Nurturing Student Writing Knowledge, Self-Regulation, and Attitudes in Higher Education

Self-assessment (SA) is regarded as a prestigious method of formative assessment in higher education. The present study explored the use of SA as an inclusive practice aiming to help students improve their writing performance, self-regulation, and attitudes. Forty-four undergraduate students attended an academic writing module for one semester. Students had all used peer assessment (PA) during the previous semester and were then asked to use SA. The lecturer provided training, mentoring, and coaching throughout the implementation taking into consideration students' individual learning needs. Students' pre-test and post-test scores showed that SA improved undergraduate students' writing performance more than PA. The findings from students' pre- and post-implementation survey revealed that SA had a strong impact on students' self-regulation. Considering the findings from the students' focus group discussions final essays and self-reflective journals, SA was challenging but developed students' autonomy, critical thinking, and sense of personal accountability significantly.

Factors that Affect the implementation of Teaching Writing Skills: Focus on Second Cycle Primary Schools in North Shoa

The purpose of this study was to determine the variables affecting the implementation of writing skills instruction and learning in grades 7 and 8 in North Shoa Zone Second Cycle Primary schools. The study's primary purpose was to determine the difficulties encountered by English language instructors and students while teaching and learning to write in English classes. The research included the participation of 25 English language instructors and 1484 pupils from 14 Second Cycle Primary Schools. A questionnaire and an interview were used to obtain the required data. Questionnaires were completed by instructors and students, and English language teachers were interviewed. The questionnaire data was tallied and examined statistically in terms of frequency and percentage. Similarly, interview data were categorized and qualitatively characterized. The investigation revealed that the majority of instructors and students struggle with teaching and learning writing skills. Additionally, although both English instructors and students believe they are engaging in writing activities in the classroom, the students' writing performance is not as promising as shown by open-ended questions and comments from English language teachers interviewed. Several key suggestions are made in light of the results of this research in order to mitigate the issues that impede the efficient implementation of writing instruction and learning in second cycle primary schools. The primary recommendation is to offer enough training for English language instructors on how to teach writing skills, which will then be conveyed to students in order for them to enhance their writing performance.

Investigation on Gender and Learners-Centered Teaching Strategies Toward Learners' Writing Performance

ABSTRACTThis research investigated the interaction effects between gender and Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies toward learners' writing performance. The study was a quasi-experiment using tests as the research instrument. The participants were 72 learners of the English Department at a state institution consisting of 34 males and 38 females. The class was classified into two parts: experiment groups consisting of self-directed learning class (SDL), discovery learning class (DL), and small group discussion class (SGD); and a control group: lecturing class (L). A two-way ANOVA was used for data analysis. The findings confirmed a significant difference by gender (F=10.629. Sig. 0.002<0.05); and Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies F=20.658. Sig. 0.000<0.050) on the learners' writing performance. It also indicated that females (means score 73.46) were higher than males (means score 64.45). In contrast, no interaction effect simultaneously occurred among gender and the Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies (F 2.70) = 2.301. Sig. 0.086>0.050). Both of them did not contribute simultaneously to writing performance. Lastly, the r squared was 0.574 indicating a high correlation of teaching strategies and gender (57%). The teachers were suggested to apply learner-centered teaching strategies in an L2 writing class at a higher education level.ABSTRAKPenelitian ini menyelidiki pengaruh interaksi antara gender dan strategi pengajaran terpusat pada peserta didik terhadap kinerja menulis peserta didik. Jenis penelitian ini adalah kuasi eksperimen dengan instrument yang digunakan adalah tes. Partisipan berjumlah 72 mahasiswa Jurusan Bahasa Inggris di sebuah universitas negeri yang terdiri dari 34 laki-laki dan 38 perempuan. Kelas diklasifikasikan menjadi dua bagian: kelompok eksperimen yang terdiri dari kelas self-directed learning (SDL), kelas discovery learning (DL), ; kelas diskusi kelompok kecil (SGD); dan kelompok kontrol: kelas kuliah (L). Anova dua jalur digunakan pada analisis data. Temuan mengkonfirmasi perbedaan yang signifikan terjadi untuk jenis kelamin (F = 10,629. Sig. 0,002 <0,05); dan strategi pengajaran terpusat pada peserta didik F=20.658. Sig. 0,000<0,050) terhadap kemampuan menulis siswa. Hal ini juga menunjukkan bahwa perempuan (rata-rata skor 73,46) lebih tinggi daripada laki-laki (rata-rata skor 64,45). Sebaliknya, tidak ada efek interaksi yang terjadi secara simultan antara gender dan strategi pengajaran terpusat pada peserta didik (F 2,70) = 2,301. Tanda tangan. 0,086>0,050). Keduanya tidak berkontribusi secara bersamaan pada kinerja menulis. Terakhir, nilai r kuadrat adalah 0,574 yang menunjukkan korelasi tinggi antara strategi pengajaran dan gender (57%). Para guru disarankan untuk menerapkan strategi pengajaran yang berpusat pada peserta didik di kelas menulis L2 di pendidikan tinggi.

Beyond thought:

The following is a remixed excerpt from a book-length manuscript titled My Life as an Artificial Creative Intelligence. The book is constructed as a theoretical fiction composed by the “author” Mark Amerika in collaboration with a GPT-2 language model. The book was written as an improvisational call-and-response writing performance with an AI text generator and is arranged as a series of intellectual provocations that investigate the creative process across the human-nonhuman spectrum. Critically reflecting on whether or not creativity itself is, at root, a nonhuman information behavior that emerges from an onto-operational presence experiencing an otherworldly aesthetic sensibility, the author playfully engages with his cyberpunk imagination to simultaneously embrace and problematize human-machine collaborations. Contrary to most contemporary AI research that attempts to build AI systems that perform more like humans, Amerika flips the script and, in My Life as an Artificial Creative Intelligence, questions how his own “psychic automatism” is itself a nonhuman function strategically designed to reveal the poetic attributes of programmable worlds still unimagined.

Students' Writing Self-Efficacy, Writers' Block, and Academic Writing Performance: An Empirical Study in Eastern Indonesian Students

This study was conducted to explore the students' perception related to the variables of writing self-efficacy, writers' block, and perceived academic writing performance. The researcher collected data from a University located in Papua Province. This research used an online questionnaire by employing simple random sampling. This study enrolled 280 students as respondents. The researchers used SPSS 23 to conduct a descriptive statistical analysis to determine the proportion of respondents based on the frequency of responses. The findings of this study revealed that the respondents of this study have low perceived levels of writing self-efficacy and academic writing performance. Additionally, students believe they face hurdles that contribute to the issue of writers' block. Further action needs to be taken regarding the findings to enhance the variables related to academic writing performance. The empirical findings from this study can be utilized as the foundation for future research to generate policy to solve issues relating to students' academic writing abilities.