A framework for developing self-directed technology use for language learning. Reference analysis.

A framework for developing self-directed technology use for language learning. Reference analysis.

The article written by Chun (2013) describes a study carried out in order to see how self-directed technology encourages the process of language learning and the factors that may have an effect throughout its course. While developing the main points, the author makes use of several APA style conventions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the reference list used in the article.

To begin with, the reference list can be said to follow some of the rules provided by the APA manual. To begin with, all the sources are alphabetically ordered by the author’s last names and all major words are capitalized. The author seems to respect the capitalization and punctuation of the articles cited in his paper and presents the journal title in full. Furthermore, the author respects the fact that web pages, books, and articles are cited in different ways.

On the contrary, there were several APA style regulations regarding the reference list which the author seems not to follow. One of them could be the fact that it is not included on a separate page from the main text. Instead, the reference list can be seen attached to the body of the paper. In addition, the author also omitted centering the title of the references and did not double-spaced the lines.

To conclude, it can be inferred from the paper that the author uses a wide range of conventions provided by the APA style manual such as the alphabetical order, capitalization and punctuation but did not pay special attention to other rules like having the reference list on a separate page or the spacing requirements.

References

Paiz et. al (2014). Reference List: Electronic Sources (Web Publications). 2Owl Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

A framework for developing self-directed technology use for language learning

A framework for developing self-directed technology use for language learning

Purpose: To summarize the basic concepts of a study on the use of self-directed technology for language learning and the implications of its findings.

Thesis statement: Encouraging students to develop self-directed use of technology enhances better learning results.

Audience: Teachers of English, learners of English, researchers.

I. Introduction

II. Theoretical background.

A.    The Theory of Planned Behaviour.

B.     Attitudinal factors.

1. Attitudinal factors antecedents.

      C. Perceived behavioral control.

      D. Subjective norm.

III. Research methodology

A.    Participants

B.     Materials

C.     Modeling and analysis.

IV. Results and discussion.

A.    Conceptual model

B.     Final Model

C.     Determinants of the Five Endogenous Variables.

1.      Technology Use.

2.      Perceived Usefulness.

3.      Educational Compatibility.

4.      Computer Self-Efficacy.

5.      Self-Regulation.

D.    Interactions of Attitudinal, Perceived Control, and Social Influence Components in the Model

E.     Discrepancies between the Conceptual Model and the Structural Model

V. Implications on educational intervention framework.

VI. Conclusions

VII. Acknowledgements.

VIII. References.

References

Chun, L. (June 2013). A framework for developing self-directed technology use for language learning. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/june2013/lai.pdf.

Book Critique

Book Critique
Academic writing: A handbook for international students

The book 'Academic writing: A handbook for international students' by Bailey (2006) aims at guiding students along the path towards academic writing. In this book, the author intends to suit the needs, particularly, of those students whose native language is not English, since he considers that they "often find the written demands of their courses very challenging. In addition to learning academic English they need to adopt new conventions of style, referencing and layout" (p.vii). To cover these aspects, Bailey (2006) presents the reader with a four-step process book comprising, the writing process, elements of unity, accuracy in writing, and writing models; intended to aid the reader in learning the basic skills needed to produce texts that meet the standards and requirements of academic writing.

The author deals with the most important features of writing required in academic papers throughout the book. In the first section the author explains the basic writing principles from the very first stages to the final proof-reading stage, guiding the reader in evaluating texts, understanding register and purpose, avoiding plagiarism, taking notes, summarizing, planning, organizing paragraphs, combining sources, rewriting and proof-reading. In the second section the emphasis is placed on the elements of writing, such as cohesion, definitions, examples, generalization, references and quotations, style, synonyms and variation in sentence length, to mention some. The third part is concerned with accuracy in writing that involves topics that have to do with the language itself and grammatical points, such as academic vocabulary, confusing pairs, conjunctions, countable and uncountable noun, prefixes and suffixes, modal verbs, passive voice and verb tenses. The fourth section provides the reader with some examples of the type of writing they may be commonly asked to write, there are examples of CVs, formal letters, surveys, and comparison and discussion essays. In addition, Bailey attempts to structure information in a graded way and offers several tasks so that the reader can test his/her learning process. The book is also provided with an answer key so that the readers can easily check their progress.

The book covers a variety of topics essential for academic writing, it provides and introduction and theoretical explanation of each topic introduced, as well as a vast amount of exercises for the reader to practice the subject matter of each section. It must be noticed that not all the topics are covered in the same extension, though the author provides proper and understandable explanation about abbreviations, adverbs, articles, punctuation, paraphrasing and some other topics; there is not enough information provided as regards how to avoid plagiarism, outlining and selecting key points, as well as summarizing. For example, the author states, “at first students need to follow a series of steps to summarize successfully. With practice the number of steps may be reduced, as the process becomes more automatic.”(p.32) but those steps are never mentioned. It is also important to note that the author intends to provide a series of models of “the types of writing that students commonly need” (p.vii), however only four examples are provided, formal letters, CVs, surveys and essays. It would have been more enriching if Bailey (2006) had included more writing models such as reports, reviews, case studies, research proposals, abstracts, and critiques, so that the reader could have a more ample view and clear examples or some other texts types that they may be required to write.

To conclude, it can be said that the book 'Academic writing: A handbook for international students' by Stephen Bailey (2006) leads students towards becoming proficient academic writers. The author intends to grant the essential tools that international learners need in order to produce successful pieces of academic writing. On the one hand, almost all the topics suggested in the book seem to serve as a useful device and are thoroughly explained. All the tasks follow a specific order and gradually guide learners into the writing process. On the other hand, further examples could have been more advantageous in the light of providing students with more instances to learn and practice. All in all, the book by Bailey might be considered as a practical tool that learners, who wish to become involved in academic writing, should have. 

References

Bailey, S. (2006) Academic writing: A handbook for international students (Second edition). Great Britain. Routledge. 

Academic summary “Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing”

Academic summary “Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing”

     In the article “Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing”, Tardy (2010) provides a description of Wikipedia as an information source, describes an assignment to introduce academic writing skills for second language (L2) writers, and outlines the stages to carry on a Wikipedia research project. 

     The author begins by introducing the term wiki, stating facts about the website, and also making reference to differing opinions as regards the usefulness of the webpage. Besides expressing her opinion, “it is difficult to deny the usefulness of the site as general reference” (p.13) she emphasizes the significant contribution that Wikipedia offers to those students who are being trained in academic writing, stating some of the issues that students face along the writing process.

     The article describes a project work which may be considered useful to introduce academic writing skills to students of L2. The assignment requires students to compose an article for the collaborative webpage Wikipedia. The author states the final goal of the assignment, the advantages that those who live in a non-English speaking country may have when publishing an article in Wikipedia, and the importance that the assignment will have in introducing several conventions necessary for academic writing.

    The article focuses on the different stages necessary to carry on the Wikipedia project which consist of 8 steps, going from examining Wikipedia to finally publishing student's article. Each stage is explained in detail and also some examples are provided so that the reader may get a clear picture of what she is presenting.

     On the whole, Tardy (2010) provides the reader with detailed and clear information about the benefits that a Wikipedia research project may bring to the field of academic writing, as the author said "students gain a real sense of audience and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing their work published on a high-traffic global website." (p.18).

References

Tardy, C. M. (2010). Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, 1, pp. 12-19, 27.

Analysis on in-text citations, signal phrases, and references.

Analysis on in-text citations, signal phrases, and references.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) offers instruction and guidance on all aspects of the writing process for academic purposes. It also delimits the way in which sources should be documented by providing several sets of rules in the light of assessing academic writing. It is the purpose of this paper to explore documenting sources as in-text citations, signal phrases and reference list, in the article Providing increased access to English L2 students of computer science at a South African University by Dalvit, Murray and Terzoli. (2005).

First, in-text citations are used to give the reader enough information about the source used by the author when paraphrasing or quoting. This citation should provide at least the author's last name and the year of publication. In the above-mentioned article, the authors did not make use of direct quotation, they mainly paraphrased. It was accurately done on page 73 “According to Halliday and Martin (1993)”, but it was not, some lines above where the author wrote “(Boughey, 2002)” or when they wanted to make reference to an organization such as “(Department of Education and Department of Communication, 2001)” (p.72). In these cases only the date of publication should have been in brackets.  

Second, the writer may introduce quotations smoothly into a text by using signal phrases. These phrases contain the author’s name and publication date, together with the writer’s reason or justification for using them. “According to Halliday and Martin (1993), students of scientific subjects…” (p.73), is an example that can be found in the article. However, the authors in the article analyzed used signal phrases only twice, “According to Heugh (2002), little has changed …” (p.72).  To convey ideas in a more fluid way, the writer is required to use a wide variety of signal phrases, otherwise, it would denote poor writing skills.  

Third, academic writing requires the authors to mention all the bibliography used and analyzed when writing their papers. This information, known as the reference list, should be acknowledged at the end of the work. Bearing this in mind, it can be said that some aspects concerning reference lists, were considered by the authors. For example, placing the references in alphabetical order, and respecting the hanging indentation rule. However, other aspects were overlooked, the references page is not separated from the main text, and the word reference was not centered at the top of the page. Moreover, the authors’ initials were not followed by a comma, and the title of the paper or periodical was italicized, instead of the title of the source, as it should have been "Sweetnam-Evans, M. (2001) Academic Achievement, Underachievement and Bilingual/Multilingual Education: What the University Can Contribute. Aambeeld/Anvil, 29, 47-53". Also web pages were inaccurately italicized,"High-Tech Dictionary.(2004), 28 April". In addition, the date that they wrote in parenthesis, at the end of the web address, should not be present.

In conclusion, it can be said that apparently the authors focused their attention on the message intended to express, and not on the way they were expressing it. Their knowledge, use, or application of the APA style for their academic publication, was far from what should have been. There were  problems as regards the correct use of in-text citations, lack of variety in signal phrases, and innumerable mistakes in the reference list. All this carelessness might not only affect the message to be conveyed but it may also lead to serious problems regarding author's rights. All in all, academic writers should consider the APA Manual in their writing process for academic purposes to facilitate, not only the writers' work but also the readers' understanding of it. 

References

Dalvit, L., Murray, S., Terzoli, A., & Zhao, X. (2005). Providing Increased Access to English L2
            Students of Computer Science at a South African University. US-China Education           Review, 2(9), 72-75.

Working on outlines

This is an example of an outline from an article called 'Teachers need Teachers to Grow'

Purpose: To show the key concepts revealed by a research study on collaborative teaching communities.  

Thesis: Being part of a teaching community helps teachers to share, improve and expand their professional skills.

Audience: Teachers, education researchers.

I. Introduction

       A. Study

              1. Main Purpose

              2. Secondary purpose

II. Teacher learning in a collaborative culture.          

       A. Teacher's beliefs

       B. Environment effects on teacher learning

                1. Group work

                2. Cohort structures           

                           a. closed

                           b. open

                           c. fluid   

III. Research process                                                                      

       A. Foundations                                                                    

       B. Data collection methods

       C. Timing

       D. Responses

IV. Cohort

       A. Description

                1. General characteristics

                2. Reasons for entering the program

       B. Context of the study

                1. General background

                2. Unique components

       C. Nature of Teacher's Learning Processes

                1. Survey

                            a. data collection

                            b. results

V. Context of the study                                                      

       A.General background                                                    

       B. Unique components of the study                                  

                                                                                     

VI. The nature of Teacher's Learning Processes                        

       A. Organization of information                                                  

       B. Survey results                                                                      

VII. The Cohort becomes a Collaborative Structure                            

       A. Learning community                                                             

       B. Teachers's impresions

VIII. The mesh between Program Design and Teacher's Learning Processes. 

IX. Summary and Implications

Source: Wenzlaff, T and Wieseman, K (2004). 'Teachers need Teachers to Grow.' Teacher Education Quarterly

Purpose

Welcome to TEFLessayist.

This blog purports to share essays on different aspects of Teaching English as a Foreign Language. It will also delve into varied education issues and academic writing features.