• Title/Summary/Keyword: Essay writing

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EFL Learners' Perceptions on English Writing Tasks and Teacher Feedback

  • Chin, Cheong-Sook
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.1-26
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    • 2007
  • This study aimed to investigate how EFL learners perceived English writing tasks and teachers' written feedback. The subjects were 82 mixed major college EFL students aged 19-24; the majority were freshmen females. Based on the scores estimated from the essay evaluation test, they were placed into two groups (proficienand less-proficient writers) and responded to an in-class questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) regardless of writing proficiency, a large number of the students felt that they were just fair writers, which could be derived from low confidence and high anxiety; (2) grammar and vocabulary were perceived as the main features that determined good EFL writers and also prevented the students from performing the writing task successfully; (3) they believed that teachers' feedback contributed to the development of their English writing skills because it helped them apprehend what to improve or avoid in the future, acquire better English usage, and correct their errors; and (4) the proficient writers were more willing to correct errors themselves after being provided clues than the less-proficient writers. Implications of the findings for EFL classrooms are discussed.

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EFL Students' Beliefs and Processing Behaviors toward Writing and Teacher Response

  • Chin, Cheong-Sook
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.1-32
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    • 2007
  • This study took a cross-sectional, quantitative approach and profiled EFL students' awareness of the writing process and of teacher feedback. The subjects were 113 college students aged 19-26 years from non-English majors, who were enrolled in three sections of a required English course. According to the scores gained from the essay writing assignment, they were divided into two groups (proficient and less-proficient writers) and responded to an in-class survey. Major findings were that: (1) the vast majority of both groups did not find English writing enjoyable; (2) longer comments gave rise to substantial changes to the students' revisions; (3) the less-proficient writers were shown to benefit from revision significantly more than the proficient writers; (4) Both groups of writers utilized multiple strategies to process teacher feedback and preferred to receive teacher comments using complete sentences rather than phrases or single words; and (5) teacher's marks on grammar and vocabulary claimed to be most conducive to EFL writing development. Several important implications for EFL writing instruction and for future studies are suggested.

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The effect of writing on self-esteem among Korean medicine students (한의대생의 글쓰기가 자존감에 미치는 영향)

  • Moon, JoonSeok;Shin, HeonTae
    • Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.43-54
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    • 2016
  • Objectives : Self-esteem is a necessary inner factor for the korean medicine undergraduate, who will perform a various treatment relationship as a future health care provider. Writing is closely related with improving self-esteem by providing insight towards oneself. Methods : The level of self-esteem and current state of writing among 251 undergraduates studying korean medicine in Dongshin University were looked into through a structural survey. Results : Self-esteem score was 3.12 on a scale of 4 which was relatively high, but they showed defensive self-esteem tendency. Meanwhile writing variables appeared to be more influential to the self-esteem of undergraduates than personal characteristics. Also among writing variables, emotional writing and writing 2 to 3 times or more a month was related to high self-esteem which defensive self-esteem tendency is low. Majority of the undergraduates, however, turned out to be writing essay and writing 2 to 3 times a month. Conclusions : The following result suggests the need of writing classes as well as writing involved in emotion for self-esteem and improve medical communication in the curriculum of korean medical college.

Professional and Scholarly Writing: Advice for Information Professionals and Academics

  • Cox, Richard J.
    • Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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    • v.3 no.4
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    • pp.6-18
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    • 2015
  • There has been an explosion of new research and writing about all aspects of the information disciplines. Nevertheless, both academics and practitioners often find it difficult to engage in successful writing strategies. Indeed, writing is hard work, and doing it in a way that leads to publication is an even harder task. Since reading is essential to good writing, the challenges of learning to write are obvious. In this essay, I am drawing on many years of experience in writing and publishing, as well as considerable reading of writers’ memoirs, advice books on writing, literary studies, and other perspectives on the experience of writing in order to offer a set of approaches that can be pursued over a lifetime of scholarship and practice. Writing is a craft or art to be learned, and learning demands paying attention to the audience, having clear objectives, being an avid reader, and possessing the ability to accept and learn from criticism. While information professionals and scholars incessantly write for each other, there are large segments of the public and other disciplines who they ignore. Fortunately, the tools and resources for improving one’s writing are both broad and deep; discipline and realistic strategies are all that are required to improve one’s writing and, ultimately, to achieve success in publishing.

The effects of collocational competence on college students' English proficiency and writing abilities (연어능력이 대학생들의 영어능숙도와 영작문 능력에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Yun-Jeong
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.11 no.4
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    • pp.189-208
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    • 2005
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate knowledge and use of English collocations in their relation to Korean college students' general English proficiency and writing abilities. Participants in the present study were 203 Korean college students. Their knowledge and use of English collocations were measured by a self-designed collocation test and an essay writing test. The findings were as follows: First, there was a significant difference in students' knowledge of collocations according to their general English proficiency. Students' performance in the collocation test increased as their level of proficiency increased. Second, there was a significant difference in students' knowledge of collocations according to their writing abilities. Students showed better performance in the collocation test as their level of writing abilities increased. Third, there was a significant difference in students' use of collocations according to their writing abilities. Students' collocation use in the writing test increased as their level of writing abilities increased. Fourth, there was a strong relationship between the students' knowledge of collocations and their general English proficiency and between the students' use of collocations and their writing abilities. Pedagogical implications of the study and suggestions for further research were discussed on the basis of the research findings.

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The Effect of Peer Scaffolding on College Students' Writing Skills in EFL

  • Wooyoung Kim
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.156-162
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    • 2023
  • The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of peer scaffolding on the writing fluency of English language learners. This study was intended to confirm that peer scaffolding in English as a foreign language (EFL) writing classes can improve students' English proficiency. An analysis of 20 EFL learners studying at a university in Gyeonggi Province was conducted based on the English Proficiency Test. In this study, 20 intermediate learners with similar proficiency levels were included in the sample. Randomly, 10 students were designated as members of the control group, and 10 students were designated as members of the experimental group. In the experimental group, students practiced essay writing, while a skilled student provided scaffolding for a less skilled student. A variety of tools were used to gather data, including tests, questionnaires, and interviews Statistical analyses of quantitative data were conducted using t-tests for independent samples, whereas analyses of qualitative data were conducted based on themes. Pre-test results indicated a significant value of sig. =0.87, which was higher than α = 0.05. According to the results of this study, the writing performance of both experimental and control groups of students was equal and homogeneous prior to treatment. However, there were significant differences between the writing of students in the two groups after the completion of the program. Due to the post-test analysis of the writing test, the test resulted in a sig. =0 .043, a value lower than α = 0.05. As a result, the experimental group participants showed a marked improvement in their writing abilities after treatment.

Embodying a Field of Thoughts and Communications as a Political Agenda: A Reading of Shelley's The Mask of Anarchy (정치적 의제로서의 사유와 소통의 장의 실현 -셸리의 『혼돈의 가면극』 읽기)

  • Min, Byoung Chun
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.56 no.4
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    • pp.667-690
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    • 2010
  • This essay attempts to read Percy Bysshe Shelley s The Mask of Anarchy by attending to a political agenda that Shelley seeks to propose and embody in the poem. This poem was written as a response to an exceptional political event, the Peterloo Massacre, and thus it is evident that Shelley intended to engage in contemporary politics by writing this poem. As many critics have pointed out, however, the way in which this poem addresses social, plitical issues is ambivalent and even confusing, since it contains many elements that contradict each other, and sometimes its political visions are based on incoherent conceptions. For this reason, this poem has been considered to be a failure as an occasional poem which should provide the reader with a clear direction for political actions. Faced with this critical problem, this essay proposes that the ambivalence this poem reveals-e.g., the confrontation between moderate artistic fantasy and radical tenets-is not a retreat from political activism, as some critics suggested, but a result of its creation and embodiment of a public sphere which invites various social classes and their positions. The mode in which Shelley conceives this unified public sphere in the course of writing The Mask of Anarchy can be interpreted in terms of the following three features. First, this poem underscores the significance of thoughts in constituting a communal space between people, thus asking the reader to participate in this process of thinking on given issues. Second, this poem suggests that people should enlighten each other by engaging in communicative reciprocations. Lastly, the public sphere formulated by the previous two features should incorporate various socio-political agents beyond class boundaries (even oppressors themselves) into its own working field. After explaining how these three features are manifested in the poem, this essay argues that the unified public sphere thus formed in the poem is the very agenda that Shelley aims to propose for the contemporaneous politics and culture. As a conclusion, this essay highlights how Shelley s project of creating a unified public sphere finally failed in contemporary history through observing two contrasting receptions of Shelley s works.

Comparing Perceptions of Evaluative Criteria in EFL Writing Between Learner and Instructor Group

  • Shin, You-Sun
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.191-208
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    • 2011
  • The quantitative study investigated perceptions of evaluative criteria in L2 writing between two groups - learners (N=212) and instructors (N=52) in Korea. Specifically, the purpose of the study is (1) to examine learners' and instructors' perceptions on evaluative criteria in L2 writing and to provide empirical evidence concerning how they respond to a list of them and (2) to ultimately devise appropriate rating criteria applicable to an EFL context like Korea. Analyses of evaluative criteria were conducted using factor analysis and yielded the following results: learner and instructor groups perceived the evaluative criteria differently and weighted them in a different way. For the learner group, the combined elements of grammar and language in use were identified as Factor 1 and mechanics as Factor 2. The results may infer that learners' response patterns are primarily linked to their instructors' writing practice in class, which may largely focus on grammatical knowledge based on lexical use and mechanical accuracy. Similarly, the instructor group acknowledged grammatical knowledge as Factor 1 and lexical use as Factor 2. The first two factors found in both learner and instructor groups indicate that in an EFL context like Korea, the form-then-content way of teaching and learning is still being considered more effective in L2 writing than any other method. Taking into consideration these perceptive similarities and differences between learners and instructors, the categories of evaluative criteria in writing include content and organization, grammar, mechanics, language in use, and flow of the essay, respectively.

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A Study on Google Classroom as a Tool for the Development of the Learning Model of College English

  • Lee, Jeong-Hwa;Cha, Kyung-Whan
    • International Journal of Contents
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.65-76
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    • 2021
  • The aim of this study was to explore the use of Google Classroom as a learning management system for College English. The study targeted 34 university students. They took part in various activities, such as writing reactions to video lectures, peer-editing essays, and recording video presentations, et cetera. For the study, a t-test was conducted to evaluate the English development of the students. The two essays that each student wrote were used as the data sources. The result (t=-5.854, p=.000) indicated an improvement in their English writing proficiency. In addition, a survey was conducted to gather students' feedback regarding their perceptions towards the course. The study covered five aspects of their experience: Google Classroom, language development, Quizlet, classroom experience, and essay-writing experience. From the results, students indicated a positive response to the program. The use of Google Classroom in an online learning setting accomplishes two things; it helped the students in the development of their English proficiency, and provided activities that students find interesting, which in turn stimulates their self-learning spirit.

The study of Essay Writing Education in Home Economics Education Through Practical Philosophy Curriculum Analysis in Germany (독일의 실천철학교과 분석을 통한 가정과 교육에서의 논술교육 연구)

  • Kim, Eun-Jeung
    • Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.233-245
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    • 2007
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate the appropriate way of essay writing education which helps the learners perceive and express a stream of knowledge through Home Economics education curriculum by themselves. While one-way type, which teachers just give instructions to students and students just learn from them, has dominated the education, new education focuses on interactive and reciprocal way in thinking and researching together. This new stream requires appropriate and various education method as well as the new concept of education curriculum. This study applies the curriculum of the German practical philosophy that recently has been a debated topic in Home Economics education. The purpose of the curriculum pursuits improving students' practical and critical thinking competence and essay writing is the center of it. In the curriculum learners write essays by asking and answering the questions through seven areas which students can experience based on three angles such as individual, social, and idealogical viewpoints. In this process learners don't remain in the individual angles and are able to be trained as intellectuals who can lead the social and cultural change as well as the individual growth by getting an insight into the idealogical angles. The Germany curriculum what is mentioned in advance presents one possibility that essay education can be introduced in Home Economics education that has accessed the education process by the practical inference based on the practical philosophy. That is, Home Economics education shares the context with essay education whose purpose is the intellect enlightenment because the former is the curriculum to make students build the abilities to access in many-sided angles not just one point, to deal with problems wisely, and to deduce the solutions. Therefore, students are expected to participate in the class dynamically by being satisfied intellectually abreast of practical essay education that helps learners read the stream of knowledge through Home Economics education. In this manner the category of Home Economics education will enlarge by making efforts to diversify the education methodology not staying only one method.

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