Research: Revision

Question: How do expert and inexperienced writers revise?

Answer/Quote: “…the expert writers read through the entire text to identify major problems and then focused on improving the whole text. In contrast, the novice writers began making changes immediately and proceeded to search through the text for local errors.” P. 58.

Comment: An interesting difference in approaches to revising. I wonder what would happen if students were instructed to read through the whole text of their drafts before beginning to revise. This research suggests that these instructions would make a significant difference in the success of students’ revision. RayS.

Title: “Redefining Revision for Freshmen.” DL Wallace and JR Hayes. Research in the Teaching of English (February 1995), 54-66.

Research: Audience

Question: How did experienced writers differentiate between two contrasting audiences?

Answer: Wrote for college freshmen and a faculty committee. “Writers attributed the same characteristics to both audiences despite the difference in these audiences’ social status within the university structure. P. 38.

Comment: Hard to interpret this finding. For me, it means that in spite of significant differences in audience social status, experienced writers write for the same audience in at least part of their writing. But they also are sensitive to the different audiences in other parts of their writing. RayS.

Title: Writing Up and Down the Social Ladder: A Study of Experienced Writers Composing for Contrasting Audiences.” G Kirsch. Research in the Teaching of English (February 1991), 33-53.

Research: Teachers and Literature

Question: How do teachers read literature and how do they teach it?

Answer/Quote:

Differences Between the Way Teachers Teach Literature and the Way They Read It

“The case studies revealed that the teachers’ personal approaches to literature included an emphasis on vicarious involvement. The case studies further revealed that the teachers’ use of the knowledge present in their personal approaches to literature is limited by a ‘school’ approach to literature which consists of a focus on comprehension and the learning of literary terms and concepts and which is supported by state-mandated achievement tests.” P. 5.

The Writing Project Approach to Literature

“One notable outcome of this study was that all the teachers said that the interviews and reading tasks they were asked to participate in helped them understand how their practical experience as readers might contribute to their teaching of literature. An important contribution of the writing project movement to the teaching of writing has been the practice in writing project institutes of having teachers write, reflect on their own writing processes, and place what they discover in the context of current theory. Similar opportunities for teachers to study their reading might help them begin to move beyond stultifying conflicts to ways of teaching which draw upon the full richness of what they know about literature.” P. 30.

Comment: Could extend this question to other aspects of language arts—how does the teacher’s personal approach to writing compare to the teacher’s teaching of writing?

I think there are three purposes for teaching literature: (1) understanding and asking questions about life; (2) understanding the techniques of constructing literature; (3) reading literature as a writer—study what works. RayS.

Title: “Teachers reading/readers Teaching: Five Teachers’ Personal Approaches to Literature and Their Teaching of Literature.” Don Zancanella. Research in the Teaching of English (February 1991), pp. 5- 32.

Research: The Contexts of Writing

Question: What are the Contexts of Writing?

Answer:

A. Ownership: Child decides to write; child required to write; child encouraged, not required, to write.

B. Setting: School; home and school; on the move (car, bus, short trips, etc.).

C. Audience: Adults at school; adults unrelated to school (President, Santa Claus, etc.); peers; self; general (anyone, everyone).

D. Purpose: To fulfill a requirement; to interact with others; to share something admired; create; facilitate; bored; to express emotion, etc.

E. Genres: School writing; common forms (fiction, essays, poems, etc.).

Comment: Might be interesting to have students complete this checklist with each writing assignment. RayS.

Title: “Context and Children’s Writing.” Sally A. Hudson. Research in the Teaching of English (October 1986), 294-316.

Research: Issues in Second-Language Learning

Question: What are a few of the issues in second language learning, specifically concerning reading comprehension?

Answer: L1 is English. L2 is the second language, the native language of the learner.

L1-based models of reading comprehension are based on oral language skills. L2 readers begin reading instruction in English without sufficient oral language proficiency.

L2 reading processes involve textual processes (word recognition, graphophonic, syntactic) and intertextual variables (prior knowledge, strategies to improve comprehension).

L2: Motivation

L2: Grammar

L2: Extensive reading, i.e., long text

L2: Fluency

L2: ineffective strategies—word-by-word reading.

Comment: Most of these issues are issues for L1 (native English readers) also. RayS.

Title: “Issues in Second-Language Reading: Implications for Acquisition and Instruction.” Review by Hossein Nassaji. Reading Research Quarterly (April/May/June 2011),173-184.

Annotated Research in English (6)

Topics: Types of Teachers; Childhood Reading and Adults; YA (Young Adult) Literature.

Types of Teachers

Question: What are some types of teachers?

Answer: “Found three types of teachers: the escapist, the pragmatist, and the intellectual adventurer.” LD Walker. 1988. P. 455.

Comment: Strangely, I’ve never tried to pigeonhole teachers into types. Having not read the dissertation in which this information was found, I can’t tell you what the “escapist” teacher is, and I can only speculate about the pragmatist. I had no trouble labeling myself as the intellectual adventurer type. RayS.

Childhood Reading and Adults

Question: Do adults remember the books they read as children?

Answer: “Eighty-eight percent of respondents were able to identify a book from childhood, with both classic and less familiar books identified.” SJ Imdieke. 1989. P. 456.

Comment: I’m curious. Why couldn’t the other twelve percent remember a childhood book they had read? RayS.

YA (Young Adult) Literature

Question: Why should pre-service teachers read YA literature?

Answer: “The readings helped familiarize pre-service teachers with young adolescents.” SM Digni. 1989. P. 457.

Comment: The same is true when reading children’s literature. The pre-service teacher learns again what it is like to be a child and to see the world through the eyes of a child. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RK Durst and JD Marshall. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1990), 441-457.