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St. Andrew’s University EAP Conference Saturday 9 th March 2019

Explore knowledge transfer of connectors in academic writing, impact on writing quality, and material redesign insights. Research methodology includes student surveys, interviews, and writing tests. Preliminary findings and improvement strategies discussed.

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St. Andrew’s University EAP Conference Saturday 9 th March 2019

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  1. St. Andrew’s UniversityEAP Conference Saturday 9th March 2019 Students’ Writing as a Resource to Inform Practitioners on the Redesigning of EAP Course Materials (source) with focus on connectors. Dr Usha Mani and Chris Jannetta, University of Dundee

  2. “Education is not achieved unless transfer occurs” (Perkins and Salomon, 1988). “I know what I should do, but I don’t know how to do it!” (Alcelik, 2018).

  3. Context • An analysis of knowledge transfer from the EAP Pre-sessional Business to the Business Module. • Profile of Sample Set • IELTS – Applicants with scores as low as 5.5 were enrolled • Conversion degree – UG field of study different from Masters • All Chinese L1 • Different specialisations on the Business modules

  4. Terminology Cohesive devices (Yang and Sun, 2012) Opposition relations (Kuzborska and Soden, 2018) Categorised into: Contrastive, concessive and corrective markers. Contrastive – but, however, by contrast, on the other hand, etc. Concessive – although, despite, notwithstanding.  Corrective – instead, rather etc.… However* could be used as both contrastive and concessive. Categorised into: • Reference, conjunction, substitution, ellipsis, and lexical cohesion

  5. Correlation between use of cohesive devices and writing quality in L1 Chinese learners of English • Yang and Sun (2012) found a positivecorrelation. • Liu and Braine (2005, cited in Crossley et. al., 2016) noted only a ‘moderate correlation’. • Alarcon and Morales (2011, cited in Kuzborska, 2018) did not find any ‘significant correlation’ between use of cohesive devices and writing scores.

  6. Aims and Methodology • Aims: • To analyse knowledge transfer of the correct use of connectors in academic writing • To assess how use of connectors affects quality of writing • Intended Outcome • How the findings of this research could inform future material design and delivery • Methodology: Adopting an inclusive approach in curriculum design • Student surveys • Student interviews • Analysis of final exam scripts • Peer tutor consultation

  7. Writing Tests: Pre-sessional and Business Module • Time allowed: 1 hour • 23-point scale • Task: • Write an essay • 350 words • Do not have to include a reference list • Must include Harvard citations from two academic articles

  8. PS Handout (Unity and Coherence)

  9. Preliminary Findings from the Survey • 50% of respondents knew the connectors taught on the pre-sessional BEFORE enrolling on the course • Almost 64% learned ‘in brief’ DURING the pre-sessional • Avoiding Plagiarism – • BEFORE pre-sessional – 9% ‘very good’ • AFTER pre-sessional – 70% ‘very good’ • Paragraph Structure • BEFORE pre-sessional – 25% ‘very good’ • AFTER pre-sessional – 36% ‘very good’ • Building an Argument • BEFORE pre-sessional – 18% ‘very good’ • AFTER pre-sessional – 40% ‘very good’

  10. Strategies for Improvement

  11. Summary of Student Interviews

  12. Analysis of Final Exam Scripts • Number of Connectors Used by Total Sample Set • pre-sessional – 178 • Business module – 166 • Effective use of Connectors Used by Total Sample Set • pre-sessional – 88.2% • Business module – 87.95%

  13. Key References • Alcelik, H., ‘I know what I should do, but I don’t know how to do it!’. Students perspectives on applying what they learn about argument and critical evaluation. EAP Conference 2018 No Innocent Bystanders: Stance and Engagement in Academic Discourse, St. Andrew’s University, February 2018. • Crossley, S., Kyle, K., and McNamara, D., 2016, The development and use of cohesive devices in L2 writing and their relations to judgements of essay quality, Journal of Second Language Writing, 32, pp.1-16. • Kuzborska, I., and Soden, B., 2018, ‘The Construction of Opposition Relations in High-, Middle-, and Low-Rated Postgraduate ESL Chinese Students’ Essays.’ Journal of English for Academic Purposes, vol. 34, pp. 68–85. • Perkins, D.N., and Salomon, G., 2012, Knowledge to Go: A Motivational and Dispositional View of Transfer, Educational Psychologist, 47(3), 248-258. • Yang, W., and Sun, Y., 2012, The use of cohesive devices in argumentative writing by Chinese EFL learners at different proficiency levels, Linguistics and Education, 23, pp.31-48.

  14. Discussion • How similar/different is this from your students? • Do you have any suggestions on how to apply knowledge of connectors from the pre-sessional courses to Masters degree modules? • How do we facilitate the teaching of cohesive devices? • Do we present exemplars of competent students’ writing/BAWE corpus to our pre-sessional students?

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