Students’ Perceptions about and Effects of StudentProfessor Writing Conference in General English Writing Classes

It is widely accepted that feedback plays a crucial role in teaching and learning writing in that it provides students with an opportunity to understand their weaknesses and strengths and to refine their written products. In fact, writing teachers usually provide written feedback which is seen as a means of delivering their opinions andor information on students’ writing, although it requires a lot of time and efforts. As such, in Korea, written feedback focusing on error correction has been widely used (Kim, 1998; Ma, 2006).

Students’ Perceptions about and Effects of Student-Professor Writing Conference in General English Writing Classes

1 Introduction

Itiswidelyacceptedthatfeedbackplaysacrucialroleinteachingandlearningwritinginthatitprovidesstudentswithanopportunitytounderstandtheirweaknessesandstrengthsandtorefinetheirwrittenproducts.Infact,writingteachersusuallyprovidewrittenfeedbackwhichisseenasameansofdeliveringtheiropinionsand/orinformationonstudents’writing,althoughitrequiresalotoftimeandefforts.Assuch,inKorea,writtenfeedbackfocusingonerrorcorrectionhasbeenwidelyused(Kim,1998;Ma,2006).However,thefindingsofresearchonwrittenfeedbackaresomewhatinconclusive

4 Results and Discussion

5 Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications

Contents

1)KoreaUniversity,tyang@korea.ac.kr

Asanalternative,manyresearchershaveconductedresearchstudiesrelatedtothestudent-teacherwritingconferencewherestudentsandteachersnegotiatemeaninginaninteractiveenvironmentandithasbeenfoundthattherehavebeentremendousbenefitsofholdingwritingconferences(Goldstein&Conrad,1990;Patthey-Chavez&Ferris,1997;Strauss

&Xiang,2006).Inwritingconferences,studentsarenotpassiverecipientsoffeedbackbuttheyaretheoneswhoactivelyparticipateintheirlearningprocesswithteachersinasupportiveandcollaborativeatmosphere.Forinstance,interactingwiththeteacherduringwritingconferencesisaneffectivewaytoexpandandclarifythinkingaboutaudienceandpurposeandtoreceiveassistanceonwrittenproducts.Throughnegotiationofmeaningwithteachers,studentscanberesponsiblefortheirownwriting,canbeautonomousinidentifyingandcorrectingerrors,andcanimprovetheircriticalthinkingskills

UnlikeESLcontext,therehasbeenlittleattentionpaidtothisresearchareainKoreaandgiventhepositiveoutcomesofwritingconferencesinwritinginstruction,itisvitaltotakeacloseexaminationatwhatbenefitswritingconferencesmightoffertothestudentsintheirprocessoflearningwritinginEFLcontext.Thus,thefollowingresearchquestionswereinvestigated:1.Whatarestudents’generalperceptionsaboutwritingconferences?2.Whatareas(i.e.,organization,grammar,lexis,etc.)aremainlyfocusedduringwritingconferences?3.Dostudentsshowanimprovementintheareastheydiscussedwiththeprofessorduringwritingconferencesoverthesemester?

2 Literature Review

2.1 Research on Writing Conferences

Inthefieldofsecondlanguagewriting,researchershavediscussedthebenefitsofholdingwritingconferencesasawaytonegotiatemeaning,produceimprovedrevisions,

andpromotehigher-orderthinkingskills Chavez&Ferris,1997;Strauss&Xiang,2006;Williams,2004).Inoneoftheearlieststudiesonwritingconferences,GoldsteinandConrad(1990)examinedthedegreetowhichstudentsnegotiatedmeaningwiththeteacherduringwritingconferences.TherewerelargedifferencesamongthreeESLstudentwriters.Specifically,studentswhonegotiatedmeaninginameaningfulwaywereabletowriteimprovedrevisions.Onthecontrary,studentswithoutsufficientnegotiationofmeaningtendedtorevisebymakingmechanicalorsentencelevelchangeswhichwerenotquantitativelybetterthantheirfirstdrafts.In a similar vein, Patthey-Chavez and Ferris(1997) investigated how students’proficiencyandinstitutionalexpectationsweretiedtoanydifferencesinconferenceprocessand/oritsoutcomes.Thereweredifferencesintheconferencesandsubsequentrevisionsofproficientandlessproficientstudents,althoughallthestudentsmadeprogressastimewentby.Theproficientstudentsmoreactivelyparticipatedinwritingconferencesandmadesubstantialrevisions,whilelessproficientstudentsremainedpassive during conferences and revised their next draft by taking the teacher’ssuggestions.

(Ewert,2009;Goldstein&Conrad,1990;Patthey-Williams(2004)alsomadeanefforttofindthelinkbetweenwhatwasdiscussedduringwritingconferencesandstudents’subsequentrevisions.Thefindingsshowedthatsurfacelevelfeatures,suchasgrammarandlexicalchoices,discussedduringwritingconferencesweremorelikelytogetrevisedthantext-basedproblems.Specifically,whenthetutorsexplicitlypointedouttheproblematicareas,studentsactivelyparticipated,wrotedowntheirplansduringconferences,andmorereflectedwhattheymainlydiscussedwiththeirtutorsintotheirsubsequentdrafts

Withaslightdifferentapproach,StraussandXiang(2006)examinedwritingconferencediscoursesamongtheinstructorand7universitystudents.Theanalysesrevealedthatstudentsgraduallyunderstoodthetaskswithinsituatedinteractionswiththeinstructorwithanemphasisontheplanningandformulatingstagesofwritingprocess.Astheconferencesunfolded,itwasnoticeablethatstudentsprogressivelyshowedmoreagentiveattitudetowardstheirownwritings

Ewert(2009) also focused on interaction itself during writing conferences andinvestigatedhowappropriateitwastoanalyzetheteachertalkbyusingthetwo

2.2 Research on Writing Conferences in Korea

UnlikeESLcontext,researchstudiesinKoreahavemainlyfocusedonwrittenfeedbackandresearchonwritingconferencesremainssomewhatunexploredbutrecentlysomeresearchershaveconductedresearchstudiestofillthisgap(Chang,2003;Kim,2015; Park,2008;Seo,2010;Yu,2011).Chang(2003)conductedacasestudyofthreeuniversitystudents to investigate some positive effects of holding student professor writingconferencesontheirwritingskillsanditsroleinunderstandingstudents’intentionsandneedsintheirwritingprocess.Itwasfoundthatwritingconferenceshadpositiveeffectsonstudents’writingperformancebecausetheyrevisedtheirseconddraftbasedonwhattheydiscussedwiththeirprofessorduringwritingconferencesandfinallyproducedbetterwrittenproducts.Inaddition,studentswerechangedintoactiveparticipantsintheirlearningprocessbecausetheyweregivenachancetocriticallyreflectandevaluatetheirwritingwiththeprofessorduringwritingconferences

among8universitystudentsandtheprofessorduringwritingconferencesbyutilizingstudents’preandpostconferencelogstoidentifydifferenttypesofhigher-orderthinkingprocessestakingplaceandunderstandhowmuchstudentsreflectedwhathadbeendiscussedintheirwritingsamples.Theanalysesofnegotiationpatternsexchangedduringwritingconferencesrevealedthatstudentstendedtoidentifytheirweaknessesandunderstandwhichwaywasmostappropriatetorevisetheirfinalproductsandatlexicallevel,bothstudentsandtheprofessormadeanefforttofindsuitablelexicalchoiceonstudents’errors,whicheventuallyindicatedthatstudentsweregivenavaluablechancetoexercisehigh-orderthinkingskillsandrefineself-regulatedthinkingskillsthrough

HowundergraduatestudentsinteractedandtookturnsandhowtheprofessorprovidedscaffoldedhelpduringwritingconferenceswereanalyzedbySeo(2010).Itwasdiscoveredthatstudentsdidnotfullyexpresstheirideasand/oropinionsduringtheprocess.Ontheotherhand,theprofessoractivelynegotiatedmeaningwiththestudentsbyaskingcomprehensionquestionsintheareasoflanguageuseandcontent.Tocreateamoreinteractiveatmosphere,theresearchersuggestedthatteachersshouldletstudentsknowtheexactpurposeofwritingconferencesandwhattheyareexpectedtododuringconferencesinadvancesotheycanbeactiveparticipantsinwritingconferences

Inasimilarway,Kim(2015)analyzedinteractionalpatternsamong6graduatestudentsandtheprofessorbyfocusingonhowmanytimestheyinteractedandtookturns,howactivetheywere,andwhatareas(i.e.,content,languageuse,strategies,organization,etc.)weremainlyfocusedduringwritingconferences.Thefindingsshowedthatalthoughwritingconferenceshadaninteractiveatmosphere,studentswerepassiveunliketheprofessorandlanguageuseandorganizationwereemphasizedwithlessfocusonwritingstrategies.Tomakewritingconferencesmoreeffective,itwassuggestedthatprofessorsshouldleadtheconferenceinawaywhichcanelicitresponsesfromstudentsinsteadofjustcheckingcomprehensionandtrytocreatealess-anxiousconferenceenvironment

Unlikeaforementionedstudies,Yu(2011)investigatedhowusefulonlineconferenceswereinthewritingprocesswithagroupoffouruniversitystudents.Itwasfoundoutthatbothstudentsandtheprofessorparticipatedinonlineconferencesinasuccessfulwayandstudentsincorporatedthefeedbackintotheirsubsequentrevisions.However,thereweresomechallengesthatstudentswerenotproficientenoughtoleadtheirdiscussiontotheextentthattheycouldreceiveproperfeedback.Insum,itisnoticeablethatholdingwritingconferencesisbeneficialtobothstudentsandteachersinthatitcanprovideaninteractiveenvironmentinwhichstudentscanexpresstheirweaknessesandsolicitproperfeedbackandteacherscanalsohaveachancetocloselylookatdifficultiesstudentsmightencounterintheirwritingprocess

3 Methods

3.1 Setting and Participant

ThestudywasconductedatAuniversityinBcityinKoreafortheSpringsemester,fromMarch1,2017toJune21,2017andaprofessorand5undergraduatestudentsincluding2malesand3femaleswhotookageneralEnglishclasswithafocusonwritingweretheparticipantsofthestudy

<Table 1> Information on the Participants

Students

Writing Experiences Student A

Thewritingclasswasdesignedtohelpstudentsunderstandbasicsofacademicwritingfromsentencestructurestodifferenttypesofparagraphsandmetonceaweekfortwohours

<Table 2> A Syllabus of the Writing Course

Week 1 Course Overview

Week 2 Chapter 1 Academic Paragraphs (Analyzing the model paragraph, & noticing word

families)

Week 3 Chapter 1 Academic Paragraphs (Mechanics, simple sentences, phrases,

subject-verb agreement, & fragments) Week 4 Chapter 1 Academic Paragraphs (Using nouns & verbs, listing, & writing a paragraph)

Week 5 Chapter 3 Basic Paragraph Structure (Analyzing the model paragraph, noticing

adjectives, the topic sentence, supporting sentences, & the concluding sentence)

Week 6 Chapter 3 Basic Paragraph Structure (Analyzing the model paragraph, adjectives and

adverbs in basic sentences, & using adjectives) Week 7 Chapter 3 Basic Paragraph Structure (Outlining, & writing a paragraph)

Week 8 Midterm Exam

Week 9

Chapter 4 Logical Division of Ideas (Analyzing the model paragraph, noticing synonyms, logical division of ideas, & unity & coherence in the supporting sentences of

a paragraph)

Week 10 Chapter 4 Logical Division of Ideas (Run-ons & comma splices, & finding & correcting

run-ons & comma splices)

Week 11 Chapter 4 Logical Division of Ideas (Using synonyms & near synonyms, & writing a

paragraph)

Week 12 Chapter 7 Cause & Effect Paragraphs (Noticing prefixes, topic sentence, supporting

sentences & concluding sentence in cause & effect paragraph)

Week 13 Chapter 7 Cause & Effect Paragraphs (Using cause & effect transition signals, & writing

a cause & effect paragraph)

Week 14 Chapter 8 Comparison & Contrast Paragraphs (Noticing antonyms, topic sentence,

supporting sentences & concluding sentence in comparison & contrast paragraph)

Week 15 Chapter 8 Comparison & Contrast Paragraphs (Transition signals for comparison &

contrast paragraph, & writing a comparison & contrast paragraph) Week 16 Final Exam

Throughout the semester, students had achance to create 4different types ofparagraphs,suchastwodescriptiveparagraphs,acauseandeffectparagraph,andacomparisonandcontrastparagraph

3.2 Data Collection and Analysis Methods

3.2.1 Pretest and Posttest

Tounderstandhowmuchareasfocusedduringwritingconferenceswerereflectedinstudents’writing,pretestandposttestwereadministered.Asapretest,studentswereaskedtowriteaboutthemselvesfor20minutesinthebeginningofthesemesterandattheendofthesemester,theywereagainaskedtowriteaboutoneoftheirfamilymembersfor20minutesasaposttest.

Bothtestswereratedbythethreeprofessorswhotaughtwritingandspeakingcoursesinthesameprogramastheresearcherandtheywereaskedtowriteanycommentswhichtheythoughtweresignificantinunderstandingstudents’writingperformance

(ForScoringRubric,seeAppendixA).Specifically,thescoringrubricmainlyconsistsofthreecategories,suchasorganization,lexis,andgrammar,withsubcategories.Forexample,eachcomponentofagoodparagraph,topicsentence,supportingsentences,andconcludingsentence,fallsintheareaoforganization,wordchoiceintheareaoflexis,andmechanicsandspellingintheareaofgrammar.Eachcomponentofthescoringrubricrangesfrom1to4andthehighestscorestudentscanreceiveis20.Togetratersreadyandfacilitatetheratingprocess,theresearcherexplainedthepurposeoftheresearchandeachcomponentofthescoringrubricandletthemhaveachancetorateasamplewriting.Basedontheresults,sheandtheratershadanopportunitytoexchangeanddiscussideasonhowtoincreasereliabilityandvalidityintheratingprocess

3.2.2 Writing Conferences

Studentswereinvitedto attendwritingconferencesfourtimesthroughoutthesemester.Eachwritingconferencewasheldintheresearcher’sofficeforapproximately40 minutes after students submitted each writing assignment. Specifically, eachwritingconferenceprogressedfromgeneraltospecific.Inthebeginningofeachwritingconference,theprofessorusuallyaskedstudentstoexplaindifficultiestheyencounteredinwritingeachassignmentandthenslowlynarroweddownthescopeandfocusof

writingconferencestowhatwasmostneededandimportant.Inaddition,shewasflexibleandsupportivethroughoutwritingconferencestocreateanatmospherewherestudentscouldparticipateactively.Allthewritingconferenceswererecordedandlatertranscribed.3.2.3 Interviews

Tounderstandhowstudentsgenerallyfeelaboutwritingconferences,structuredinterviewswerecarriedoutintheresearcher’officeforapproximately40minutesattheendofthesemester,recorded,andlatertranscribed.(SeeAppendixBforInterviewQuestions)

4 Results and Discussion

4.1 Students’ Perceptions about Writing Conferences

Ingeneral,studentsexpressedthatdiscussingtheirwritingwiththeprofessorintheformofwritingconferencewasanewandvaluableexperienceinthattheyfeltthattheywereallowedtodothings,suchasaskingquestions,discussingambiguousareas,andsolvingproblemswiththeprofessorswhichlackedinasomewhatteacher-centeredclassroomenvironmenttheywereaccustomedto.Theyalsoexpressedthatthisexperiencewaseffectiveintheprocessoflearningwritinginmanywaysandamongthem,somesalientissueswerecategorizedinthefollowingtwoareas:takingchargeoftheirownlearningandbecomingawareoftheirownlearningprocess

4.1.1 Taking Charge of Their Own Learning

Manyofthestudentsexpressedthattheirroleasstudentshadbeendramaticallychangedfrompassiverecipientsofknowledgetoactiveparticipantsintheirlearningprocess

 Itisdifferent asyouknow,weKoreanstudentssatinclassandlistenedtowhattheteachersaidbackinhighschool evenatuniversitylevel,Korean

 Myperspectivesaboutlearningchanged inthepast,Ithoughtthatlearningissolelyteachers’responsibilitiesbecausetheydoallthethingsduringthelearningprocess butasconferenceswenton,Isawmyselfdoingthingsintheprocesslikeaskingquestions,clarifyingwhattheprofessorsaid.(InterviewwithStudentC)

 Duringconferences,IalwaysfeltthatIwasgoodtakencareof.Itislikesomebodyisthereforme(laughter) whatisgoodaboutitisthatunlikethepast,IalwaysfeelconfidentaboutmywritingbecauseIknowthatIcandiscussmyweaknesseswiththeprofessor.(InterviewwithStudentE)

 P:Doyouthinkthestructureyouhavehereiscorrect?

 S:Um notsure something’swrong?

 P:Yeah,IguessyouknowwhatiswrongbutyoumadeamistakebecauseyouarenotusedtowritinginEnglish

 S:Maybe Iguess this Imeanthereissomethingwronginthemainclauseorum here?(WritingConferencewithStudentB)

 S:OK.Thenyoumeanmytopicsentenceiskindofweak?

 P:Yes

 S:Canyoutellmewhy?

 P:Yourtopicsentenceistoobroad.Remembertheexerciseweworkedonduringclass?

 S:Youmeantheexercise figuringoutwhichoneisagoodtopicsentence?(WritingConferencewithStudentA)

As shown in the data, the dialogic nature of writing conferences created anenvironmentwherestudentscouldparticipateactivelyandexpresstheirideas,whichinturnpromotedautonomyamongstudents.Asstudentsexpressed,theyweregettingresponsiblefortheirownlearningbyasking,clarifying,confirming,anddiscussing

during writing conferences. That is, writing conferences played a crucial role indevelopingasenseofautonomyamongstudentsbyallowingstudentstoexperimentwiththeirownwriting.Itisinterestingtoseethatwritingconferencesalsoofferedanembracingaffectiveclimate,suchasaless-anxiouslearningatmospherewherestudentswerefreedtotryeverythingpossibleintheprocessofevaluatingtheirwrittenwork.4.1.2 Becoming Aware of Their Own Learning Process

Itwasshownthatstudentsusedavarietyofstrategiesduringwritingconferences,

Chamot,Stewner-Manzanares,Russo,&Kupper,1985).Amongthem,thefollowingsixlearningstrategiesweresalientacrosstheparticipants:advancedorganizer(i.e.,makingageneral butcomprehensivepreviewoftheorganizingconceptorprincipleinananticipatedlearningactivity),self-evaluation(i.e.,checkingtheoutcomesofone’sownlanguagelearningagainstaninternal measureofcompletenessandaccuracy),recombination(i.e.,constructingameaningfulsentence orlargerlanguagesequencebycombiningknownelementsinanewway),contextualization(i.e., placinganewwordorphraseinanmeaningfullanguagesequence),questionsforclarification(i.e., askingforrepetition,paraphrasing,explanation,and/orexamples),andcooperation(i.e.,working withoneormorepersontoobtainfeedback,poolinformation,ormodelalanguageactivity)

 I always think that my writing is poor because I am not good atgrammar Throughoutthesemester,Icametorealizethatwritinginvolvesmorethangrammar likeplanning,organizingmythoughtsinaclearway,drafting,revisingbasedonthefeedbackfromothers,lookingatmywritingfromathirdperson’sperspective ThethingsIhavenotthoughtaboutbeforewereinvolvedinthewritingprocess.(InterviewwithStudentD)

 P:Thisoneisbetterthanthepreviousone

 S:Youreallythinkso?

 P:Yeah muchbetter

 S:Um likeyousuggestedlastconference,Ispentmoretimethinkingaboutthetopicandhowtoorganizemyparagraph.That’swhyIguess

 P:Isthatall?

 S:Nope,IactuallyreadmyparagraphrightafterIwasdonewithit YouknowwhatIdidformyfirstparagraphlikedraftingonly.(WritingConferencewithStudentC)

 P:Herethisisafragment.Imeanitisnotacompletesentence

 S:YoumeanIneedtohaveonemoresentencehere?

 P:Yeah,becauseyouhavethesubordinatingconjunction,because,here,youneedtohaveamainclause

 S:OK.IfIaddasentencesayingwhatIdidbecauseofthat,isitOK?

 P:Yeah oryoucanhaveamainclausefirstandthenthissubordinatingclause.(WritingConferencewithStudentE)

 P:Ithinkitismuchsmootherifyouhavesomethinginbetweenthesetwosentences

 S:Youmeansomewordor?

 P:Rightsomephrasethatcansignalthatthisistheendoftheparagraph

 S:OK.Howaboutinconclusion? notthatone? howaboutforthesereasons?(WritingConferencewithStudentD)

 Tomereadingandlisteningareprocessedinmymindbutspeakingandwritingarejudgedbyothersrightaway WheneverIwriteorspeakthingsinEnglish,Ineedsomeonewhocanhelpme Writingconferencesareverymeaningfulbecauseitgavemeachancetonegotiatemeaningwiththeprofessorwhoalwayshelpsme.(InterviewwithStudentE)

 P:Ithinkthissupportingsentenceisnotclear.Whatdoyouthink?

 S:Notclear? Uminwhatway?

 P:Well,Ithinkit’skindofunrelatedtothefirstpointofcomparisoninyourparagraph

 S:Um thefirstpointofcomparison easypayment OKthendoyouthinkIneedtogetridofthisandwriteanewoneclosetoeasypayment?

 P:Yeah thatwillbemuchbetter.(WritingConferencewithStudentA)

Asshowninthedata,writingconferencesisaplacewherestudentscoulduseusefullearningstrategiestorefinetheirwriting.Tomaketheirwritingcoherent,studentsfollowedastepbystepprocedure,suchasbrainstorming,drafting,andproofreading.Inthecourseofinteractingwiththeprofessor,theytriedtofindoutwaystomaketheirwritingclear,suchascomingupwithdifferentwords,phrases,and/orstructuresandtheyaskedclarificationandconfirmationquestionstogetinput,allofwhichwerecarriedoutwiththehelpoftheprofessor.AsprongsofresearchonlearningstrategiesinthefieldofSecondLanguageAcquisition(SLA)revealedthattheuseoflanguagelearningstrategiesledtobetterperformanceorachievementinmasteringthetargetlanguage,participatinginwritingconferencesmightbeavaluableexperienceforstudentsintheirprocessoflearningwritingskillsbecauseitisaplacewheredifferenttypesoflearningstrategiesrangingfrommetacognitivetosocio-affectivestrategiesarepracticed(Anderson, 2005;Chamot,2005;Cohen,1998;Dornyei&Skehan,2003;Hill,1994;McDonough,1999)

4.2 Areas Focused during Writing Conferences and Students’ Writing Performances

4.2.1 Student A

IncaseofstudentA,hemadeprogressonhowtoorganizeaparagraphthroughoutthesemester.Asshownindatain4.1.1.and4.1.2.,hestruggledtograsptheconceptsofthecomponentsofaparagraph.Astimewentby,itwasshownthathewasgettingconfidentabouthowtostructureaparagraph.Forinstance,hehadweaktopicandconcludingsentencesanddidnothaveenoughsupportingdetailsinhisdescriptiveparagraphsduringwritingconferences1and2.However,asconferencesprogressed,thewayeffectivesupportingsentenceswerestructuredwasmainlydiscussedindealingwithhiscomparisonandcontrastandcauseandeffectparagraphs.Ontheotherhand,althoughhisparagraphswerecomprehensible,thereweresomeerrorsintheareasoflexis,grammar,andmechanics.Thus,thefollowingareaswereconsistentlydiscussedduringconferences:capitalization,commasplice,fragment,L1translation,spelling,subject-verbagreement,punctuation,wordforms,andwrongwords

<Table 3> Areas Focused during Writing Conferences with Student A

Conference 1

Writing Conference 2

Writing Conference 3

Writing Conference 4

Inpretest,studentAmadelotsoferrorsinorganization,wordchoice,grammar,andmechanics.Specifically,therewerenotopicandconcludingsentencesinhisparagraphandmanyofthesupportingsentencesweresimplesentences.Inaddition,thereweremanygrammaticalerrors,suchascapitalization,fragment,punctuation,tenses,andwrongwords.Inposttest,therewereacleartopicsentence,aconcludingsentence,andsupportingsentencesconsistingofsimple,compound,andcomplexsentenceswithsimplesentencesdominating.Inaddition,therewerefewererrorsingrammar,mechanics,andwordchoice.Itisnoticeablethatparticipatinginwritingconferenceshadapositiveinfluenceonhiswritingperformanceinthathewasabletoproduceaparagraphwiththreebasicpartsofagoodparagraphwhichweremainlyfocusedduringhiswritingconferences

<Table 4> Results of Pre and Post Tests from Student A

Grammar/Mechanics 1 1 1 1 1 1

Althoughhisscoreswerelowinwordchoice,grammar,andmechanics,herarelymadeerrorsrelatedtosubject-verbagreementandwrongwordswhichwerefrequentlyfocusedduringwritingconferences

4.2.2 Student B

StudentBmainlydiscusseddifferenttypesofsupportingsentences,suchasexplaining,describing,givingreasons,givingfacts,givingexamples,anddefiningwiththeprofessorthroughoutthesemester

 P:Yourtopicsentenceisquitestrong butdetailsthatcansupportyourtopicsentencearenotstrongenough.Whatdoyouthink?

 S:Um yeahkindof

 P:Thesecondpointofdevelopmentinyourcontrastparagraphisproductiontimebetweenpaintingandphotoright?

 S:Yeah.

 P:Doyouthinkthissentenceisrelatedtothatpoint,paintingisvarioustypesofpaintingfromshortsketchestoperfectpaintings

 S:SodoIneedtohavesomethingrelatedtoproductiontimehere?

 P:Right.(WritingConferencewithStudentB)

Asshowninthedata,boththeprofessorandstudentBdiscussedhowtocreatesupportingsentencesrelatedtohersecondpointofdevelopmentbyeliminatinganunrelatedsentencetocomeupwithmorerefinedsupportingsentences

<Table 5> Areas Focused during Writing Conferences with Student B

Conference 1

Writing Conference 2

Writing Conference 3

Writing Conference 4