Pub Date : 2020-06-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2020.12.01.01
Teresa Limpo, Andreia Nunes, A. Coelho
This article introduces a Special Issue that gathers a collection of effective tools to promote the teaching and learning of writing in school-aged and university students, across varied contexts. The authors present the theoretical rationale and technical specificities of writing tools aimed at enhancing writing processes (e.g., spelling, revising) and/or at providing writers with automated feedback to improve the implementation of those processes. The tools are described in detail, along with empirical data on their effectiveness in improving one or more aspects of writing. All articles conclude by indicating future directions for further developing and evaluating the tools. This Special Issue represents an important contribution to the field of technology-based writing instruction, in a moment in which online teaching and learning tools have shifted from being an instructional asset to a necessity. We hope that in the future the validation of each tool can be expanded by reaching out to different populations and cultural contexts.
{"title":"Introduction to the Special Issue on Technology-Based Writing Instruction: A Collection of Effective Tools","authors":"Teresa Limpo, Andreia Nunes, A. Coelho","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2020.12.01.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.12.01.01","url":null,"abstract":"This article introduces a Special Issue that gathers a collection of effective tools to promote the teaching and learning of writing in school-aged and university students, across varied contexts. The authors present the theoretical rationale and technical specificities of writing tools aimed at enhancing writing processes (e.g., spelling, revising) and/or at providing writers with automated feedback to improve the implementation of those processes. The tools are described in detail, along with empirical data on their effectiveness in improving one or more aspects of writing. All articles conclude by indicating future directions for further developing and evaluating the tools. This Special Issue represents an important contribution to the field of technology-based writing instruction, in a moment in which online teaching and learning tools have shifted from being an instructional asset to a necessity. We hope that in the future the validation of each tool can be expanded by reaching out to different populations and cultural contexts.","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2020-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45142186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-02-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.04
M. Fartoukh, L. Chanquoy
This study examines the benefits of an expressive writing intervention in 5th graders on well-being – anxiety and depression symptoms – and on working memory capacity. A classical paradigm of expressive writing was used in school children during their classroom time: half of the participants had to write about stressful and negative events of their own lives, whereas the other half had to write about a normal school day. Children were asked to write four times in two weeks, resulting in four days of writing. Each group completed questionnaires yielding measures of depression, anxiety, and working memory 3 times: before the intervention, just after the writing sessions and two months after following the intervention. The narratives were analyzed using Emotaix-Tropes software. The results revealed that all the children showed a decrease in depression and anxiety symptoms. By contrast, only children in the expressive writing group showed working memory improvement. The potential benefits of emotional disclosure in school children are discussed. While there are several possible explanations for these findings, the results of this study indicate, first, that expressive writing seems to be both feasible and potentially valuable for school children, and second, that some cognitive changes occur in terms of cognitive functioning.
{"title":"Expressive writing in school children: Effects on well-being and working memory","authors":"M. Fartoukh, L. Chanquoy","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.04","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the benefits of an expressive writing intervention in 5th graders on well-being – anxiety and depression symptoms – and on working memory capacity. A classical paradigm of expressive writing was used in school children during their classroom time: half of the participants had to write about stressful and negative events of their own lives, whereas the other half had to write about a normal school day. Children were asked to write four times in two weeks, resulting in four days of writing. Each group completed questionnaires yielding measures of depression, anxiety, and working memory 3 times: before the intervention, just after the writing sessions and two months after following the intervention. The narratives were analyzed using Emotaix-Tropes software. The results revealed that all the children showed a decrease in depression and anxiety symptoms. By contrast, only children in the expressive writing group showed working memory improvement. The potential benefits of emotional disclosure in school children are discussed. While there are several possible explanations for these findings, the results of this study indicate, first, that expressive writing seems to be both feasible and potentially valuable for school children, and second, that some cognitive changes occur in terms of cognitive functioning.","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45965512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-02-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.03
D. Atkinson
{"title":"Engaging in deliberate practice: The metacognitive awareness of expert ELT textbook writers","authors":"D. Atkinson","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.03","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48006422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-02-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.01
S. Crossley
: This paper provides an overview of how analyses of linguistic features in writing samples provide a greater understanding of predictions of both text quality and writer development and links between language features within texts. Specifically, this paper provides an overview of how language features found in text can predict human judgements of writing proficiency and changes in writing levels in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The goal is to provide a better understanding of how language features in text produced by writers may influence writing quality and growth. The overview will focus on three main linguistic construct (lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and text cohesion) and their interactions with quality and growth in general. The paper will also problematize previous research in terms of context, individual differences, and reproducibility.
{"title":"Linguistic features in writing quality and development: An overview","authors":"S. Crossley","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.01","url":null,"abstract":": This paper provides an overview of how analyses of linguistic features in writing samples provide a greater understanding of predictions of both text quality and writer development and links between language features within texts. Specifically, this paper provides an overview of how language features found in text can predict human judgements of writing proficiency and changes in writing levels in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The goal is to provide a better understanding of how language features in text produced by writers may influence writing quality and growth. The overview will focus on three main linguistic construct (lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, and text cohesion) and their interactions with quality and growth in general. The paper will also problematize previous research in terms of context, individual differences, and reproducibility.","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42298136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-02-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2019.11.03.04
Michael Fartoukh, Lucile Chanquoy
This study examines the benefits of an expressive writing intervention in 5th graders on well-being – anxiety and depression symptoms – and on working memory capacity. A classical paradigm of expressive writing was used in school children during their classroom time: half of the participants had to write about stressful and negative events of their own lives, whereas the other half had to write about a normal school day. Children were asked to write four times in two weeks, resulting in four days of writing. Each group completed questionnaires yielding measures of depression, anxiety, and working memory 3 times: before the intervention, just after the writing sessions and two months after following the intervention. The narratives were analyzed using Emotaix-Tropes software. The results revealed that all the children showed a decrease in depression and anxiety symptoms. By contrast, only children in the expressive writing group showed working memory improvement. The potential benefits of emotional disclosure in school children are discussed. While there are several possible explanations for these findings, the results of this study indicate, first, that expressive writing seems to be both feasible and potentially valuable for school children, and second, that some cognitive changes occur in terms of cognitive functioning.
{"title":"Expressive writing in school children: Effects on well-being and working memory","authors":"Michael Fartoukh, Lucile Chanquoy","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2019.11.03.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2019.11.03.04","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the benefits of an expressive writing intervention in 5th graders on well-being – anxiety and depression symptoms – and on working memory capacity. A classical paradigm of expressive writing was used in school children during their classroom time: half of the participants had to write about stressful and negative events of their own lives, whereas the other half had to write about a normal school day. Children were asked to write four times in two weeks, resulting in four days of writing. Each group completed questionnaires yielding measures of depression, anxiety, and working memory 3 times: before the intervention, just after the writing sessions and two months after following the intervention. The narratives were analyzed using Emotaix-Tropes software. The results revealed that all the children showed a decrease in depression and anxiety symptoms. By contrast, only children in the expressive writing group showed working memory improvement. The potential benefits of emotional disclosure in school children are discussed. While there are several possible explanations for these findings, the results of this study indicate, first, that expressive writing seems to be both feasible and potentially valuable for school children, and second, that some cognitive changes occur in terms of cognitive functioning.","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":"54 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138509442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-02-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2019.11.03.03
D. Atkinson
{"title":"Engaging in deliberate practice: The metacognitive awareness of expert ELT textbook writers","authors":"D. Atkinson","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2019.11.03.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2019.11.03.03","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":"54 1","pages":"477-504"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138509444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.02
C. Price, Ruth Price-Mohr
This paper extends our research into a novel Story-Writing-Coding engine, where Primary School children produce animated stories through writing computer code. We first discuss the theoretical basis of our engine design, drawing on Systemic Functional Grammar, embodied cognition and perceived animacy. This design aims to help children draw on the appearances of characters, props and scenery to evoke linguistic constructs leading to the emergence of stories. The second part of this paper reports on an empirical study where we aim to answer two research questions. First can compositions so produced be seen as valid compositions? To answer this question we conducted a linguistic analysis of coded stories and those written in an English classroom, and also using teacher ratings of these stories. Results indicate that while there are no significant linguistic differences between coded and English stories, coded stories are impoverished and should be seen as a first-draft to be revised in the English classroom. The second question was to probe our observation that while coding, children spontaneously told stories. Here we draw upon theories of embodied cognition and of perceived animacy. Our analysis suggests that these theories, taken together, help to explain the spontaneous emergence of stories.
{"title":"Emergent Stories Written by Children while Coding: How do these Emerge and Are they Valid Compositions?","authors":"C. Price, Ruth Price-Mohr","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.02","url":null,"abstract":"This paper extends our research into a novel Story-Writing-Coding engine, where Primary School children produce animated stories through writing computer code. We first discuss the theoretical basis of our engine design, drawing on Systemic Functional Grammar, embodied cognition and perceived animacy. This design aims to help children draw on the appearances of characters, props and scenery to evoke linguistic constructs leading to the emergence of stories. The second part of this paper reports on an empirical study where we aim to answer two research questions. First can compositions so produced be seen as valid compositions? To answer this question we conducted a linguistic analysis of coded stories and those written in an English classroom, and also using teacher ratings of these stories. Results indicate that while there are no significant linguistic differences between coded and English stories, coded stories are impoverished and should be seen as a first-draft to be revised in the English classroom. The second question was to probe our observation that while coding, children spontaneously told stories. Here we draw upon theories of embodied cognition and of perceived animacy. Our analysis suggests that these theories, taken together, help to explain the spontaneous emergence of stories.","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46846374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.01
S. Crossley
This study introduces GAMET, which was developed to help writing researchers examine the types and percentages of structural and mechanical errors in texts. GAMET is a desktop application that expands LanguageTool v3.2 through a user-friendly, graphic user interface that affords the automatic assessment of writing samples for structural and mechanical errors. GAMET is freely available, works on a variety of operating systems, affords document batch processing, and groups errors into a number of structural and mechanical error categories. This study also tests LanguageTool’s validity using hand-coded assessment for accuracy and meaningfulness on first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing corpora. The study also examines how well LanguageTool replicates human coding of structural and mechanical errors in an L1 corpus as well as assesses associations between GAMET and human ratings of essay quality. Results indicate that LanguageTool can be used to successful locate errors within text. However, while the accuracy of LanguageTool is high, the recall of errors is low, especially in terms of punctuation errors. Nevertheless, the errors coded by LanguageTool show significant correlations with human ratings of writing and grammar and mechanics errors. Overall, the results indicate that while LanguageTool fails to flag a number of errors, the errors flagged provide an accurate profile of the structural and mechanical errors made by writers.
{"title":"Using human judgments to examine the validity of automated grammar, syntax, and mechanical errors in writing","authors":"S. Crossley","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.01","url":null,"abstract":"This study introduces GAMET, which was developed to help writing researchers examine the types and percentages of structural and mechanical errors in texts. GAMET is a desktop application that expands LanguageTool v3.2 through a user-friendly, graphic user interface that affords the automatic assessment of writing samples for structural and mechanical errors. GAMET is freely available, works on a variety of operating systems, affords document batch processing, and groups errors into a number of structural and mechanical error categories. This study also tests LanguageTool’s validity using hand-coded assessment for accuracy and meaningfulness on first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing corpora. The study also examines how well LanguageTool replicates human coding of structural and mechanical errors in an L1 corpus as well as assesses associations between GAMET and human ratings of essay quality. Results indicate that LanguageTool can be used to successful locate errors within text. However, while the accuracy of LanguageTool is high, the recall of errors is low, especially in terms of punctuation errors. Nevertheless, the errors coded by LanguageTool show significant correlations with human ratings of writing and grammar and mechanics errors. Overall, the results indicate that while LanguageTool fails to flag a number of errors, the errors flagged provide an accurate profile of the structural and mechanical errors made by writers.","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44783938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.03
Qiandi Liu, Shinian Wu
{"title":"Same goal, different beliefs: Students’ preferences and teachers’ perceptions of feedback on second language writing","authors":"Qiandi Liu, Shinian Wu","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.03","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49011937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-10-01DOI: 10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.04
R. Zabihi, Mehdi Mehrani-Rad, Ali Khodi
{"title":"Assessment of Authorial Voice Strength in L2 Argumentative Written Task Performances: Contributions of Voice Components to Text Quality","authors":"R. Zabihi, Mehdi Mehrani-Rad, Ali Khodi","doi":"10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2019.11.02.04","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Writing Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42281459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}