects on complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) in narrative writing. This study examines the effects of storyline complexity in the narratives of 60 low to upper-intermediate Swedish secondary school learners of Spanish as a foreign language. Furthermore, the study addresses the role of proficiency in mediating these effects, as it sets out to ascertain whether storyline complexity affects different dimensions of CAF performance to the same extent at different proficiency levels. To elicit data, two narrative tasks were used. Both of them had a loose structure but differed in their storyline complexity, with the simple task having a single storyline and the complex task a dual storyline. In turn, to assess the learners’ proficiency level, a multiple-choice test was employed. The study used a between-subjects design, and the statistical treatment relied on a two-way analysis of variance (2 storyline complexity conditions x 2 proficiency levels). Complexity and fluency turned out to be higher in the complex condition irrespective of proficiency, whereas mixed results were found for accuracy at different proficiency levels.
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| 13. |
- Tåqvist, Marie, 1975-
(författare)
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"A wise decision": Pre-modification of discourse-organising nouns in L2 writing
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 41, s. 14-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates an aspect of the use of discourse-organising nouns (DONs), that is, abstract nouns such as decision, fact, problem, and thing, in Swedish advanced students’ academic writing in second language (L2) English. Specifically, the study examines the use of pre-modifiers together with DONs in a corpus of L2 student writing, and in what ways the texts produced by the L2 students resemble or differ from those produced by native-speaker students and expert writers in this respect. A number of significant differences across the writer groups were identified, including variety of usage and the expression of attitude and involvement. In short, the L2 students and, to a lesser extent, the L1 students, were found to use fewer types, and different types, in comparison with the experts, and to use them in different ways, resulting in discourse that can be characterised as imprecise and colloquial. The differences were largest between the L2 student writing and the expert writing, though findings suggest that both student groups can usefully be thought of as learner writers in this respect. The findings reported here contribute to a wider understanding of the characteristics of student writing and students’ academic literacy in a second language.
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| 14. |
- Vandermeulen, Nina, et al.
(författare)
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Getting a grip on the writing process : (Effective) approaches to write argumentative and narrative texts in L1 and L2
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 65
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explored writing processes in two languages (L1-Swedish and L2-English) and in two text types (argumentative and narrative) of 158 upper-secondary students by analysing keystroke logging data. The main aim of this study was to identify effective writing processes of argumentative and narrative tasks in L1 and L2. First, results of the mixed effects model analysis showed that students' typical writing processes displayed differences in timing, higher and lower order pauses, production speed, and revision depending on the language in which they wrote and the type of text they wrote. Secondly, using regression model analyses we explored which writing process patterns were positively related to text quality. By combining a reduced set of process measures, we identified effective writing process patterns. These patterns explained a rather substantial part of the variance in text quality, more precisely, between 56.1 % and 69.3 %. This study contributes to the current field of writing process studies by expanding our knowledge of typical and effective writing processes in argumentative and narrative writing in upper-secondary students' L1 and L2. These insights can be used to further shape writing education to support students’ writing across languages and text types.
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| 15. |
- Vandermeulen, Nina, et al.
(författare)
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Getting a grip on the writing process: (Effective) approaches to write argumentative and narrative texts in L1 and L2
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of second language writing. - : Elsevier. - 1060-3743 .- 1873-1422. ; 65, s. 101113-101113
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explored writing processes in two languages (L1-Swedish and L2-English) and in twotext types (argumentative and narrative) of 158 upper-secondary students by analysing keystrokelogging data. The main aim of this study was to identify effective writing processes of argumentativeand narrative tasks in L1 and L2. First, results of the mixed effects model analysisshowed that students’ typical writing processes displayed differences in timing, higher and lowerorder pauses, production speed, and revision depending on the language in which they wrote andthe type of text they wrote. Secondly, using regression model analyses we explored which writingprocess patterns were positively related to text quality. By combining a reduced set of processmeasures, we identified effective writing process patterns. These patterns explained a rathersubstantial part of the variance in text quality, more precisely, between 56.1 % and 69.3 %. Thisstudy contributes to the current field of writing process studies by expanding our knowledge oftypical and effective writing processes in argumentative and narrative writing in upper-secondarystudents’ L1 and L2. These insights can be used to further shape writing education to supportstudents’ writing across languages and text types.
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| 16. |
- Winlund, Anna, 1973
(författare)
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Writing practices of recently immigrated adolescent emergent writers: A study from a language introductory school in Sweden
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Second Language Writing. - : Elsevier BV. - 1060-3743. ; 51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of the present article is to shed light on the L2 writing practices of three students with emergent literacy at a Swedish language introductory school, where the students learn Swedish, develop alphabetic print literacy and prepare for further education. The research questions guiding the analysis are: What are the different ways that the students engage in analyzed writing practices? What are the students? challenges and assets in relation to these activities? Throughout the study, literacy is viewed as a complex set of social and interactive practices. The theoretical framework of Luke and Freebody?s four resources model (1990) is used in order to analyze a comprehensive set of data collected over a oneyear period, which includes field notes, audio recordings of classroom interactions, students? written material and interviews with students. The findings indicate that all three students seem motivated to learn, but that they engage in the L2 writing practices in different ways, according to their individual challenges and assets. They have in common that their writing often depends on the model texts written by the teacher, and shared experiences, such as field trips and interactions in the classroom, constitute the basis for the development of written text.
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