Observation of peers in learning to write

1. Observation of peers in learning to write Martine Braaksma University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Lund, February, 26th, 2013

2. Writing and learning to write • Striking problem in writing: cognitive overload • Simultaneously carry out too many processes, attend to many text features at one time, lose track of thoughts • May particularly happen when learning-to-write: • Write a viable text • Learn from this writing simultaneously • Learners should step back and perform reflective activities to distinguish writing from learning

3. Writing and learning to write

4. Focus on learning to write in secondary education Design effective learning environments for writing education Key elements: inquiry learning and observation of peers Students themselves investigate qualities of texts in order to possess genre knowledge Students observe different types of writing processes to enlarge their knowledge about writing Aims of our research

5. Communication Participation Learning Model Participant Writer Participant Reader Researcher Observer • Students as participants in communication (writers and readers) • Writing has a purpose and an audience • Readers inform writers about perceived quality of text • Students as researchers (observers) • Learners study the writing, reading or writing-reading process

6. Communication Participation Learning Model Participant Writer Participant Reader Researcher Observer • Students as participants in communication (writers and readers) • Writing has a purpose and an audience • Readers inform writers about perceived quality of text • Students as researchers (observers) • Learners study the writing, reading or writing-reading process

7. Focus on acquisition of pragmalinguistic knowledge: knowledge about text features that make a text effective Avoid: knowledge transmission model But: focus on already available but implicit knowledge in students Lesson series about argumentative writing: the Yummy Yummy case Four lessons Small scale study: one class (7th grade) of a multicultural school, 16 students Researcher as part-time teacher The Yummy Yummy case

8. Introducing the case Writing the first version of a letter Lesson 1

9. Imagine…. On the wrappers of the Yummy Yummy candy bars, which you occasionally eat, you have seen that you can get two free movie tickets. The wrapper reads: The case

10. Text wrapper SAVE FOR TWO FREE MOVIE TICKETS!!! This is what you must do: On each Yummy Yummy candy bar wrapper you will find 1 Saving point. Save 10 points and send these to: Yummy Yummy Candy Saving Points Action, PO Box 3333, 1273 KB Etten-Leur, the Netherlands. Include a stamp of 39 cents for the mailing costs. Mention clearly your name, address and zip code, and the free (FREE!) movie tickets will be sent as soon as possible to your address. This offer ends on April 15th 2003.

11. Communicative situation It is April 7th 2003. Now, you have saved 8 points, nearly all 10 points required. But you cannot find any more bars with points. The bars in the shops have no points on the wrappers, although it isn’t April 15th yet. So it seems you can’t collect 10 points! But you still want to get the two free movie tickets. Therefore you decide to send your 8 points and two Yummy Yummy wrappers without points.

12. Writing assignment Write a letter that you send with the 8 points and the wrappers. Explain why you cannot send 10 points. Convince the Yummy Yummy Company that it isn't your fault that you didn’t collect 10 points and that you still want to receive the two movie tickets. Be sure they will send you the tickets!

13. At work!

14. First version of ‘Adrian’ Dear employees of Yummy Yummy Candy Bars I participated in the Yummy Yummy Candy Bars offer to win two movie tickets. After some time I had already saved eight points. After some time I could find no more Yummy Yummy candy bars with offer points. I went to every sweetshop where Yummy Yummy candy bars are sold, but I have found absolutely nothing! Therefore, I give you two wrappers with no points on them to prove that I have eaten ten bars. I hope that you can help me by still giving me the movie tickets. I hope that you understand my problem. Yours faithfully, ‘Adrian’ [Address]

15. Class divided in two parts Two management teams: select two winning letters (out of 8) Two research teams: observe MT to find out which criteria were used to select winning letters Lesson 2

16. Inquiry: research teams listed criteria on a poster Sharing information: presentation and clarification of posters in front of the class room Presentations: presentation of the winning letters (referring to the posters) Lesson 3

17. Poster research team 1 Explain that you did everything you could Must be convincing Be clear what you want from them Explain the problem

18. Revision of letters Evaluation of the lessons Lesson 4

19. revised letter of ‘Adrian’ April, 14th, 2003 Dear employees of Yummy Yummy Candy Bars, Concerning the Yummy Yummy Candy Bars offer, I read that you can win two movie tickets if you collect ten points. For this reason I participated and after a while I had obtained 8 points! Joyfully I went to a sweetshop where they sell Yummy Yummy candy bars, but I have not been able to find a single bar with a point on it! Therefore, I then thought that the offer was already over, but of course that is not possible, because the offer is open until April 15! Then I went to another shop but it was the same there, and when I had gone along to a lot shops I thought of buying two wrappers without points and writing you a letter to explain that I have done everything possible to collect ten points. In this letter you will also find the two wrappers without points and the wrappers with points to prove to you that I have bought ten bars. I hope that you understand my problem and that you can help me with my problem. Is it possible that you can still send me two movie tickets? Yours faithfully, ‘Adrian’ [Address]

20. Revisions of ‘Adrian’

21. Are changes between the two versions indications of pragmalinguistic knowledge? Is there a different learning effect between ‘text experiencing’ and ‘observation’? How do students experience the active way of learning? Questions

22. Effect of lessons

23. Pragmalinguistic items most sensitive Item: proved to have done everything to meet the requirements Version 1: 10/16; version 2: 15/16 Item: extra efforts on reader to persuade Version 1: 8/16; version 2: 11/16 Improvements

24. Effect of conditions

25. Role effects: Effect sizes

26. High appreciation scores: mean mark 8 81% indicated they learned a lot Students’ experiences of lessons

27. Students are able to create their own frame of reference of what a letter of complaint should include: match MT discussions & posters Awareness about what works in communication was expressed in MT discussions, and studied and fed back to whole group via research presentations Researchers and MT experienced their task as a meaningful learning task that inspires and stimulates dialogue about relevant content Conclusions

28. Communication Participation Learning Model Participant Writer Participant Reader Researcher Observer • Students as participants in communication (writers and readers) • Writing has a purpose and an audience • Readers inform writers about perceived quality of text • Students as researchers (observers) • Learners study the writing, reading or writing-reading process

29. Observation of intended readers • Couzijn & Rijlaarsdam (2005) • How do students develop knowledge about effective communication? • They should experience it • Experimental study, ninth-grade students

30. Physics experiment

31. You know that when something has air in it, for instance a bottle and that thing is closed, no air can go out. For instance, you take a bottle, cork in it, funnel in it, and you put water in the funnel, no water comes into the bottle, because the bottle is closed, no air can go out. As soon as you put a straw in the funnel, the air can go out from the bottle via the straw and then the water can enter the bottle. Do it! Physics experiment: Student manual

32. The manual reader…

33. Effect sizes text quality (revision task)

34. Conclusions • Observing reading processes (and getting comments) of the intended reader are very effective learning activities • Students experience how communication works • Students receive knowledge about the characteristics of a good text • They build and can apply a set of criteria of good writing

35. Communication Participation Learning Model Participant Writer Participant Reader Researcher Observer • Students as participants in communication (writers and readers) • Writing has a purpose and an audience • Readers inform writers about perceived quality of text • Students as researchers (observers) • Learners study the writing, reading or writing-reading process

36. Learners don’t execute the writing task themselves Observe learning-to-write processes of (peer) models and resulting texts No writing so all cognitive effort to learning to write Students are stimulated to use metacognitive strategies explicitly Effective with students of different ages and with different types of models (Braaksma et al, 2002, 2004; Couzijn, 1999; Raedts et al, 2008; Van Steendam et al, 2010; Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 2002) Observation of learning-to-write processes

37. Observation of writers: Some examples

38. Observingweak versus strong models

39. Weak writers New task: Start with observation (focus on weak model) After familiarization: Observation (focus on weak model), or practicing Good writers New task Start with observation (focus good model), or practicing After familiarization Observation (focus on good model) Braaksma et al (2002) results: Sequence effects

40. Effects of observational learning on writing processes • Braaksma et al (2004) • Experimental study, eight-grade students • Three conditions: two observational learning conditions, one performing condition

41. Results: Analysis

42. Results: Writing

43. Results: Re-reading

44. Processes observation conditions compared with performing condition

45. Important role for learners’ characteristics: model-observer similarity in competence facilitated learning Weak students -> focus on weak models Good students -> focus on good models Observational learning affects organization of writing processes in positive way: Moregoal-orienting and analyzing activities in the start of writing process Then executive activities Conclusions

46. Time to sum up • Different types of observational learning • Observations of readers at work (Yummy Yummy case and physics experiment) • Learner experiences the effect of text on the readers • Learner obtains knowledge about the characteristics of a good text • Observations of writers at work (focus on different writing processes) • Learner sees different examples of task performances • Learner enlarges knowledge about writing

47. Create learning environments in which (all) components of the Communication Participation Learning Model are implemented Let students do research activities to explore how texts work in readers or let them observe their intended reader Let students observe writers at work to enlarge their input for learning and to show them many writing processes Be aware of interaction between learner characteristics and learning task Students can learn a lot without ‘direct’ teacher intervention Recommendations

48. Slides, lesson materials, publications, at: http://www.ilo.uva.nl/homepages/martine Email: braaksma@uva.nl More information