Recently, the interactive quality of text has been more extensively examined as finer analytical approaches and tools are developed to tease out these evaluative meanings. For instance, the engagement sub-system of the appraisal framework [Martin, J.R. (2000). Beyond exchange: Appraisal systems in English. In: Hunston, S., Thompson, G. (Eds.),…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of TRALE (Technology-Rich Authentic Learning Environments) on children's writing development by tracing the logical sequence of how TRALE fostered goal-directed behavior and planning that resulted in initiating and maintaining cognitive components until a written product was completed. The…

This study investigated cognitive factors that might influence Chinese EFL learners' argumentative essay writing in English. The factors that were explored included English (L2) language proficiency, Chinese (L1) writing ability, genre knowledge, use of writing strategies, and working memory capacity in L1 and L2. Data were collected from 136…

A problem-based learning approach was adopted for a unit of study in first year agricultural economics at the University of Sydney with the aim of starting development of students' research skills earlier than usual. The novel teaching approach employed a structured and guided problem activity in the first semester and progressed to a more…

This paper describes a case study of the impact of the introductory psychology course on students' understanding of their life experiences and course-related ideas. Student responses to a final essay assignment were analyzed to construct composites for areas of applied and transformed understanding. Results are important for psychology teachers…

Background: Twenty-first-century undergraduates often find eighteenth-century culture difficult to access and, influenced by popular assumptions about the period in current media theory, characterise the century as individualist, underestimating the cultural significance of social networking in literary and political history. Purpose: This study…

A generic approach in automated essay scoring produces scores that have the same meaning across all prompts, existing or new, of a writing assessment. This is accomplished by using a single set of linguistic indicators (or features), a consistent way of combining and weighting these features into essay scores, and a focus on features that are not…

After noting the disconnect between students' passionate oral stories and their lifeless writing, an adult education instructor made specific instructional and curriculum changes in an ESOL reading and writing course. All changes served the purpose of teaching the element of voice in second language writing. The instructor used the issue of…

This article reports on an interdisciplinary and collaborative educational module prepared for fourth-year Psychology and Social Work students at two higher education institutions in the Western Cape, South Africa. The aim of the module was to provide students with the opportunity to experience learning across the boundaries of institution,…

This study investigated the relationship between self-efficacy and imposter phenomenon and their effects on EFL learners' writing ability. Participants were 94 male and female university students. The aim was to find out how self-efficacy and imposter phenomenon would be related, how these personal factors would relate to writing ability, and…

This study examined the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) constructed by a group of 24 pre-service elementary teacher participants as they learned about the moon's phases, inquiry learning, and use of the Internet message boards as a teaching tool as a part of their science teaching methods course. The MOON Project (More…

While plans for adult education programs are forming on a state level, Miami University Middletown (MUM) is developing a new program, Write Now! This program has three goals: (1) to encourage students to complete GEDs (General Educational Development); (2) to encourage those who have earned GEDs to consider postsecondary education; and (3) to…

The ethics and efficacy of explicitly teaching disciplinary discourse conventions to undergraduate students has been hotly debated. This quasi-experimental study seeks to contribute to these debates by focusing on the conventional special "topoi" of literary analysis--conventions that previous Writing in the Disciplines (WID) research indicates…

This article details the implementation and use of a "Review Stage" within the CAP (computerised assessment by peers) tool as part of the assessment process for a post-graduate module in e-learning. It reports upon the effect of providing the students with a "second chance" in marking and commenting their peers' essays having been able to view the…

Researchers tested whether writing increases ecological literacy in undergraduate elementary education students. The authors asked students to write 3 guided essays addressing the cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains in response to news articles on hypoxia. Of the 22 students, 64% improved their ecological literacy from the 1st essay to…