Tag: written work

Worksheet: Writing a Synthesis

Worksheet: Writing a Synthesis

This worksheet guides learners step-by-step through the process of writing a synthesis in a group. Learners thus train the skills of careful reading, note-taking, paraphrasing/summarizing, and critically synthesizing information from different source texts. Collaborative team-work is also practiced.

Example texts (~C1 level) are given on the topic of native vs non-native speaker English teachers; a topic of relevance to all language learners which also has potential to spark lively debates and discussions among students.

The guide worksheet can also be used with any other source texts on topics of interest/relevance to learners, adapted to their current language level.

The procedure is self-explanatory.

Students’ worksheet, click here.Writing a Synthesis Step by step

Sample texts, click here. Writing a synthesis sample texts

Teachers’ notes, click here.Writing a Synthesis Teachers Notes

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My Webinar: “Assessing and Marking Writing: Feedback Strategies to Involve the Learners”

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of hosting a webinar (my first ever!) for IATEFL’s TEA SIG. For those who weren’t able to join in, here’s a run down and a link to the video!

Assessing Marking Writing TEASIG PPT_002This talk provides teachers with time-efficient strategies for giving feedback on EFL learners’ writing which actively involve the learners. I present and evaluate several learner-centred feedback strategies that are applicable to giving feedback on written work in diverse contexts, by presenting summaries of published research which explores their efficacy. I also explain the mechanisms underpinning the strategies’ effectiveness, in order to further aid teachers in making informed choices pertaining to their specific class groups.

Watch the webinar recording here.

The webinar was followed by a live Facebook discussion. Check it out here.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the Facebook discussion: 

Clare Fielder  Someone asked: Have you ever tried developing an online digital dialogue around feedback points? Not exactly sure what you mean here, I’m afraid. I’ve used Google Docs to get peer review going – is that something in the direction you’re asking about?

Sharon Hartle Sharon Hartle I use wikispaces and learners can comment on specific points and then develop a dialogue. Here’s a quick clip of what I mean
Sharon Hartle's photo.
Clare Fielder Clare Fielder This sounds like something similar to Google Docs with the comments function. I used that last year with my students, most of them liked it, but lost energy and motivation for it by the end of term… Maybe because it’s just one more platform that they have to remember to check?
Sharon Hartle Sharon Hartle Once again, I think it is a question of guidance and structuring, as you said. If you limit it to asking them to comment on two posts, for instance, and then reintegrate it all into class it works well. It also remains for later reference, like now. 🙂
Clare Fielder Clare Fielder Our VLP doesn’t have this kind of function (well, it doesn’t work well and is hard to use) which is why I opted for Google. I definitely like the idea, because then students get feedback from various peers, not just the one who was given their work in class on peer review day! Also, you can include LDF into that – students can pose their questions on their work when they post it there, and then all the group members can help answer them! That’s a great idea!
Sharon Hartle Sharon Hartle I’ve also experimented with iAnnotate for ipad and Schoology, which is also good.
Clare Fielder Clare Fielder Yes, I agree, limiting it to two comments or so does help, but doesn’t encourage them to really engage in discussion and dialogue. But, as with everything in ELT, it depends! It depends on the students, context, goals, etc.
Where I am it’s all pretty low-tech. I still have chalk boards in my classrooms! 😀

Like · Reply · 5 July at 19:21
Sharon Hartle Sharon Hartle Well tech is only as good as tech does, isn’t it and there was a time when the blackboard was considered high tech 🙂
Clare FielderClare Fielder Only if you had coloured chalk! 😉
Sharon HartleSharon Hartle Thanks Clare, for staying around and developing this discussion, which is very interesting 🙂

 Unlike · Reply · 1 · 5 July at 19:23
 

For more information about IATEFL’s TEA SIG – Teaching, Evaluation & Assessment Special Interest Group – you can find their website here.

TEA-Sig

 

Little Rant: How to Write a Rubbish Essay

So, it’s that time of the year when people are going to be writing final essays and term papers. So here’s my helpful list of How To Write A Really Rubbish Essay:

[And, yes, it is based on my frustration at the delightful essays I have just spent my weekend (free time!?!) marking!!]

– Write about a topic that you do not understand and can’t be bothered to research properly.
– Try not to make too much sense.
– Don’t worry about referencing – if you feel like it, maybe stick in a couple of hyperlinks.
– Throw in a few fancy-sounding words to create a ‘formal register’.
– Make the same kind of grammar mistakes you would have done in school, no matter how far along your are in your studies.
– Don’t get anyone to read through your essay before submitting. Or, if you do, don’t listen to anything they say which might improve your work!
– And, just to make sure that the lecturer really understands how little effort you have put in; ignore all of their instructions for how to format and submit your essay!

Et voila – it is ready: the Really Rubbish Essay !!!

How many other ELT or EAP teachers out there are feeling this??? 😀

The Role of Wikipedia in EAP – Take Two

I realised after publishing my previous post, and turning on my critical thinking brain a little too late, that I had actually written about using Wikipedia in university/academic essays – and had (*embarrassed cough*) actually ignored the EAP aspect altogether. So I sneakily changed the previous post’s title… and am writing this new post now to address the EAP issues in the Wikipedia debate!

So, what are the aspects of using Wikipedia that might be specific to EAP students?

In the previous post, I made the point that Wikipedia can function as a good starting point for some initial research. However, EAP students are perhaps more in danger than other students of not continuing their research from Wikipedia to proper academic sources; depending on their educational and cultural background, and English language competence, they may see no reason, or also no way for them to find further, more academic sources for their work. I don’t think a ‘one size fits all’ explanation works here, and each teacher will know their own students and the potential traps or hurdles they might face. From my own experience and a few stories from colleagues, I can share the following possible dangers of Wikipedia for EAP or EFL students:

– Some students use it somehow as a translation tool, believing that the article on their research topic in their native language is simply a translation of the English article. This, as you can imagine, can cause all sorts of problems, and can make students’ essays practically unreadable!

– Some students see the fact that there is no author stated as a free ticket to copy and paste as much as they like (–> “It’s not plagiarism because I haven’t stolen another author’s work” !!) [Note: I have only experienced this with students who have a weak understanding of plagiarism anyway, and who come from a culture where it is regarded somehow as less serious.]

– Some students, perhaps those really new to academic study in a culture that values critical thinking and students’ own voice in their writing, believe that the summary of published research provided by Wikipedia is so good (i.e. it makes the key concepts in the area clear to them as non-experts) that they don’t need to read the original sources and can ‘blindly’ trust Wikipedia to give them the information that they need.

– Some, perhaps lower-level, EAP or EFL students may be impressed by how ‘well written’ the Wikipedia article is and think that they could never hope to do a better job, especially with their limited language skills, and therefore end up over-relying on the wording of the Wikipedia text when writing their own work.

– It may be hard for some students to find academic sources such as journal articles due to limited vocabulary: in order to use a library catalogue or search a digital article database successfully, it is helpful to know a few key items of vocabulary on your topic, but also synonyms for these words that might also have been used in titles or tags – this may represent a challenge for EAP students.

– Some EAP students understand (sole?) the purpose of their EAP classes to be improving their English language skills, and not study-skills which they intend to learn within their degree subject/discipline. Therefore, they prioritise the actual writing of their essay (for example) over doing sound, academic research, when it comes to assignments for their EAP classes. It may be the case that they know how to research properly and that Wikipedia is perhaps not ideal as a source, but for these ‘minor’ (?) assignments which will usually not count towards their grades, they choose to take the ‘easy route’ when researching, and concentrate on writing an essay in their best English.

 

Reading this list of students’ difficulties, mistakes and misunderstandings highlights once again, I think, the actual root cause of the problem: Lack of Understanding. Some of the points above bear witness to some students’ misunderstanding of the aims of academic work as ‘knowledge gathering’, rather than striving to understand arguments and engage with the evidence in order to critically assess it. Moreover, they demonstrate a lack of understanding of what Wikipedia is and aims to do. That is the point that I also wanted to make in my first blog post on the topic – that it is important to know what Wikipedia is and to use it accordingly. You can find the previous post explaining that here.) EAP tutors have an important role to play in nurturing this understanding; especially if working with students from academic cultures and traditions where critical thinking is perhaps not stressed as strongly as in Anglo-American academia.

In an ideal world, then, perhaps we as teachers would not be banning Wikipedia with no explanation of why, but bringing Wikipedia into the classroom and encouraging our students to explore, and critically assess its usefulness and limitations for their work. I would say that Wikipedia is perhaps even more useful as a research starting point for EAP students than for native or proficient English speakers, as they can use the article not only as an introduction to the topic, but also to the vocabulary and language used to talk about the topic. Once they have encountered these vocabulary and langauge items in the Wikipedia article and understood them in context, they will be in a better position to access and comprehend academic sources on the topic of their research.  In fact, EAP tutors could even plan to employ Wikipedia articles in this way – though introductory text-books also do the job of introducing vocab, they don’t open the door for the discussion on using Wikipedia in academic work; and that, to me, seems to be the key aim that has emerged from my ponderings and posts on the role of Wikipedia in academic writing. 

The Role of Wikipedia in Academic Essays

My essay class are doing their first assessed essay this week and they’re a bit nervous. They’ve got lots of questions. But one question really struck me. A student asked ‘Is it OK to cite Wikipedia?’ My standard answer is, ‘if you use it, you should cite it’ – as with any source. But this simply prompted the next question:

‘Is it OK to use Wikipedia for a university essay?’

The answer to that one is slightly longer and requires a bit more cautious language! This question, and a few blog posts I’ve read recently on the topic, inspired this post; on understanding role of Wikipedia in academic essay writing.

I’ve often heard stories of colleagues who ‘ban’ students from using Wikipedia. The argument I hear most commonly against using Wikipedia for essays is that ‘anyone can write anything they like on Wikipedia’. Well, yes, that is true, it is a community-written and community-edited resource; but really I think the number of people reading Wikipedia means that any nonsense will quickly be edited out, so actually the risk of finding incorrect information is probably comparatively low.

For me, the bigger issue that anyone (Especially students!) using Wikipedia needs to understand is that it is not an academic source. Wikipedia even says this about itself! (See ‘Wikiepdia: Academic Use’) And students (and teachers) need to understand why not:

– it’s an encyclopaedia!

As far as encyclopaedias go, it’s actually probably a pretty good one; with up-to-date information and a huge variety of entries, presumably (although that in itself is of course a problem) written by people who know something about the topic. But just as we wouldn’t expect academics to cite the Encyclopaedia Britannica, because its target audience is not academics in a certain field but the general public wanting a brief introduction to a range of topics, so we rarely find academics citing from Wikipedia. There are of course some more specific encyclopaedias aimed specifically at certain academic audiences, where the question of being an ‘academic source’ has different considerations, but Wikipedia is not one of these. No matter how good, an encyclopaedia is not necessarily the best source for academic writing; it can’t substitute for reading the original research and discussion publications in the field.

–  it (usually) presents things as fact:

One of the fundamental bases of academia is that published academic sources are basically all arguments, i.e. the authors are arguing in favour of their approach/view/procedure/findings/etc. As text-books and encyclopaedias are generally expected to do, Wikipedia presents ‘neutral’ (well, ish) overviews or summaries of topics, which are often presented as fact, but which are arguably always an interpretation of the original arguments by the person who has written the overview or Wikipedia text. If an essay, or any piece of university work, is to engage in and contribute to academic discourse, it needs to demonstrate an analytical treatment of the previously published arguments, which can really only be achieved through a close, critical reading of the original sources, and not from an encyclopaedic overview.

– it lacks systematic review:

Academic publications are usually subject to some sort of editorial process or peer review by other experts in the field before they are printed or published. This is especially true of journal articles, where peer review aims to ensure that the most sound, best-quality research and scholarly inquiry is published. Now, you could argue that this quality control is given in Wikipedia, as other users edit articles to remove ‘incorrect’ information. The problem is rather that we can never be sure whether the version of the article we are reading has been written and reviewed by an expert in the field – and that is a fundamental criterion for a source to be considered as academic.

– it lacks attribution:

The ides in an academic source can be attributed to certain authors, and most academics would agree that the value of uncredited information is rather dubious. Since there is no named author of a Wikipedia article, it doesn’t fulfil the criteria of an academic source. That said, most Wikipedia articles do a good job of citing their sources and linking to further reading (actually, quite an academic quality for an encyclopaedia; praise where it’s due!), and so can provide a wealth of resources that are more suitable for academic writing.

It therefore comes down to not WHETHER Wikipedia can/should be used, but HOW it should be used. People need to understand what Wikipedia IS, and then make informed decisions about how to use it for their work. In my view, a ‘ban’ does not lead to a full understanding of the points I’ve made here (and probably ineffective anyway, since students will probably continue to use Wikipedia, uncritically, despite any ban!). Wikipedia can/should be used as what it is: an encyclopaedia. Encyclopaedias, just like text-books, can function as a starting point when someone is researching a topic new to them; they can provide a good place to start finding the key debates or latest research and ideas in the field.

And yes, I think it is OK for an academic essay to cite from Wikipedia, if there is a justified reason for doing so, and if the author does so in full understanding of the points above. This may not yet be particularly common in published academic articles, but it is not unheard of. But it is important to remember, though, that Wikipedia should  not be cited as an academic source, but perhaps used for background information or a rationale for discussing the topic. Just as dictionary definitions can be used to delimit the scope or approach to a certain topic (e.g. ‘aggression’ – are we including in our definition and essay only verbal, or also physical aggression?), so Wikipedia, and perhaps more interestingly the edits, can be used to demonstrate the actuality, relevance, and/or controversial nature of the essay’s topic. The fact remains, though, that it is not an academic source in our general understanding of the term and its usage in academic work should be limited accordingly. 

 

FURTHER READING

This website provides a great demonstration of things to look for in an academic source before deeming it suitable for scholarly work: “Anatomy of a scholarly Article”

For more discussions on Wikipedia and other ‘myths’ surrounding EAP, see here: “20 Myths about EAP”

Guided Discovery in Teaching Essay Writing

DISCOVERY

A lot of work has been done on the benefits of inductive versus deductive teaching in ELT, especially when it comes to teaching grammar points. An inductive approach basically provides learners with input, i.e. examples of the target, and requires them to find the rules for usage, that is to infer to usage of a form from examples of its use. It is inductive teaching that forms the basis for Discovery Learning, which adds in the element of ‘guidance’.

GUIDED

Scott Thornbury, in his blog post “G is for Guided Discovery” explores what the ‘guided’ part of ‘guided discovery’ means – mainly the teacher grading the input to suit learners’ current level of undestanding, and often formulating targetted questions to getting them thinking about the particular elements we want them to discover. He also discusses the relation to consciousness-raising activities, which are often used in teaching vocabulary and grammar points. But can Guided Discovery also be used for teaching essay writing? Since Scott Thornbury states “Guidance is typically mediated by questions, each question challenging learners to advance their understanding one further step”, I’d argue yes!

GUIDED DISCOVERY

Guided Discovery is generally accepted to be effective in the long term because the learners are more actively involved in acquiring knowledge, which aids memory. As Scott Thornbury explains, the approach can be seen to fit in with a Sociocultural model of learning, where learners are encouraged to enter/work in their ‘zone of proximal development’, i.e. working on something just above their current level of understanding that enhances their natural learning curiosity and progress. It also basically assumes that we learn by making, testing and adjusting hypotheses on the basis of input – and in Guided Discovery the teacher guides the input on which learners will base their hypotheses and prompts them with questions that scaffold the testing and adjusting stages.

GUIDED DISCOVERY & PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

So here’s (a suggestion of) how to do it, focussing on teaching paragraph structure:

– Provide students with (a) good example(s) of (a) text(s) which follow(s) the structural pattern(s) you would like them to adopt and will be understandable to your students, taking account of their current level of language competence.

– Provide students with questions about the example text(s) which guide them to discover its key structural features.

– Discuss in class, or encourage students to discuss in groups, what they have discovered, and check that everyone is on the same page.

I have done this recently to introduce the concept of a paragraph by giving students an example paragraph (one that functions as a stand-alone text) and an example essay. I then simply asked them to figure out:

  • What is a paragraph?
  • Why do we use paragraphs in writing?
  • What is the typical function of a paragraph’s first sentence?
GUIDED DISCOVERY & COMPARE/CONTRAST WRITING

You can also do it on a more specific level, for instance looking at the structural features of a paragraph/essay with a specific function. Here’s an example of a task I gave my students, which is looking at compare/contrast writing:

There is a ‘strong’ version of the communicative approach to foreign language teaching and a ‘weak’ version, which differ because of their understandings of language acquisition. The weak version, which has become more or less standard practice in the last ten years, stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities to use their English for communicative purposes and, characteristically, attempts to integrate such activities into a wider program of language teaching. It tends to address the conditions needed to promote second language learning, rather than the processes of language acquisition. The ‘strong’ version of communicative learning, on the other hand, advances the claim that language is acquired through communication. In contrast to the weak version, then, this version assumes that it is not merely a question of activating an existing, inert knowledge of the language, but rather of stimulating the development of the language system itself through active communication. If the former could be described as ‘learning to use’ English, the latter rather entails ‘using English to learn it’. [Adapted from: Howatt, A.P.R., A History of English Language Teaching (O.U.P.: 1984), p. 279.]
  1. What two items are the topic of the paragraph?
  2. Is the paragraph mainly a contrast (showing differences), a comparison (showing similarities), or both?
  3. How does the Topic Sentence give you the answers to questions a and b?
  4. What information is given about the first item? What information is given about the second item?
  5. What transitions are used to move between the two items, and/or between the points of analysis?
  6. Would you say that this paragraphs simply consists of two descriptions joined together? Why (not)?
  7. What information is given in the concluding sentence?
GUIDED DISCOVERY & FORMAL LANGUAGE

Another activity often used in teaching academic writing is giving students two or more versions of a text and asking them to discover the differences and assess which one is better and why. I often use this kind of task when teaching formal expression or hedging/cautious language. Here’s a task I’ve borrowed from Purser, E., Studienbegleiter Academic Writing Anglistik-Amerikanistik (Cornelsen, 2004), chapter III:

Order the following versions of a text from the most conversational to the most academic, and note down your reasons (e.g. features of the language that support your ordering).
1. By 1861, as many Americans lived west of the Allengheny-Appalachian mountains as east of them, largely in the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries or along the shores of the Great Lakes; for until the railroads came, waterways were the key to the advance of settlement and the movement of goods.
2.  Back when the American Civil War began, just as many people were living to the west of the Appalachian mountains as to the east of them, and people on the west side mostly lived near water because there weren’t any trains in those days and so people had to use the rivers and lakes to get around, so they tended to live along the Mississippi or small rivers running into it, or around the Great Lakes.        
3. Prior to the advent of rail transportation, the Mississippi and its tributary valleys, and the shores of the Great Lakes, attracted the highest concentrations of a population just as dense west of the Allegheny-Apallachian mountain chain, by 1861, as east of it.
MY GUIDANCE FOR TEACHERS

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this kind of teaching will put all the responsibility onto the students and you’ll be able to sit back and relax, though! Finding suitable “input” and composing the right questions to guide students’ discovery can be time consuming – and you also have to ‘do’ the task yourself to be prepared for questions and discussions afterwards. If you think these tasks are nothing new, and very similar to what you’re doing already, then you’re already applying this effective form of inductive teaching to your essay writing classes – but maybe now you have the terminology to give a name to how you teach! Maybe you’d like to share other Guided Discovery activities you’ve used for teaching essay writing in the comments below 🙂

Introductory Paragraphs: How to teach and write them

When writing academic essays in English, students need to be aware that they will not only need to focus on their language accuracy (as well as tone, register, etc), but also that there may be differences in conventions of structure and logic. In EGAP, the introductory paragraph is an important part of any essay, and it is here that some of these differences may become apparent. Below is a brief guide to teaching learners how to write a good introductory paragraph for an EGAP essay – the guide can be used by students themselves, or by teachers who need some tips and examples for teaching this aspect of essay writing. 

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First, we need to be clear on the functions of an introductory paragraph

  • Attracts readers’ attention
  • Gives a BRIEF background of topic
  • Includes NO detail of support/evidence/examples
  • Narrows down the topic
  • Hints at the organisation of the essay
  • Guides the direction of the essay
  • Controls the essay’s scope
  • States the essay’s main message/point in the THESIS STATEMENT (more on this later!)

To encourage learners to ‘notice’ these features, it might be a good idea for the teacher to provide some good examples. These can be found in EAP course books, or from published essay-like articles, or by using previous students’ essay which had a particularly good introductory paragraph. Once this has been clarified, it makes sense to start at the beginning of the paragraph and walk through how the features can be realised.

The first couple of sentences are important for introducing the topic area as a whole and gaining the reader’s attention and interest.

There are various ways to open the introductory paragraph:

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General statement

e.g. Every day, the newspapers, and television and radio news programs are flooded with stories about the tragic results of drug addiction.

Question

e.g. Are standardized tests a fair measure of academic potential?

Statistics

e.g. The latest census shows that 75% of the population of the USA are Christian, but only 12% send their children to religious schools. 

Quote (famous person)

e.g. “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”  Mark Twain’s famous quote highlights the heart of the debate about home-schooling in the USA.

Relevant anecdote

e.g. The British Queen finished her recent tour of Australia today by meeting a survivor of the Indian Ocean tsunami, whose story prompted a discussion of the precautionary measures that are appropriate for protecting the population from such natural disasters. 

 

To practise interesting opening lines, students can either look at example paragraphs and identify which approach the writer has taken, and/or pick one topic and practise writing opening lines using various techniques from the list above. Topics can be of general interest (like the examples above), or specific to the students’ fields of study. Of course, EAP teachers are not always experts in all of the fields of study their students are working in, but a quick look over the contents page(s) of an introductory textbook can provide a nice list of topic areas – or ask the students themselves for input here.

After the opening sentences, we need to structure the rest of the paragraph.

I find one of the easiest ways to present the structure of an introductory paragraph is showing that its shape mimics that of a funnel, filtering down from the general opening to the specific focus of the essay, and culminates in a thesis statement, which states the overall message of the essay and answer to the task question. This can be demonstrated in a number of ways which can be memorable for students, either visually (see below), or with hand gesture (rather like a flight attendant!), or by bringing your kitchen funnel to class as a prop!

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Whichever technique is employed to demonstrate the shape of a paragraph, it will probably be necessary for students to see the ‘funnel’ form in action, so to speak. To do this, example paragraphs which can be analysed into component parts are the most effective. Here are some examples (from general EAP) of how this “funnel” can work in practice (my own work – not necessarily amazing, but clearly demonstrating the ‘funnel’, and I’ve analysed the component parts to exemplify what I mean by this activity).

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Students should notice in the examples that there are usually a few sentences between the opening ‘attention catcher’ and the thesis statement. These narrow down the topic, giving more information about the context and the rationale  – They include information to answer the following questions:

Why is this an important / interesting topic to write about? Who is involved in the topic? Whose are the strongest voices in discussions on this topic? Which aspects of the topic are the focus of this essay?

And then we reach the final sentence of the introductory paragraph –

arguably the most important in the whole essay: the THESIS STATEMENT. 

Of all  of the functions on an introductory paragraph, the thesis statement can take over most of them, but the vital thing for students to do in their Thesis Satements is to state the essays’ overarching message or argument. If worded expertly, the thesis statement can also hint at the organisation of the essay and the kinds of evidence that are going to be presented.

Depending on the discipline the essay is being written in, it may or may not be a good idea for the author to state what you are going to do in the essay to ‘prove’ the argument expressed in your thesis statement. As an EAP teacher, this may be a point where some input from a subject teacher may be helpful! Nonetheless, I think it is important to make students aware that trite phrasing such as ‘This essay will attempt to” or “This paper aims to” is rather dull to read, and some of the readers’ attention the opening sentences so dynamically attracted may be lost. Students can be guided to try replacing them with statements such as “It is important to” or “An interesting approach is to” – OR, and this is what I personally prefer, they can include information about what they’re going to do whilst stating the overarching thesis or argument. That means that they would not explicitly state your intention (as you would in, say, a longer term paper or dissertation), but hint at it through some clever phrasing. Here are some good examples of thesis statements which employ this strategy:

  • An evaluation of the validity of the evidence for this view demonstrates that it is questionable, and highlights that the Supreme Court is right to ban the teaching of the Christian creation story as a part of the biology curriculum.
  • From the analysis of examples of countries throughout the world, considering economic, social and psychological indicators, it becomes clear that the division of countries into ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ needs re-examining. 

To practice formulating this kind of Thesis Statement, I would ask students to first think about what they are planning to do in the essay, e.g. evaluate, analyse, compare, etc – and then use these words to lead in to the overall message/point they are trying to demonstrate within the essay. I think it is clearly exemplified above, but again subject-specific examples could be a help here. Also, teachers could devise practice tasks which include a topic and two verbs for what the writer aims to do, and then ask students to write the Thesis Statements for those essay. For example: Devise a Thesis Statement for an essay that aims to do the following:

  • evaluate evidence for critical period hypothesis (for learning languages)
  • focus on examples of deaf and feral children
  • argue overall: there’s probably a sensitive period, but not stringent critical period

–> Example Thesis Statement –> An evaluation of the evidence supporting the critical period hypothesis, primarily that provided by case studies of deaf and feral children, demonstrates why it may be more appropriate to talk of a ‘sensitive period’ rather than a stringently restricted critical period for the acquisition of language. 

Another good hint is to remind students that the thesis statement should summarise their answer to the task question in just one sentence. Here is a clear example:

Task/Question: Why has use of the English language expanded so much over the last 1000 years?

Thesis statement: Following key periods in the expansion of the English language over the last 1000 years highlights how these coincide with major world events and trends, including the British Empire, globalisation, international cooperation and the advent of the Internet, which can be identified as causes for the expansion of the language to a world language.

Once the introduction has some opening lines to attract readers’ attention, and some ‘narrowing down’ including information on the rationale, scope, etc, and a clear Thesis Statement, it is basically finished – although it might be a good idea to remind students to review the introduction once they have finished writing the essay, to make sure that the body fits to what they introduced!

 

One example task would be to provide examples of short essays, and two-or three introductory paragraphs on the topic: Students should pick the introductory paragraph that best fits to the body of the essay and justify their choice. To do this task well, they will need to know that:

The thesis statement should be supported by the information given in the body paragraphs of the essay. To ensure that the organisation is clear and flows logically, the aspects mentioned in the thesis statement should be discussed in the order in which they are presented there. For example, in the essay about the second example thesis statement above (about ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ countries), we would expect body paragraphs first on economic factors, then social and then psychological aspects. The concluding paragraph should then weigh up all of the evidence given in the essays’s body (brief summary!) and then draw a conclusion that reflects the overarching message as it was presented in the thesis statement.

Finally, I would end any lesson(s) on writing introductions with the reminder that 

It is vital to have a good introductory paragraph for any essay – but having a good introductory paragraph is not a guarantee for a good essay!

 

Ways to find ideas (for lessons, presentations, essays…)

As a teacher who assigns plenty of presentation and essay tasks to my student, I have long been convinced that freedom of choice is important. Very often, I let the students choose their own topic to write or present about; the theory being that if they are working on a topic that interests them, the results will be better and more interesting for me to read/listen to, and more inspiring for others, e.g. student audience for a presentation, etc.

But I often come up against ‘I don’t know what to write about’ or ‘I don’t have any ideas that are relevant’. This is rather frustrating for me as a teacher, but then also filters into my own lesson planning. And I’m sure other teachers have the same issue – what topic can I choose for a lesson? I want to be interested in it so that I am enthusiastic, but I also want to find something that will ‘grab’ the learners so that they are motivated, too.

This post is a quick list of ways anyone can find an idea … students for their essays, .. teachers for their lessons, … etc! I’m coming at this from an EGAP background, but the basic premise is that things that are around us every day would make good topics for our work, if only we weren’t too busy to notice them or to spend a minute thinking about how they would fit to the task ahead of us.

So here they are … my suggestions of ways to find ideas of topics to write/present/talk/teach about!

1) Read the TV guide. 

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that you should procrastinate and watch TV until an idea magically occurs to you! But trust me… look at a TV guide (magazine, online, on the TV itself), particularly looking at channels that often show documentaries, and just scan the titles of the programmes. If you find something that interests you, of course you can watch it, but even that might not be necessary. Often channels show documentaries that are related to something that is currently going on, something up-to-date. Just count the number of shows focusing on Brazil in the run-up to the World Cup!  These are often topics that lend themselves nicely to presentations, essays, lessons, etc, especially when they look at an ‘old’ topic from a new, specific perspective. I once read the programme list of N24 (A German news/documentary channel) from just one weekend, and looked for topics related to an English-speaking country (the one rule I do set my students). I found 22 different topics! They ranged from how the Titanic could have avoided sinking, to youth gangs in the USA, to how to land a jet-fighter on an aircraft-carrier, to the first prisons in Australia. With the wide variety of topics, there’s likely to be something that inspires you, gives you an idea to work on.

2) Google (Scholar) your interests

Many students seem to think that to be ‘academic’ a topic has to be somehow serious (read: boring!). But you’d often be surprised how much academic discussion is going on about topics most people would consider ‘unacademic’. For me, a topic can be academic if you approach it in an academic way – critically evaluating the evidence/support for various viewpoints, or assessing the significance of various factors, etc. I have a colleague who is just slightly obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But guess what, studying literature and media proved to her that Buffy is in fact the subject of a lot of academic discussion and research. Simply stick ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, or whatever your interest is, into Google Scholar ( http://scholar.google.com/ )or a similar (academic!) search engine, and you will often be rewarded with links to articles investigating aspects of your interest from various perspectives, using different approaches, etc – et voila, an interesting idea!

3) Question Jokes

I don’t actually know whether it’s true, but we often hear that journalists approach their news items asking the ‘w-questions’: where?, when?, what?, who?, whom?, why?, (how?). If you apply these questions to jokes or other funny anecdotes, you might be able to discover an interesting topic for your lesson, essay, etc. Through my linguists’ eyes, there is an awful lot of material about! Take the books or websites that make fun of incorrect and amusing translations of signs in foreign countries – for me, the questions always arise as to who translated this and why, what led to the mistakes, what was the influence of the native language, what would they need to know about English to get it right, etc. Even jokes based on stereotypes can lead to interesting social/cultural studies investigations: why is this amusing? Where did the stereotype come from? Is the stereotype only found in some contexts (in comparison to their own context)? Is there any truth to the stereotype? And so on. One of my previous blog posts arose from a funny situation: a colleague made some odd, incorrect but very funny lexical mistakes… and this lead me to look at the organisation and workings of the mental lexicon. (See https://clareseltcompendium.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/everyday-examples-of-mental-lexicon-representations/ )

4) Argue with news headlines

Open a newspaper or news website and just skim the headlines. Now pick one that stands out to you, read the article if you like, and try (just for fun) to disagree and argue with everything you read. You might end up thinking: Why did they do that? That was a silly thing to do! That’s not the right solution! Who would support that? etc. This will prompt you to highlight controversies or debatable points made, and perhaps provide an idea that you can write/present/teach about. Just looking through the BBC News Magazine site this morning (see: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine/), I find “France’s Flaws: Why the country isn’t the democratic créme de la créme”, or “Spaniard takes time off work to watch World Cup” – I think there are plenty of points you could come up with that take a negative or critical stance here, and then you’d have the foundation for a discussion which could be used in whatever task you’re currently trying to get inspired for. Try also to find support for your arguments and criticisms – read up on some background or find other sources of information relevant to the topic, and there you have it… the good idea for your work!

5) Browse Social Networks

Facebook, Twitter, or whatever social networking platforms you use, can also be a source of inspiration. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have a couple of people on your friends list who basically to your ‘finding an idea’ ground work for you! They post videos, news excerpts, podcasts, and the like, which are interesting because they are new, funny, controversial, etc – pick any one of these and delve a bit deeper into the content, question it, critically assess it, and let it lead you to a specific idea for your work. Just recently, an ex-colleague posted http://www.vox.com/2014/6/4/5776804/note-taking-by-hand-versus-laptop in our Facebook students group and sparked a lively discussion where different students and teachers posted their views, their evidence, anecdotes, etc. Or this one, posted by a student in World-Cup-mood: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/06/germany_2014_world_cup_is_joachim_l_w_s_squad_too_nice_to_win_in_brazil.2.html  Many people criticise social networks as distractions and hide-outs for procrastinators; but if you use them well, they can actually inspire you for the task ahead!

 

So … those were a few of my ideas on how to find new ideas! I’ll stop here so that you don’t procrastinate any further by spending more time reading my blog … go forth and delve into the rich world of ideas that are all around you! Who knows… maybe my next post will have to be about ‘I have too many ideas and don’t know which one to work on’ 🙂

 

How to Mark Written Work Effectively – Involving the Learners

Peer Correction

Learners proof read their classmates’ work and give feedback on language (if their own abilities are strong enough), structure and/or content. One problem here is that many students are not yet able to identify such errors on their own, although this method does provide practice in proof reading which may benefit their own future writing, and they will still be able to take on the role of “real audience” to make comments on structure and content. Feedback can be given orally, based on notes students make whilst reading, or they can write a letter expressing their feedback. Example peer feedback guidelines and questions are:

  • When giving feedback on peers’ work, please consider the questions below and write your responses on a separate sheet in a letter to the author. There’s no need to answer the question individually, but please respond to them in one text. Remember, you are not expected to be an expert, but simply to offer as much constructive criticism and helpful feedback as possible.
  •  What are the words, phrases or sentences that stand out to you as strong points in the piece of work?
  • Does the introductory sentence / paragraph tell you what the piece of writing is about? Is it clear what to expect from the work when you read the opening lines? Do they inspire you to read on?
  • Are you confused by anything in the paper? Or is there anything you think the author should phrase differently to make it clearer?
  • Does the piece of writing end with a sense of completion, having logically moved through the points and tying up the main ideas of the paper in a conclusion?
  • Are there any spelling or grammar inaccuracies the author should be aware of?
  • What do you like best about this piece of writing?

(These guidelines are adapted from Guidelines for Giving Peer Feedback by L. Hutchinson)

Re-drafting based on the feedback is the most logical next step – and means that by the time the writing reaches the tutor, it’s already been proof read by the author and one peer. This should save time in two ways: a) the tutor doesn’t have read the drafts, only the final versions b) there should be fewer areas of difficulty since they will have had feedback on the most obvious weaknesses already.

Respond to Students’ Individual Queries

  1. Many errors students make are due to ‘experimenting’ with new language, which is part of the learning process. Getting students to write a number of questions (poss. 3-5) on their essay when handing it and responding in particular to these when marking the draft, helps them make the most of their own learning. Example questions might be, “I wasn’t sure how to join these paragraphs, does this transitional phrase really work here, or are there better alternatives?”
  2. This approach may be particularly useful if students are required to submit drafts of their essays, and also helps tutors save time marking drafts and re-drafts in detail.

(Cottrell, S., Teaching Study Skills & Supporting Learning (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001))

Start a feedback dialogue

The dialogue can be based on students’ individual questions (above) and can take a number of forms, for example by email, audio recordings, face-to-face meetings. This method allows the student writer to maintain control over their piece of writing and ensures that their ‘voice’ is not co-opted by the teacher reformulating their phrasing and sentences. The aim of the dialogue should focus less on ‘correcting’ and more on guiding the learner to identify and fix the problems in their writing, to check their new ideas and edits, and to grow in confidence as an independent writer.

Related Resources

How To Mark Written Work Effectively – Using Underlining

On many teacher training courses, the focus is placed so heavily on classroom behaviour and materials development, that many new teachers  are not shown effective ways of marking learners’ work. More experienced teachers, too, often stick to one method of correcting students‘ writing, without necessarily thinking about its effectiveness. Based on these considerations, I’ve started a series of posts on various ways to mark students’ written work, which may be time-saving for us teachers and more effective in promoting learning among our students.

Let’s start with the classic and a few variations…

English: Underlined text. Image created entire...
English: Underlined text. Image created entirely by myself. Ineligible for copyright because it’s just underlined text. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1)      Underling mistakes

  1. Underline & correct – the more times the word/phrase is underlined, the more serious the error. Re-drafting doesn’t make much sense here, as students will simply copy out the corrections of the tutor – although it makes them aware of their errors, the chances are they will not internalize the corrections.
  2. Underline with code – the incorrect words/phrases are underlined in the text, and symbols are used in the margin or above the underlined word to show the type of error. For example w.o. can indicate incorrect word order, or sp likewise incorrect spelling. Students are expected to diagnose their own problems and fix the errors. Students can re-draft the essay.
  3. Underline with number – the incorrect words/phrases are underlined in the text, and numbers are written in the margin or text to refer to the type of error or a longer comment. This is especially useful for common errors (saves tutor’s time writing the same comments frequently) and with errors which are more stylistic and not simply grammatical/lexical, e.g. “no new lines within a paragraph” or “topic sentence doesn’t introduce the whole idea of the paragraph”. Students can re-draft the essay
  4. Students can also work together to find & correct the mistakes in their essays. This is much more effective, as it’s always easier to see other people’s mistakes. Also, explaining corrections to each other helps clarify understanding of how the language works.

See also: