Evaluating the impact of feedback given via wikis on ESL students' reports /
This case study explored the impact of using wikis as a tool in developing ESL engineering students' report writing skills. The kinds of errors made and the effect of feedback given via wikis on students' revisions and writing quality were investigated. Seventeen fourth year students from...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Gombak, Selangor :
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge, International Islamic University Malaysia,
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentrepo.iium.edu.my/handle/123456789/6455 |
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| Summary: | This case study explored the impact of using wikis as a tool in developing ESL engineering students' report writing skills. The kinds of errors made and the effect of feedback given via wikis on students' revisions and writing quality were investigated. Seventeen fourth year students from the Faculties of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Chemical Engineering at University Malaysia Pahang participated in this study. The students were enrolled in a required final year course, the Undergraduate Research Project (URP), in which they had to produce a final year engineering report. Data was triangulated using several data collection methods which included drafts written by students, feedback provided and the revisions done via wikis. Group and individual interviews, field observation, participant-teaching and review of documents were also conducted to collect salient data. The students' errors and feedback were analyzed using Stern and Solomon's (2006) coding categories whilst revisions were examined using Faigley and Witte's (1981) Taxonomy of Revisions. The ESL Composition Profile was used to assess writing quality pertaining to language and the URP marking scheme produced by the faculties was used to evaluate the quality of the reports according to the discipline. Findings showed that a majority of the students' errors addressed by the feedback provided via wikis were micro-level errors. The students used most of the feedback they received via wikis to revise their reports. Revisions made by the students were mostly surface level revisions at word or graphical levels. Upon further investigation, sixteen students showed statistically significant improvements in writing when their reports were evaluated using the ESL Composition Profile. Thirteen students showed statistically significant improvements when assessed using the URP marking scheme. However, one student showed negative improvements with both marking schemes. In sum, this study indicates that feedback and language support had a positive impact on ESL engineering students' report writing specifically in terms of the effect on revisions and writing quality. The study also shows that wikis can be an effective tool for teaching report writing as it makes the writing process visible to the readers. Errors, feedback and revisions can be easily reviewed and addressed using the History facility provided by this editable, web-based tool. Other facilities, for instance the email notifications, hyperlinked researcher and students' wiki sites and contributor-tracking features, helped the researcher to easily monitor the students' written work and writing progress. |
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| Item Description: | Abstract in English and Arabic. "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Language Studies"--On t.p. |
| Physical Description: | xv, 248 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-229). |