L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature
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Education on plagiarism in Chinese-L1 textbooks on academic writing published in China
No full textTeachers in Anglophone universities have often attributed Chinese ESL students’ plagiarism to “cultural difference”, the implication being that what is considered plagiarism in the English-speaking world may not be seen as plagiarism in China. We believe this assumption needs to be questioned on the basis of systematic evidence gathered from the local L1 (first language) context; a large collection of writing textbooks published over time is potentially a valuable dataset for starting to look for such evidence. By analysing the relevant content in a collection of 60 textbooks on Chinese-L1 (Chinese as the First Language) academic writing, our study aimed to answer this question: According to these textbooks, what is plagiarism and how can one avoid plagiarism? Data-driven content analysis revealed that despite alignment with the Anglophone world in defining what is plagiarism, their approach to dealing with it differs. The Chinese textbooks focus on large-scale copying in conceptualising plagiarism, with explanation of plagiarism at local or sentence and paragraph levels, bypassed; and for ways to avoid plagiarism, self-discipline and the formalities of source acknowledgement are emphasised, but textual strategies of proper source citation are hardly addressed. We point out that such gaps in the textbooks, and accordingly, in the Chinese education system, are partly responsible for Chinese students’ confusion in the proper practices of source use in academic writing. We end the paper by proposing avenues for future research for further understanding the issue of plagiarism in the local L1 environment and for interrogating the debatable “cultural difference” view of plagiarism
Cognitive Activation as an Aspect of Literature Instruction
Get PDFIn this study, the concept cognitive activation is used to assess and discuss teaching quality in Swedish and Norwegian lower secondary literature instruction. Drawing on video data from 54 classrooms, it investigates the cognitive activation potential (CAP) of tasks and reading activities. It also investigates how and to what extent teachers, through their instructional support, increase or decrease the CAP of these tasks. The objective CAP of 280 tasks was estimated, ranging from low to high on a four-point scale. As tasks are not always carried out in the way teachers initially intended, the realised CAP of all the tasks was also estimated. In one third of all the sampled tasks, literary texts were read. During more active work with texts, the objective CAP was mostly of a medium-high level. However, students were seldom required to analyse, compare, and interpret literary texts. The realised CAP often remained unchanged by teachers’ instructional support. This suggests that there is room for teachers to improve and increase their interaction with students in ways that may enhance the latter’s literary competence. Implications for students’ learning and development of literary understanding are discussed
Teaching Thematic Structure in Greek through Design-Based Research: Its Effects on Student Argumentative Written Productions
Get PDFIn the ESL/EFL bibliography it is suggested that teaching topical structure analysis helps students improve coherence in writing. This paper aims at presenting an integrated thematic structure teaching model for Greek secondary education and arguing for its impact on student argumentative text writing in terms of cohesion and coherence. The research methodology followed was design-based, involving four pre- and four post-tests student writing samples, field notes derived mainly from three non-participant observers and the teacher-researcher, and four focus group student interviews, along with two observer interviews. The findings indicate that student writing significantly improved following this intervention. In addition, student post-test performance was closely related to the explicit and systematic teaching of thematic structure. These results suggest that the new model can further be used in developing the writing skills of secondary education students
Dialogue and defamiliarization: The conceptual framing of an intervention for challenging readers and improving the quality of literature discussions
Get PDFTo lead discussions about complex literary texts in a classroom of teenagers is no doubt a challenging task for many teachers. It is therefore meaningful to explore how teachers’ management of literature discussions can be supported and improved. Prior research indicates a positive relationship between certain modes of discussion and increased literary awareness. Yet observational studies underscore that open-ended, probing discussions about literature are scarce in today’s classrooms.
This article elaborates the theoretical framing of an intervention designed to improve the quality of teacher-led discussions about complex literary texts. We argue that dialogic theory, appropriate for highlighting the processes of classroom interaction, needs to be supplemented by theory that offers an explanation for the role of the literary text and its impact on both readers and their interaction processes. For this purpose, we examine the conceptual matching between theory of dialogic teaching, drawing on Bakhtin’s idea of meaning making as inherently dialogic, and theories of literary reception, specifically Shklovsky’s concept defamiliarization and recent didactical analysis of Derrida’s concept undecidability. The intention of the paper is to suggest a theoretical framing of the intervention, one that allows for both analysis of the aesthetic processes of reading and talking about literature, and specific guidance of teachers’ management of those discussions
Strategies for Expository and Narrative Texts: Students’ Perspectives on Text Type-Specific Cognitive and Metacognitive Reading Strategies
Get PDFBased on the assumption that reading strategies facilitate text comprehension and that they should differ regarding types of texts, this study aims at analysing which cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies are applied by university students (N = 54) for reading a narrative text compared to an expository text. To measure text-specific reading strategies, different channels of information were included such as highlighting of text segments qualitatively and quantitatively, qualitative and quantitative note-taking as well as the coherence of notes, and self-reported strategy use after reading. The findings show that students’ highlighting of text segments and note-taking differ regarding the type of text in amount and depth of processing, indicating a greater depth of processing for narrative texts. The self-reported strategies for reading the two types of texts also reveal differences in terms of the frequencies of applying elaborative and metacognitive strategies. Moreover, correlation analyses show that there is more correspondence between the reading strategies in the narrative condition compared to the expository condition. In sum, the students adapt their reading strategies to the types of texts and it appears that narrative text was read in a more strategic and deeply oriented manner than the expository text
Norwegian first-year student teachers’ knowledge of L1 grammar
Get PDFDespite protracted concerns about Norwegian students’ decline in grammatical knowledge, the issue is poorly researched empirically. Aiming to describe the level of Norwegian students’ grammatical knowledge in more detail, this article presents the results from a grammar survey distributed to first-year student teachers (N=235). The following research question has guided the study: What characterises Norwegian student teachers’ grammatical knowledge as they enter teacher education?
The results clearly show that the student teachers’ grammatical knowledge is quite poor. The students know the word classes verb, noun, adjective and pronoun, as well as the sentence constituent subject. Their knowledge is founded on semantics, while structural features of language seem to be a blind spot. The study contributes to the international research on grammatical subject knowledge (an important part of Knowledge of Language [KaL]). The paper will also fill a research gap on Norwegian student teachers’ grammatical knowledge. Moreover, this article will be the first to report student teachers\u27 grammatical knowledge from a context with two written standards, as we have in Norway
How do elementary students read poetry together? Elementary students’ reading practices using digital annotations
Get PDFThe Zoom platform provided students in recent online classes, which had been necessitated by COVID-19, with opportunities for active expression using digital annotations. This study explores the experience of elementary students reading poetry using digital annotations and its usefulness as social constructivist reading. As such, we conducted a case study of an out-of-school literature class that used Zoom annotations, and collected data through participatory observation, activity materials, and interviews from 16 participating students. The data were analyzed by coding and categorizing common themes in two processes—annotation generating and sharing. We found that the digital annotations facilitated students’ comprehension of challenging texts. They shared their thoughts and reflected on each other’s opinions while generating and sharing annotations and socially constructing their appreciation. Digital annotations are significant in that they reveal the cooperative reading processes of students transparently, and they allow social annotations in literature classes in accordance with the interests and needs of the elementary students
Teacher students’ legitimation of teaching activities in the L1 classroom
Get PDFThis study investigates Norwegian L1 teacher students’ legitimation language as they retrospectively reflect on internship experiences during their first two years of teacher education. We aim to describe the teacher students’ legitimation of teaching activities within the framework of the specialization dimension of Legitimation Code Theory. Drawing particularly on Bernstein’s ideas on different knowledge structures and on teaching and acquisition of humanistic subjects, we critically discuss why the interviewees’ legitimation language only to a small degree works to classify L1 as a distinct school subject. By investigating the legitimation language used by teacher students in their second year of teacher education, our study aims to highlight the educational pathway to the L1 teacher profession. Using policy ideals as a backdrop for discussing the implications of our findings, we describe possible measures to assist teacher students’ development toward professional subject didactic reasoning and legitimation
Knowledge of What? Teachers’ perspectives of an L1 Language and Literature subject curriculum document
Get PDFAfter the state-based curriculum-development process has finished, the local curriculum-making of the teachers begins. This paper empirically explores the subject curriculum from the perspectives of teachers, focusing on the Norwegian language and literature subject (L1). Using group interviews and drawing on curriculum theory and L1 research and disciplinary didactics that focus on knowledge, we examine how upper secondary school teachers engage with and understand a newly launched curriculum document in Norwegian L1. Our analysis revealed that the L1 teachers had various perspectives on what they considered important subject-matter knowledge, depending on how they read, navigated, and combined components within and across the curriculum text. In addition, the L1 teachers generally perceived a rather weak narrative about explicit subject-matter knowledge in the curriculum document. Finally, most L1 teachers felt they were being guided in terms of how to teach rather than what to teach. Our findings suggest that a consideration of teachers’ voices is crucial for understanding how a formal subject curriculum text works to select content in an L1 subject and the role that knowledge plays in a competency- and future-oriented curriculum such as Norway’s
Writing fluency predicted by reading, linguistic and cognitive skills in L1 and L2 in the writing of bilingual biscriptal Persian-Swedish children
Get PDFAbstract
Literacy acquisition in children’s L1 and L2 contributes to academic success, and embraces and supports children’s backgrounds and identity formation. However, limited education can prevent bilingual children from developing their writing fluency on the same level in L1 and L2. An analysis of writing fluency can show aspects that require more or less effort in children’s L1 and L2 writing. Thus, it is important to examine writing fluency and the related reading, linguistic and cognitive skills across children’s languages. Our knowledge is limited regarding the skills that could influence children’s writing fluency. Previous studies have mainly focused on Latin scripts and/or one alphabetic and one non-alphabetic script. Furthermore, English has been the writers’ L1 or L2. This paper investigated reading, linguistic and cognitive skills related to the writing fluency of bilingual biscriptal children in two different alphabetic scripts: Persian (L1) and Swedish (L2) across two different genres: narrative and descriptive. 23 children in years 4–9 (aged 10–15) produced four texts each using the Eye and Pen tool. Standardised tests across both languages were used to explore the participants’ reading, linguistic and cognitive skills. Analyses showed that they were more fluent writers across both genres in L2. Word reading appears to contribute to writing fluency across both languages, whereas vocabulary knowledge only related to writing fluency in L1. No significant relationship was found between working memory and writing fluency in either L1 or L2.
Keywords: Handwriting, Eye and Pen, word comprehension, working memory, vocabulary, word reading