WHAT WRITING TASKS DO TESOL PROFESSORS REQUIRE HYONSUK CHO

HYONSUK CHO State University of New York at Buffalo Previous studies about writing assignments in higher education have explained that the library research paper, report on experi-ment,

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What Writing Tasks Do TESOL

Professors Require?

HYONSUK CHO State University of New York at Buffalo

Previous studies about writing assignments in higher education

have explained that the library research paper, report on

experi-ment, summary, and article/book review were the most

com-mon writing assignment tasks assigned across disciplines No

previous studies have explored writing tasks in the TESOL

dis-cipline at a national level In this study information on 120

writ-ing assignments, gathered directly from TESOL professors in

the United States, with 28 available online, were analyzed to (a)

explore the writing tasks frequently assigned to TESOL master’s

students; (b) examine the importance of the writing assignments

for course evaluation; and (c) compare TESOL assignments with

those in social sciences, humanities, and the arts The study

results will help to interpret characteristics of writing

assign-ments in TESOL programs and to infer skills required for the

writing assignments in the TESOL field Also, the study will

help instructors of English for academic purposes in TESOL

programs guide and prepare nonnative-English-speaking

students.

doi: 10.1002/tesj.105

values as well as the goals and values of their discipline (Melzer, 2009) A number of researchers have examined the types of

writing tasks commonly assigned to college students across

disciplines (e.g., Cooper & Bikowski, 2007; Hale et al., 1996;

Horowitz, 1986; Leki & Carson, 1994, 1997) and those of a specific discipline such as business (e.g., Canseco & Byrd, 1989; Zhu, 2004)

No previous studies have examined the types of writing tasks assigned specifically to TESOL students As Ramanathan and Kaplan (1996) point out, English is used differently in each

discipline because each discipline has its particular culture As

TESOL Journal 5.2, June 2014 247

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each discipline develops its own writing conventions, the nature and characteristics of writing assignments across disciplines

can be different The present study examines required writing assignments given to TESOL master’s students in the United

States To investigate the TESOL-specific writing assignments, I conducted a survey study guided by the following research

questions:

1 What are common writing assignments in TESOL master’s programs in the United States?

2 What is the weight of a writing assignment in the course evaluation?

3 How do TESOL writing assignments differ from those in social sciences, humanities, and the arts?

The purposes of raising these questions are (a) to characterize TESOL-specific writing tasks, (b) to infer skills needed for

completing TESOL writing assignments, (c) to enhance the

understanding of TESOL programs, and (d) to suggest how

English for academic purposes (EAP) in TESOL programs can prepare students more effectively Many TESOL programs offer an EAP course to nonnative-English-speaking students who have not had academic writing experiences Such courses usually require writing research papers, literature reviews, summaries, critiques, and citations The results of this study would be informative

for TESOL professors and students as well as for EAP course instructors TESOL professors and instructors who teach courses

or an EAP course can be informed of the types or genres of TESOL writing assignments and the features that distinguish them from other disciplines, as well as specific skills to be emphasized to perform the writing assignments

TESOL MASTER’S PROGRAMS

What features distinguish TESOL from other programs? To

identify TESOL-specific features, I examined descriptions of

TESOL programs on the websites of 14 universities in the United States These include state and private universities across the nation I read the program descriptions available on each school’s website and assigned codes (e.g., prepare to teach, practicum, materials/curriculum development, teaching methods, language

teaching/learning theory, research, linguistic knowledge,

sociolinguistic knowledge, second language acquisition) and

merged the codes into three categories: teaching, research, and knowledge Table 1 summarizes the descriptions of each category and frequency

The descriptions of the 14 universities’ TESOL programs and their aims are generally alike Almost all schools emphasize the three categories, though some schools add the understanding of culture and literacy It should be noted that the schools clearly specify the integration of the three categories, rather than

emphasizing one of the categories independently That is, most schools aim that TESOL master’s students will be able to teach English as a second language, incorporating research and

linguistic knowledge at the completion of their program

Although incorporating teaching, research, and knowledge is a major goal, in my survey preparing to teach was mentioned the most In their survey, Richards and Crookes (1988) found that a practicum or practice of teaching was a compulsory course in 85%

of the 78 TESOL master’s degree programs in the United States

TABLE 1 Descriptions of 14 TESOL Master’s Programs

Teaching Professional/teacher development, pedagogy/teaching

methods, practicum, materials/curriculum/test development (e.g., prepares students to teach, understanding of a range of second language teaching approaches, advanced professional preparation in the teaching)

32

Research Theory of language teaching/learning, research (e.g.,

provides educators with a research knowledge base, incorporating theoretical understanding)

16

Knowledge Linguistic knowledge, sociolinguistic knowledge,

understanding of second language acquisition (e.g., solid foundation in the fields of linguistics; introduces the study of linguistic structure—phonology,

morphology, syntax, and semantics; the study of language use in social contexts; the study of second language acquisition; gain knowledge of critical linguistic and educational issues)

12

If classroom teaching is considered direct teaching, materials

development is classified as indirect teaching in the sense that teachers develop or modify the materials for their teaching

According to Tomlinson (1998), materials include anything used

by teachers and learners to promote language teaching or learning Tomlinson states that teachers as materials developers provide information as a way to facilitate language learning Grosse’s (1991) survey of TESOL methods courses demonstrates that lesson plans, activity development, and curriculum development were the major parts of course requirements

In addition to these practical skills, many TESOL programs offer courses that help students become well-balanced

professionals by teaching second language acquisition theory and pedagogy, the structure of English, language assessment, linguistics, sociolinguistics, and educational research The brief examination of the TESOL master’s program descriptions and previous studies indicates that these programs place emphasis not only on teaching but also on research and knowledge, engaging students in diverse types of academic reading and writing

throughout the program

COMMON TYPES OF WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

ACROSS DISCIPLINES

For most disciplines, a number of researchers have examined the commonly assigned types of writing tasks (e.g., Cooper &

Bikowski, 2007; Hale et al., 1996; Horowitz, 1986; Leki & Carson,

1994, 1997) Although Hale et al (1996) examined writing

assignments at undergraduate and graduate levels in eight

universities, the programs they studied did not include education

or linguistics Horowitz (1986) and Cooper and Bikowski (2007) share several findings, but several discrepancies also exist As for the methodology, Horowitz analyzed actual writing assignment handouts and essay examinations used at a university He

collected a total of 54 assignments from primarily undergraduate courses in 17 departments Cooper and Bikowski collected 77 syllabi from professors at a single university as well as 23 syllabi from international students They also collected 100 publicly

available syllabi from the Internet to reduce the bias created by choosing one university Unlike Horowitz, Cooper and Bikowski used only graduate-level courses, including master’s degree and doctoral degree coursework

Despite the different data collection methods, Cooper and Bikowski (2007) and Horowitz (1986) found similar results In Horowitz’s study, common writing tasks assigned in the academic content courses included synthesis of multiple sources (15 out of

54 assignments), connection of theory and data (10 out of 54), summary of/reaction to a reading (9 out of 54), and reports on a participatory experience (9 out of 54) Other less frequent types of writing assignments included case studies, research projects, and annotated bibliographies The synthesis assignment refers to a typical library research paper that requires a summary of multiple articles or books Connection of theory and data requires linking specific theories with data obtained from multiple readings or personal experiences Summary of/reaction to a reading involves writing a summary of an article and/or a response such as critique

or personal opinions A report on a participatory experience is a report on a survey or experiment, which was mainly used in

communication arts and sciences courses

Some writing assignments found in Cooper and Bikowski’s study (2007) were the same as those in Horowitz’s (1986), but they were named differently: library research paper (similar to

synthesis of multiple sources), report on an experiment/project, and article/book review (similar to summary, reaction, or

critique) Other assignments which were not included by Horowitz were proposal/plan, journal article, essay, unstructured writing, and short task Library research paper (or synthesis of multiple sources) and report on a project were the most common types of writing assignments required in any discipline and at any level, from undergraduate to doctoral However, it is not clear whether Cooper and Bikowski’s definition of a research paper refers to a paper that is based on the original/primary data or only includes

a literature review Although it is known that graduate students are often asked to conduct research in addition to a review of literature or synthesis of resources from the library, Cooper and Bikowski did not make this distinction in their results Also,

because Cooper and Bikowski covered all graduate disciplines,

it is difficult to pinpoint assignment patterns in education and TESOL areas

METHODOLOGY

Data Collection

This study is a quantitative survey study using nonprobability sampling Universities where TESOL master’s degree programs are offered were selected from the school list on the TESOL

organization website Among the schools listed, those that

provided professors’ email addresses on their websites were

selected The convenience sample was used due to the availability

of contact information, so the sample does not represent all TESOL professors in the United States A total of 112 professors from 29 universities across the nation were contacted Selected professors included full professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and lecturers Whether their affiliation was with the graduate school of education or linguistics/applied linguistics, if they were instructors of a TESOL master’s degree program they were

selected as potential respondents The invitation letter with an attached questionnaire was emailed to them

Out of 112 professors, 23 professors from 14 universities

completed the questionnaire or sent syllabi, and 24 professors replied “no” with various reasons (e.g., currently not teaching TESOL students, teaching another program, travel, retirement) A total of 120 assignments for 44 courses from 14 universities were collected directly from the 23 professors In addition to the data directly collected from professors, 28 assignments in 11 syllabi available online from 7 schools used between 2006 and 2009 were added Thus, a total of 55 courses and 148 assignments from 21 universities, including private and public schools located in the West, East, and Midwest of the United States, were examined for the current study The course information was obtained through either the syllabus of a course or the questionnaire Most of the professors sent a copy of their syllabus or syllabi to me, but the questionnaire was designed to offer an option to professors who were reluctant to make their syllabi open for research The

professors could copy and paste parts of their syllabi or write the information in the questionnaire: course name, descriptions of writing assignment, and its weight of the course evaluation

Categories of Writing Assignments

The writing assignments were categorized according to the names

of writing tasks used by Cooper and Bikowski (2007) However, when an assignment did not fit into any category, new categories were created (e.g., materials development, materials review,

reflective paper, online discussion), and some categories were defined differently (e.g., essay; see Table 2) Table 2 provides the definitions and example instructions of each type of writing

assignment used in the current study Assignments that occurred only once were not included

To determine the type of assignment, I used the description of

an assignment rather than the title of the writing task When the descriptions were missing, those assignments were not included

in the analysis (e.g., midterm or homework without a description) Also, a collection of several writing assignments (e.g., portfolio, which occurred twice) was not included To investigate the

frequency of the task, the number of assignments was calculated, and the percentage allotted to the assignment in the course

evaluation was recorded

RESULTS

The first and second research questions concerned the types of writing assignments in the TESOL programs and their portion of the course evaluation Table 3 shows the TESOL writing

assignments along with the number of assignments found among

148 assignments, the frequency of these assignments among 55 courses, and the mean and standard deviation of the percentage of each assignment in the course evaluation Table 4 compares

frequently assigned writing tasks found in the present study as well as in Cooper and Bikowski’s (2007), and Horowitz’s (1986) studies

The most commonly assigned task in the TESOL programs was the research paper, as found in other studies (e.g., Cooper & Bikowski, 2007; Horowitz, 1986) For the research paper in the

Research paper

Reflective paper

Materials developme

Online discussion

Materials review

Annotated bibliograp

present study, some professors asked students to critique and synthesize scholarly sources for a research topic (e.g., literature review, critical review), whereas others asked students to conduct

a research study by collecting and analyzing data in addition to a literature review Sixty-seven percent of 55 courses assigned the research paper Also, the weight of research paper in the course evaluation was the highest among assignments—the mean was 28.5% and the maximum was 60%

The reflective paper, materials development, essay, and report were the most assigned tasks following the research paper The reflective paper, as an unstructured and less formal paper, asked students to reflect on their experiences related to teaching and learning English and reading course materials Materials

development (e.g., developing lesson plans, teaching materials or tests, curriculum development), unique in the TESOL program, was a requirement in 35% of the courses The essay was in the form of a take-home exam in most cases, and its weight in the course evaluation was high (25.6%) The report was found in 24%

of the courses and included 23.5% of the course evaluation The report was usually based on the teaching practicum and class observation

TABLE 3 Number and Frequency of Writing Assignments and the Weight of Course Evaluation in the 55 TESOL Classes

N = 148 assignmentsWriting

Frequency

in the courses (%)

Weight of course evaluation (mean%)

Weight of course evaluation (SD%)