Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing

Several studies have demonstrated the positive impact of Consciousness-Raising tasks (CRTs) on the teaching of grammar, especially in foreign or second language learning. However, few studies have examined their effectiveness for the development of writing skills. With this in mind, the goal of this...

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Autores principales: Rojas Vargas, Ana Lucía, Solano Quesada, Ana Paula, Vargas Vásquez, José Miguel, Jiménez Rojas, Alex
Formato: Online
Idioma:spa
Publicado: Universidad de Costa Rica 2020
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/aie/article/view/41669
id AIE41669
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institution Universidad de Costa Rica
collection Actualidades Investigativas en Educación
language spa
format Online
author Rojas Vargas, Ana Lucía
Solano Quesada, Ana Paula
Vargas Vásquez, José Miguel
Jiménez Rojas, Alex
spellingShingle Rojas Vargas, Ana Lucía
Solano Quesada, Ana Paula
Vargas Vásquez, José Miguel
Jiménez Rojas, Alex
Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
author_facet Rojas Vargas, Ana Lucía
Solano Quesada, Ana Paula
Vargas Vásquez, José Miguel
Jiménez Rojas, Alex
author_sort Rojas Vargas, Ana Lucía
description Several studies have demonstrated the positive impact of Consciousness-Raising tasks (CRTs) on the teaching of grammar, especially in foreign or second language learning. However, few studies have examined their effectiveness for the development of writing skills. With this in mind, the goal of this project is to explore the impact of CRTs on three aspects of writing in expository essays: text structure, cohesion, and coherence. To accomplish this goal, the study followed a mixed-method approach with a component of Classroom Action Research. The study was conducted in an English as Foreign Language class with a group of 12 eleventh-grade students at the International Baccalaureate Program at Palmares Bilingual High school, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The data consisted of two sets of essays, classroom observations, and questionnaires to the students and the cooperating teacher. After comparing results from the first and second essays, the most noticeable improvement in the students’ writing was in text structure and cohesion, whereas coherence showed the lowest improvement. This points to a limitation of CRTs for addressing aspects of writing involving a larger number of rules and more abstract concepts, such as coherence, instead of a smaller number of rules, like cohesion. In conclusion, the authors suggest enquiring about the use of CRTs with simple topics involving decisions tied to explicit rules versus more complex topics involving abstract thinking and decisions not always linked to rules. Lastly, the authors recommend exploring strategies to make consciousness-raising a collaborative process as a way to mitigate task complexity
title Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
title_short Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
title_full Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
title_fullStr Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
title_full_unstemmed Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
title_sort consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
title_alt Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing
publisher Universidad de Costa Rica
publishDate 2020
url https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/aie/article/view/41669
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spelling AIE416692021-07-09T19:28:23Z Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing Consciousness-raising tasks for the mediation of text structure, cohesion, and coherence in essay writing Rojas Vargas, Ana Lucía Solano Quesada, Ana Paula Vargas Vásquez, José Miguel Jiménez Rojas, Alex english consciousness-raising writing tasks teaching essays english consciousness-raising writting tasks teaching essays Several studies have demonstrated the positive impact of Consciousness-Raising tasks (CRTs) on the teaching of grammar, especially in foreign or second language learning. However, few studies have examined their effectiveness for the development of writing skills. With this in mind, the goal of this project is to explore the impact of CRTs on three aspects of writing in expository essays: text structure, cohesion, and coherence. To accomplish this goal, the study followed a mixed-method approach with a component of Classroom Action Research. The study was conducted in an English as Foreign Language class with a group of 12 eleventh-grade students at the International Baccalaureate Program at Palmares Bilingual High school, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The data consisted of two sets of essays, classroom observations, and questionnaires to the students and the cooperating teacher. After comparing results from the first and second essays, the most noticeable improvement in the students’ writing was in text structure and cohesion, whereas coherence showed the lowest improvement. This points to a limitation of CRTs for addressing aspects of writing involving a larger number of rules and more abstract concepts, such as coherence, instead of a smaller number of rules, like cohesion. In conclusion, the authors suggest enquiring about the use of CRTs with simple topics involving decisions tied to explicit rules versus more complex topics involving abstract thinking and decisions not always linked to rules. Lastly, the authors recommend exploring strategies to make consciousness-raising a collaborative process as a way to mitigate task complexity Several studies have demonstrated the positive impact of Consciousness-Raising tasks (CRTs) on the teaching of grammar, especially in foreign or second language learning. However, few studies have examined their effectiveness for the development of writing skills. With this in mind, the goal of this project is to explore the impact of CRTs on three aspects of writing in expository essays: text structure, cohesion, and coherence. To accomplish this goal, the study followed a mixed-method approach with a component of Classroom Action Research. The study was conducted in an English as Foreign Language class with a group of 12 eleventh-grade students at the International Baccalaureate Program at Palmares Bilingual High school, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The data consisted of two sets of essays, classroom observations, and questionnaires to the students and the cooperating teacher. After comparing results from the first and second essays, the most noticeable improvement in the students’ writing was in text structure and cohesion, whereas coherence showed the lowest improvement. This points to a limitation of CRTs for addressing aspects of writing involving a larger number of rules and more abstract concepts, such as coherence, instead of a smaller number of rules, like cohesion. In conclusion, the authors suggest enquiring about the use of CRTs with simple topics involving decisions tied to explicit rules versus more complex topics involving abstract thinking and decisions not always linked to rules. Lastly, the authors recommend exploring strategies to make consciousness-raising a collaborative process as a way to mitigate task complexity Several studies have demonstrated the positive impact of Consciousness-Raising tasks (CRTs) on the teaching of grammar, especially in foreign or second language learning. However, few studies have examined their effectiveness for the development of writing skills. With this in mind, the goal of this project is to explore the impact of CRTs on three aspects of writing in expository essays: text structure, cohesion, and coherence. To accomplish this goal, the study followed a mixed-method approach with a component of Classroom Action Research. The study was conducted in an English as Foreign Language class with a group of 12 eleventh-grade students at the International Baccalaureate Program at Palmares Bilingual High school, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The data consisted of two sets of essays, classroom observations, and questionnaires to the students and the cooperating teacher. After comparing results from the first and second essays, the most noticeable improvement in the students’ writing was in text structure and cohesion, whereas coherence showed the lowest improvement. This points to a limitation of CRTs for addressing aspects of writing involving a larger number of rules and more abstract concepts, such as coherence, instead of a smaller number of rules, like cohesion. In conclusion, the authors suggest enquiring about the use of CRTs with simple topics involving decisions tied to explicit rules versus more complex topics involving abstract thinking and decisions not always linked to rules. Lastly, the authors recommend exploring strategies to make consciousness-raising a collaborative process as a way to mitigate task complexity Universidad de Costa Rica 2020-05-01 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion texto Article application/pdf https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/aie/article/view/41669 10.15517/aie.v20i2.41669 Actualidades Investigativas en Educación; Vol. 20 No. 2: (May - August) (2020); 27 Actualidades Investigativas en Educación; Vol. 20 Núm. 2: (Mayo - Agosto) (2020); 27 Actualidades Investigativas en Educación; v. 20 n. 2: (Mayo - Agosto) (2020); 27 1409-4703 spa https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/aie/article/view/41669/42068 Derechos de autor 2020 Actualidades Investigativas en Educación