Improving Undergraduates’ and Postgraduates’ Academic Writing Skills with Strategy Training and Feedback

Abstract

To improve text quality in higher education, training writing strategies (i.e., text structure application, summarization, or language use) and provision of feedback for revising (i.e., informative tutoring feedback or try-again feedback) were tested in combination. The aim was to establish whether first, strategy training affects academic writing skills that promote coherence, second, whether undergraduates and postgraduates benefit differently from feedback for revising, and third, whether training text structure application strategy in combination with informative tutoring feedback was most effective for undergraduates' text quality. Undergraduate and postgraduate students (N = 212) participated in the 2-h experimental intervention study in a computer-based learning environment. Participants were divided into three groups and supported by a writing strategy training intervention (i.e., text structure knowledge application, summarization, or language use), which was modeled by a peer student in a learning journal. Afterward participants wrote an abstract of an empirical article. Half of each group received in a computer-based learning environment twice either try-again feedback or informative tutoring feedback while revising their drafts. Writing skills and text quality were assessed by items and ratings. Analyses of covariance revealed that, first, text structure knowledge application strategy affected academic writing skills positively; second, feedback related to writing experience resulted in higher text quality: undergraduates benefited from informative tutoring feedback, postgraduates from try-again feedback; and third, the combination of writing strategy and feedback was not significantly related to improved text quality.Keywords: coherence, feedback, higher education, text quality, writing strategies inTrODUcTiOn The writing performance of freshmen and even graduate students reveals a gap between writing skills learned at school and writing skills required at the college or university level (Kellogg and Whiteford, 2009): writers at school are able to transform their knowledge into a text that they can understand and use for their own benefit. Academic writing requires in addition to that presuming the readers' understanding of the text written so far to establish a highly coherent text (Kellogg, 2008).Several studies have shown that to improve writing, it is beneficial to train writing strategies and to support the writing process through feedback (Graham, 2006;Nelson and Schunn, 2009;Donker et al., 2014). This is also true for higher education (Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006;MacArthur , 2015;Wischgoll, 2016). Writing strategies can help learners to control and modify their efforts to master the writing task (Bereiter and Scardamalia, 1987). Feedback for improving writing provides information about the adequacy of the writing product (Graham and Perin, 2007). On the other hand, feedback that interrupts the writing process might be inhibitive (Corno and Snow, 1986). Feedback that is administered adapti...

Strateji̇ Eği̇ti̇mi̇ni̇n Li̇sans Öğrenci̇leri̇ni̇n Strateji̇ Kullanim Sikliğina Ve Yazma Süreci̇nde Karşilaştiği Zorluklara Dai̇r Algilarina Etki̇si̇

“…Therefore, it can be indicated that their suggestion is consistent with the results of the present study as both of them refer to explicit strategy training to help second language learners become more successful and independent writers. This conclusion supports that of Wischgoll (2017). The researcher regards writing strategy training as favorable as it affects academic writing skills positively and also it affects the quality of the texts in a positive way.…”

Online aviation learning experience during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Hong Kong and Mainland China

“…Prior studies demonstrate the inherent differences between undergraduates and postgraduates in various disciplines. For example, postgraduate students tend to have a better knowledge, practical skills and motivation in their own specialised disciplines (eg, Ranasinghe et al., 2017; Wischgoll, 2017). A possible reason is that postgraduates tend to be more self‐motivated and practice‐orientated, whereas undergraduate students are mainly driven by common core curricula and examinations stipulated by the university graduation requirement (Pei & Wu, 2019).…”

Inovasi Kurikulum dan Disain Pelatihan Karya Ilmiah bagi Pejabat Fungsional dengan Metode Berpikir Terbalik

“…Untuk itulah diperlukan sebuah upaya meningkatkan kemampuan dan kompetensi para insan akademis termasuk para pejabat fungsional tertentu dalam menyusun paper secara efektif (Sartika dan Prawitasari, 2020). Sedangkan menurut Madjid dkk (2017) dan Wischgoll (2017), salah satu upaya yang dapat dilakukan untuk meningkatkan kompetensi sumber daya manusia adalah melalui kegiatan pelatihan. Sejauh ini telah banyak dilaporkan mengenai kegiatan-kegiatan pelatihan penulisan KTI yang dilakukan dalam meningkatkan kemampuan menulis KTI, beberapa di antaranya dilakukan di kalangan mahasiswa sarjana (Ananta dkk, 2016), mahasiswa pasca sarjana (Budiyono, 2012), guru (Mawardi dkk, 2019; Dwijayanti dkk, 2017; Yulika dkk, 2016; dan Redhana dkk, 2014), dosen (Arbani dan Akbar, 2019; Ginanjar, 2018), peneliti (Sartika dan Prawitasari, 2020), serta widyaiswara (Nahriah, 2020;Arthur, 2018dan Alie, 2015.…”