Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs

Research on academic writing has suggested the use of dialogic feedback, however little is known about its effects and the ways it can be offered. Therefore, this research attempted to develop the skills of writing and revising the literature review genre among four non-native postgraduate students...

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Main Author:	Yadollahi Kakh, Samira
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2014
Subjects:	LB Theory and practice of education
Online Access:	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/78516/1/SamiraYadollahiKakhPFP2014.pdf
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id	my-utm-ep.78516
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-utm-ep.785162018-08-26T11:58:27Z Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs 2014-07 Yadollahi Kakh, Samira LB Theory and practice of education Research on academic writing has suggested the use of dialogic feedback, however little is known about its effects and the ways it can be offered. Therefore, this research attempted to develop the skills of writing and revising the literature review genre among four non-native postgraduate students of Civil Engineering by offering dialogic feedback in Google Docs (GD) environment. The objectives of the study were to investigate: i) learners’ experiences, ii) the effects of dialogic feedback on learners’ subsequent drafts, and iii) the influence of interactions in GD on the learners’ writing behavior. To meet these objectives, the learners were asked to i) study some reading materials on how to write the literature review, ii) review some journal articles, and iii) draft their literature reviews in GD. Then, a writing emoderator together with a subject e-moderator provided dialogic feedback for each of the learners in the form of synchronous and asynchronous interaction in GD. Virtual participant observation, focus group interviews, learners’ journal entries, interactions, learners’ drafts, and the subject e-moderator’s reflections were sources of data. Results of the study showed firstly, dialogic feedback through GD provided timely support and guidance for the learners, stimulated learning from comparison and discussion, engaged the learners in revising, and developed a sense of readership in them. Secondly, dialogic feedback led to better revisions by drawing outlines, constructing topic sentences, developing cohesion and coherence, and constructing scientific arguments. Thirdly, the interactions in GD enhanced the learners’ selfregulatory behavior in discovering genre features by developing better understanding of the revising stage, summarizing, and paraphrasing techniques. This study suggests that using dialogic feedback in GD improved the quality of the learners’ drafts written in their disciplines. Moreover, GD could facilitate successfully timely and referable written dialogic feedback. Such breakthroughs have introduced a new dimension in academic writing pedagogy. 2014-07 Thesis http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/78516/ http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/78516/1/SamiraYadollahiKakhPFP2014.pdf application/pdf en public http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:97980 phd doctoral Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Education Faculty of Education
institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
collection	UTM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	LB Theory and practice of education
spellingShingle	LB Theory and practice of education Yadollahi Kakh, Samira Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs
description	Research on academic writing has suggested the use of dialogic feedback, however little is known about its effects and the ways it can be offered. Therefore, this research attempted to develop the skills of writing and revising the literature review genre among four non-native postgraduate students of Civil Engineering by offering dialogic feedback in Google Docs (GD) environment. The objectives of the study were to investigate: i) learners’ experiences, ii) the effects of dialogic feedback on learners’ subsequent drafts, and iii) the influence of interactions in GD on the learners’ writing behavior. To meet these objectives, the learners were asked to i) study some reading materials on how to write the literature review, ii) review some journal articles, and iii) draft their literature reviews in GD. Then, a writing emoderator together with a subject e-moderator provided dialogic feedback for each of the learners in the form of synchronous and asynchronous interaction in GD. Virtual participant observation, focus group interviews, learners’ journal entries, interactions, learners’ drafts, and the subject e-moderator’s reflections were sources of data. Results of the study showed firstly, dialogic feedback through GD provided timely support and guidance for the learners, stimulated learning from comparison and discussion, engaged the learners in revising, and developed a sense of readership in them. Secondly, dialogic feedback led to better revisions by drawing outlines, constructing topic sentences, developing cohesion and coherence, and constructing scientific arguments. Thirdly, the interactions in GD enhanced the learners’ selfregulatory behavior in discovering genre features by developing better understanding of the revising stage, summarizing, and paraphrasing techniques. This study suggests that using dialogic feedback in GD improved the quality of the learners’ drafts written in their disciplines. Moreover, GD could facilitate successfully timely and referable written dialogic feedback. Such breakthroughs have introduced a new dimension in academic writing pedagogy.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Yadollahi Kakh, Samira
author_facet	Yadollahi Kakh, Samira
author_sort	Yadollahi Kakh, Samira
title	Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs
title_short	Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs
title_full	Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs
title_fullStr	Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs
title_full_unstemmed	Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs
title_sort	developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in english using google docs
granting_institution	Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Education
granting_department	Faculty of Education
publishDate	2014
url	http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/78516/1/SamiraYadollahiKakhPFP2014.pdf
_version_	1747818004182204416

Developing non-native postgraduate students' academic writing skills in English using Google Docs

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