Abstract

Research has demonstrated the need for both teachers and students to find appropriate types of feedback for meaning-level (content) issues for English as a second langauge (ESL) writing (Kepner, 1991). The current study examines the use of a content revision log (where students monitor their revisions in such content issues as organization, paragraph development and use of topic sentences). Adding to the effect of applying the content revision log, the effect of holding conferences was also examined in the hope that referencing the content revision log during a conference session would bring the most positive results. There were three types of treatment, and the subjects included 3 teachers and 79 students. All of the student subjects' pre- and post- tests, the recorded numbers of content-based needed revisions on the content revision log, and both students and teachers' answers on an attitudes assessment survey were examined. The study found a significant effect on overall writing improvement for the combination of the content revision log and conference feedback compared to the use of the content revision log itself which in turn was better than the results found for the control group. The log + conference group demonstrated the greatest improvement for both types of data: the degree of progress between the pre- and post- tests and the decreasing rates of revision marks on the content revision log. In addition, the log + conferences group had greater numbers of more treatable content issue categories, followed by the log group, lastly the control group. Finally, the results of surveys reflect most students and teachers' preference toward the use of the log or conferences.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Linguistics and English Language

Rights

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