An experiment using Penzu for extensive writing (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
DOI: 10.14686/buefad.651004 The present study focused on one of the Web 2.0 tools, Penzu. Penzu is a kind of online diary through which users can easily take notes and keep them on the Web. The study discussed the applicability of Penzu in foreign language classes as an integrated activity to develop language learners’ writing skills. In this respect, a sample Penzu page was prepared and introduced to foreign language teaching instructors at a state university in Turkey. The study followed a qualitative inquiry. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with the participants, and the data were collected through semi-structured interview questions. After analyzing the data, the results were reported descriptively. The results primarily indicated that the language instructors were in favor of implementing Penzu as an integrated activity in foreign language teaching classes to enhance students’ writing skills. The study also reported several strengths and weaknesses which may promote or h...
Bartın Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2020
The present study focused on one of the Web 2.0 tools, Penzu. Penzu is a kind of online diary through which users can easily take notes and keep them on the Web. The study discussed the applicability of Penzu in foreign language classes as an integrated activity to develop language learners' writing skills. In this respect, a sample Penzu page was prepared and introduced to foreign language teaching instructors at a state university in Turkey. The study followed a qualitative inquiry. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with the participants, and the data were collected through semi-structured interview questions. After analyzing the data, the results were reported descriptively. The results primarily indicated that the language instructors were in favor of implementing Penzu as an integrated activity in foreign language teaching classes to enhance students' writing skills. The study also reported several strengths and weaknesses which may promote or hinder the implementation of Penzu in language education contexts. All in all, this study attempted to enrich traditional foreign language teaching classes by implementation of Penzu as an integrated activity for writing skill, and to pave the way for further studies that foster application of Web 2.0 tools in language education contexts.
English Language Teaching, , 2013
In today’s world, there are lots of methods in language teaching in general and teaching writing in particular. Using two different tools in writing essays and conducting a study to compare the effectiveness of these two tools namely blog and pen-and-paper was the basis of this study. This study used a quantitative true experimental design aimed at comparing the students’ writing performance scores by using pen-and-paper essay writing and blogging among Iranian graduate students of University Putra Malaysia (UPM). The result of this study showed that the tools by themselves could not effect on the quality of writing essays and improvement in the students’ writing performance. However, using technology and in this study, Internet can motivate the EFL learners to write more eagerly since they may like innovation in learning in contrast with traditional old methods of learning writing and practicing it. Yet it does not necessarily improve their writing performance only because of using computer and Internet. The Iranian graduate students of UPM found blog more interesting and motivating tool for writing, but it was not as easy using as pen-and-paper for them with which everyone is familiar. This research could find answers to the research questions posed at the beginning of the study and investigated the hypotheses presented then.
Use of E-mail Dialogue Journal in Enhancing Writing Performance
Asian Social Science, 2013
In the age of computer mediated technology, the effects of the internet applications on learners' performance have been broadly investigated by many researchers. In keeping with this trend, this study compared the effect of conventional tools as pen-and-paper, and e-mail, on the writing performance in terms of content, organization, language use, vocabulary and mechanics. Forty two English major students from one intact class at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), based on their grades in "Expository Writing", as a subject taken in the previous semester, were randomly assigned into two groups, namely: pen-and-paper dialogue journal and e-mail dialogue journal. Pre and post writing tests were administered to identify two groups' differences in their writing performance scores. After going through seven week intervention, quantitative research results revealed that e-mail group outperformed their counterparts in overall writing performance and language use, one of the categories. However, for other writing performance components, this research showed no significant difference between groups. With the empirical data offered in this study, e-mail can be applied as a suitable tool to assist language learner to improve their writing performance.
Ezboard as a medium for extensive writing in Japanese tertiary EFL classes
The practice of extensive reading (ER) is enjoying a boom in Japanese universities. Waring's balanced curriculum hypothesis suggests that students, in addition to fluency-focused input, also require fluency-focused output. Though the evidence regarding writing extensively is rather more tenuous than that for ER, we advocate a practice that, by obvious analogy, we call Extensive Writing (EW). We suggest that computer-mediated communication is likely to encourage greater participation, and suggest that an internet-hosted bulletin board system such as ezboard is a suitable medium for this practice.
The Effect of Blog-Supported Writing Instruction on Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners
International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies, 2020
As an attempt to shed more light on the impact of blog as a Web 2.0 technology in Second Language (L2) learning, the purpose of this study was set to investigate the effect of blog-supported writing instruction on writing performance of Iranian English-as-a-Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To this end, a number of 43 EFL students from two intact classes in an Iranian private language center took part in this research. These two classes were randomly assigned to an experimental group (N = 21) and a control group (N = 22). As for the study intervention, the students of the experimental group received blog-supported writing instruction whereas those in the control group underwent the conventional writing instruction. Two timed-writing essays were administered before and after the treatment as the pre-test and the post-test, respectively. The results obtained from ANCOVA analysis revealed that although both groups experienced gains in writing performance scores, the participants of the experimental group surpassed those of control group in EFL writing performance, highlighting that the blog-supported writing instruction was significantly effective in improving the writing performance of the EFL learners. These findings provide significant implications for EFL writing pedagogy.
Journal of Academic Writing, 2023
This paper centres around the use of Eduflow, a novel online learning management system (LMS) which was introduced in a university-level Academic Writing course in response to the challenges brought about by the mandatory switch from face-to-face to online writing instruction (OWI) over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, Eduflow is piloted with a group of second-year university students of English language and literature at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. These students chose to fulfil their Academic Writing course requirements by compiling a writing portfolio. The rationale behind the use of this platform was the assumption that it would facilitate the online management of all the stages of the essay writing process: Writing a first draft, doing a peer review of essays created by fellow students, considering the comments received from fellow students, reflecting on one's own writing by doing a self-review, and finally, submitting the final version. The relentlessness of the pandemic led to the continuous application of this learning management system over the course of two entire academic years, each year with a different group of students. An online survey on the perceived usefulness and effectiveness of Eduflow was administered among the second generation of students who used this platform. As this small-scale analysis demonstrates, despite experiencing some easily resolvable minor technical difficulties, these students generally found Eduflow effective and useful as a supplementary tool for online writing instruction and showed particular appreciation for the collaborative peer review experience.
Learning to write in an online writing center: The effect of learning styles on the writing process
Computers & Education
One of the main advantages of online learning materials is that they can be adapted for students with different learning styles. This article presents a study and a methodology to investigate whether students with different learning styles make use of the potential flexibility of online learning materials, i.c. in the context of an online writing center. The study aims to investigate the effect of learning styles on (a) the students' approach to the writing task (process), and (b) on the letters they write (product). Twenty students each completed a module on writing 'bad news' letters designed for Business Communication courses. Their reading and writing processes were recorded. The letters were also graded to determine their quality. An effect of learning style was found: Active and Reflective writers approached the task differently, but only in the beginning of the process. In this early stage Reflective learners were more likely to focus on the theory section than Ac...
In today's world, writing is no longer a natural activity, especially for the younger generation. They look upon this activity as too complex, overwhelming and sometimes irrelevant. These attitudes are amplified when having to write in a second language. In EFL tertiary education, the expectations of academic achievement have become far greater than actual student capabilities. This study examined the possibility of using journal writing, both with and without an audience, as a way to address this issue. It is believed that by engaging Aynur Yürekli, Anita Afacan 2 students in the act of writing without the burden of an academic topic, it will indirectly impact students' academic performance. Seventy-six undergraduate students in three groups (one control and two experimental) were involved. Data was collected in the form of pre-test and post-test writing, student focus group meetings and an interview with the instructor. From the study, it was found that dialogue journal writing with an audience contributed to an increase in the proficiency level of students, especially in terms of their organizational skills. In addition, students who undertook journal writing expressed gains in self-confidence, and were aware of the role of journal writing in this. Finally, journal writing was found to offer insight to the instructor with regard to what is happening under the surface of a class, and thus better address students' needs.
W 2 Using Computers to Teach Writing: Advantages and Disadvantages hen considering whether to introduce computers into the writing classroom, one question stands above the rest: do computers improve the writing of students? The answer, surprisingly, is that we don't know. Wolfe et al. report that "researchers do not agree about the effects of using word processors on the quality of student writing" (270). Owston, Murphy, and Wideman inform us that "the results to date have been equivocal" (251). Joram et al. tell us that, in regard to the accepted belief that computers facilitate revision, "there is little research that directly tests this claim" (168). Collier and Werier find that "research on the qualitative changes effected in writing by word-processing systems have been either contradictory or inconclusive . . . for all population samples-experienced professional and academic writers, as well as several categories of inexperienced writers" (47).