Proposal view
| Proposal Type: | Individual Paper |
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| Domain: | Learning and Cognitive Science |
| SIG: | Writing |
| Type | Submitted Paper |
| Equipment |
PC and projector |
| Paper Details |
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| Title | Effects of web-based training exercises in academic writing |
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| Abstract | Academic writing is a complex task that involves a variety of cognitive and metacognitive activities. However, many university students perceive academic writing as an ill-defined task which, as a consequence, leads to feelings of incompetence and frustration. Thus, the purpose of the research presented here was to develop and evaluate interactive web-based training exercises to support students’ acquisition of basic writing competences. The main concerns include the: (a) development of a psychologically sound computer-based writing environment for academic writing; and (b) empirical investigation of the effects of working with the writing environment on achievement and motivation. First, the development of the writing environment “escribo” is described. It is based on an integrative model of academic writing, which was derived from theoretical considerations and models of the writing process as well as text comprehension. This model identifies the demands of academic writing in detail. Therefore, it provides the basis for analysing empirical findings on strategies and techniques to master these demands. Consequently, empirically proven writing strategies were implemented into the writing environment. As a result, students receive cognitive and meta-cognitive support in their academic writing. Second, an empirical study using a delayed treatment design was carried out to determine the effects of the writing environment. Its results show that there is some evidence that working with the writing environment is superior to a situation without any support; in session 1, for example, students supported by “escribo” wrote texts with a better readability compared to students working without support. However, after composing texts with “escribo” students assessed the intrinsic value and their competence beliefs of writing lower than students of the comparison condition. Third, implications of these results will be discussed with regard to the restrictions and benefits of fostering basic competences of academic writing through interactive web-based training exercises. |
| Summary | Introduction Academic writing is a complex task that involves a variety of cognitive and metacognitive activities. Every university student has to master this complex task in order to achieve a final degree. Unfortunately, at German universities the acquisition of writing competencies is not yet explicitly addressed in the curricula. Therefore, students perceive academic writing as an ill-defined task which, as a consequence, leads to feelings of incompetence and frustration. In order to support the acquisition of students’ writing competences we developed the interactive web-based writing environment “escribo”. Furthermore, we evaluated it in a quasi-experimental setting. The purpose of this paper is to present (a) the development of a psychologically sound computer-based writing environment for academic writing; and (b) the effects of working with the writing environment on achievement and motivation. Development of the writing environment Task Analysis Developing a writing environment first requires a detailed description of the demands of academic writing. To this end, we analysed different general models of writing (e.g., Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; Hayes, 1996; Hayes & Flower, 1980; Kellogg, 1987). These models stress the writing process, its influencing variables, dependencies and interactions from different perspectives. Despite this, they congruently specify the cognitive processes collecting, planning, translating and reviewing as eminent parts of writing. Furthermore, they characterise writing as recursive process in which the final text develops from different text products. Academic writing additionally requires to process research papers (e.g., Hayes, 1996). This aspect is somewhat disregarded in the cognitive writing models. Thus, we also considered theoretical findings on text comprehension (van Dijk, 1980; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983) and included them into an integrative model of academic writing. In this model the writing process is divided not only into cognitive processes, but also into different sub-tasks a student has to cope with. During writing these sub-tasks will typically not be executed in a linear sequence. They rather are to be understood as cognitive and meta-cognitive writing activities which always can occur in form of complex patterns (see Figure 1). Analogue to the general models the sub-task model assumes that (a) a writing process takes place in a specific environment; and (b) individual writer prerequisites mediate between the environment and the writing process. It further assumes that a final text develops from different intermediate text products. Thus, the current text product defines the actual state of the developing text. In order to accomplish the writing assignment one has to develop mental representations about the writing assignment and the text to be composed which determine the target state of the text. A permanent comparison of actual state and target state allows controlling the text composition. The writing process itself consists of the sub-tasks orienting, collecting, planning, translating, and reviewing. Each of these sub-tasks is related to different activities and results in specific outcomes. Therefore, without succeeding in all sub-tasks the writing process will not be mastered successfully. Insert figure 1 about here Figure 1. The Sub-Task-Model of Writing This integrative model provided the basis to analyse empirical findings on strategies and techniques to master the demands of academic writing. Based on the results of this analysis we designed the writing environment “escribo”. User-Interface of “Escribo” The writing environment aims at supporting inexperienced university writers in acquiring basic competencies of academic writing. In order to prevent writing beginners from their typical working on the text surface, the goal of “escribo” is to direct the writers’ attention to higher level, structural considerations of the text (e.g., Kozma, 1991). For this purpose, using a file-card metaphor the user interface (a) divides the writing process in its sub-tasks and their corresponding writing activities, (b) instructs an adequate sequence, and (c) supports the writing by specific instructions and tools (see Figure 2). The writing assignment is always provided at the top of the screen. Each sub-task is represented by a major file card. Each file card consists of sub-file cards representing the different writing activities of the sub-task. Thus, students are supported in interpreting and clarifying task demands and in setting goals and sub-goals. Furthermore, they are always informed which activity calls for attention. Specific instructions and utilities support the writing activities. These implement empirical findings on effective writing strategies systematically. Insert figure 2 about here Figure 2. Screenshot of the User-Interface of “escribo” Evaluation In order to investigate the effects of “escribo” we conducted an evaluation study with N = 45 university students (35 females, 10 males, mean age = 22.7 years, mean semester = 2.2). This study did not only seek to investigate the effects of “escribo” on achievement (readability and content quality), but also on motivation. Thus, working with “escribo” was compared to a computer practice situation without any support. The study employed a delayed treatment control design with two measures. One half of the participants worked in the first session with “escribo” and the other half in the second. First the data of measure 1 were analysed separately. Whereas no statistical differences were found for quality of text content, the “escribo”-group achieved a better readability (F(1,36) = 3.99, p < .05). At measure 2 writers in both conditions achieved the same results on both performance dimensions. However, at measure 2 a main effect of working time was found (F(1,31) = 10.16, p < .01). Students who had worked with “escribo” at session 1 were about 30 minutes faster than the group who had not received any support in the session before. Surprisingly, in each case students assessed their motivation lower when they had worked with the writing environment (t1: F(1,36) = 5.07, p < .05; t2: F(1,31) = 5.53, p < .05). The results indicate that web-based training exercises can foster the acquisition of basic competences in academic writing. This holds true only, if the following prerequisites are met. First, the complexity of the writing process has to be broken up in order to make the demands of academic writing transparent. Second, theoretical and empirical findings should be used systematically to promote adequate writing strategies. |
| Keywords | Cognitive skills Computer-supported learning environments Writing |
| Appendices |
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| Authors | ||||||
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| Name | Surname | Institution | Country | EARLI Number | Presenting | |
| Antje | Proske | TU Dresden | Germany | antje.proske@tu-dresden.de | * | |
| Susanne | Narciss | TU Dresden | Germany | susanne.narciss@tu-dresden.de | ||
