Extensive Writing
Online:
theory & practice
RichardᴆS.ᴆLavin
FESSPUK
Problems with first
year tertiary English
Few classes with one teacher;
insufficient contact with English
Emphasis on reading, grammar,
vocabulary in high school.
Solution
Speaking in class
Writing outside of class
What kind of
writing?
Things students are interested in
Emphasis on fluency
Quantity
Quantity
“reading comprehension is predicted far more
powerfully by variables associated with the amount of
reading that students engage in and their
opportunities to read…”
Cummins, J. (2000). Academic language learning, transformative pedagogy, and information technology: towards a
critical balance. TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 537-48.
“grammatical aspects of students’ writing seem
to improve more from regular practice than they do
as a result of having errors corrected”
Truscott, J. (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes. Language Learning, 46, 327-69.
Online is best!
Archiving
Countable
Analyzable
Access any time
More sociable
CMC encourages greater volume
CMC > greater volume
perhapsᴆtheᴆmostᴆremarkableᴆandᴆappealingᴆ
featuresᴆofᴆLANsᴆareᴆtheᴆhighᴆvolumeᴆofᴆ
writingᴆbyᴆstudentsᴆandᴆtheirᴆgreatᴆdegreeᴆ
ofᴆparticipation
Braine, G., & Yorozu, M. (1998). Local area network (LAN) computers in ESL and EFL writing classes. JALT
Journal, 20(2), 47-59.
Classroom dynamic
“the instructor played less of a role in Web-based BB
discussions than the students did [whereas in face-to-face
discussions contributions were] distributed evenly
between the instructor and the students”
Kamhi-Stein, L. D. (2000). Looking to the future of TESOL teacher education:
Web-based bulletin board discussions in a methods course. TESOL Quarterly,
34(3), 423-55.
“Shy students who usually do not
participate in class discussion
expressed opinions elaborately in
online discussions, and greater
participation was witnessed”
Shibuya, A. (2002). Utilizing eGroup for Japanese students. The Language Teacher, 26(3), 21-22.
Extensive Writing
Similar to ER:
Quantity
Enjoyment
Different from ER:
Social
Media
Chat
Email
Mailing lists (Email groups)
BBS
Weblogs
WikiWiki
Dimensions
Asynchronicity
Many-to-many
Pull
BBS criteria
Cost
Ease of setup
Hosting
Interface:
getting started
daily (unsupervised) use
Blackboard
www.blackboard.com
WebCT
www.webct.com
The Forum Company
www.forumco.com
StereoDreamScene
www.stereodreamscene.co.uk
Ezboard
www.ezboard.com
Favourable Effects
Writing quantity
Enjoyment
Class atmosphere
Computer literacy
Ezboard features
Appearance
Counting contributions
Custom titles
Variations
Integrated vs. Non-integrated
Implementation
QCCs
Reply to student = 1.5
Message in integrated forum = 2
Implementation
Ezboard index
l + 2m + t1 + t2
t1: title (converted to numeric value)
after 1 month
Security
Interface
Push/Pull
Convergence
Disadvantage
Limited hierarchy (threading):
Community > Forum > Topic
Topics contain original message and
replies, but no replies to replies.
Issues
Balanced curriculum
Improvement in quality?
Reinforcement of errors
ER vs EW
ER program: more effective than frequent writing
program at improving students' writing
Tsang, W.-K. (1996). Comparing the effects of reading and writing on writing performance. Applied Linguistics, 17(2),
208-33.
Waring
Fluency development
ER
ER
EW
?
EW
Meaning-focused Meaning-focused
input
output
Language-focused learning
Nation
On output
“in producing an L2, learners will on occasion
become aware of (i.e. notice) a linguistic problem.
Noticing a problem can 'push' learners to modify
their output. In doing so, learners may sometimes
be forced into a more syntactic processing mode
than might occur in comprehension. Thus, output
sets 'noticing' in train, triggering mental processes
that lead to modified output. What goes on between
the original output and its reprocessed form, it is
suggested, is part of the process of second language
learning.”
Problems in Output and the Cognitive Processes They Generate: A Step Towards Second Language Learning
MERRILL SWAIN and SHARON LAPKIN
Applied Linguistics, Volume 16, Issue 3: (1995)
erroneous output may be evidence that a learner
has made a hypothesis about the language being
learned and is testing it out
Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
In speech comprehension, the interactive and
compensatory nature of the human comprehension
system can both promote comprehension and hinder
language development for second language
learners... the processes of grammatical encoding
during production and monitoring to check the
matching of the communicative intention and the
output enable language learners to assess the
possibilities and limitations of their interlanguage
capability. This may, under certain conditions, serve
as an internal priming device for consciousness
raising for the learners, which in turn creates an
optimal condition for language learning to take place.
Comprehension and Production Processes in Second Language Learning: In Search of the Psycholinguistic Rationale of
the Output Hypothesis
Shinichi Izumi
Applied Linguistics Volume 24, Issue 2, 2003: pp. 168-196
students writing English summaries of books they
read in an ER program scored better on cloze tests
than students receiving instruction on cloze tests and
than students writing summaries in Japanese
Mason, B., & Krashen, S. D. (1997). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System, 25(1), 91-102.
EWᴆisᴆnecessaryᴆtoᴆrealiseᴆtheᴆfullᴆ
benefitsᴆofᴆtheᴆlearningᴆresultingᴆfromᴆ
ER.
“Reading, then, if it is to represent engaged and
meaning-making activity, must allow for the ways in
which readers contribute to and make connections
with the text. Writing provides a unique opportunity
for discovering and exploring these contributions
and connections, for it allows the reader to dialogue
with a text and find a particular way into it.”
Zamel, V. (1992). Writing one's way into reading. TESOL Quarterly, 26(3), 463-85.
with first language classrooms, writing plays a central
role in the learning process, but not so much with
second language learning (at least in modern
communicative approaches). With second language
learning, research tends to focus on how learners
learn to write in the second language, rather than
how they learn the second language through writing.
Similarly, in first language classrooms, researchers
learn about children's learning processes through
their writing, whereas this window into learning
processes tends to be closed to a large extent with
second language learners.
Harklau, L. (2002). The role of writing in classroom second language acquisition. Journal of Second Language Writing,
11(4), 329-50.
Questions
QQCs: what’s appropriate?
What percentage of the curriculum
should be devoted to fluency-focused
writing?
Journal writing: online or on paper?
How to handle accuracy-focused
writing?
Reference
Lavin, R. S., & Beaufait, P. A. (2003). Ezboard as a medium for Extensive Writing
in Japanese tertiary EFL classes. Language Issues, 9(1), 37-59.