A Concept-Based Approach to Writing Instruction: From the Abstract Concept to the Concrete Performance
Open Access
- Author:
- Ferreira, Marilia Mendes
- Graduate Program:
- Applied Linguistics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 21, 2005
- Committee Members:
- James Lantolf, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Karen E Johnson, Committee Member
Meredith Christine Doran, Committee Member
Paula Golombek, Committee Member
Steve L Thorne, Committee Member - Keywords:
- writing instruction
empirical thinking
theoretical thinking
the movement from the abstract to the concrete
activity theory
sociocultural theory
writing assessment
genre-based pedagogy
systemic functional linguistics
meaning-making process - Abstract:
- This dissertation investigates the development of theoretical thinking, writing improvement and the meaning-making process of ESL freshman composition students during implementation of an innovative genre-based writing course. The course taught at a large North-American research university combined the theoretical view of language proposed by systemic functional linguistics with the theoretical understanding of mental development proposed by the sociocultural school of psychology. The course aimed to develop studentsf writing by facilitating development of their theoretical understanding of genre and its function in human communication. The course comprised three units that taught the genres of announcements, cover letters and argumentative texts to 14 ESL students, who were mainly from Asian and from Central American backgrounds. To investigate development of theoretical understanding of genre among the students, visual representations of their understanding of the concept of genre, their answers to problem-solving tasks, and their answers to a problem situation question were analyzed. Out of the 14 students who participated in the study, six were selected to have their writing samples evaluated by three independent raters in a pre- and post-test procedure. The tests were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The qualitative analysis focused on the moves performed by the students while the quantitative analysis was based on a Wilcoxon Ranks Test of the scores assigned to the texts by the three raters. The meaning-making process of the 14 students „Ÿ their opinions about the course „Ÿ were captured by the content analysis of the logs they kept during the course. In the logs the students were to comment on what they learned and on their impressions of the new pedagogical approach adopted. The analyses of the data indicate that: a) students thought mainly empirically and occasionally revealed some signs of theoretical thinking; b) the students significantly improved in writing cover letters but not argumentative texts; c) overall students improved to some extent in both genres but most of them did not abandon the five-paragraph format; d) most of the students did not actively engage in making sense of the course and when they did so, their perceptions were highly affected by their past educational experiences; consequently, the impact of the new approach combining SFL theory and SCT psychological theory was not as robust as had been anticipated. The students were heavily influenced by their previous history as students in which writing was often defined in very empirical terms and was not connected to an understanding of human communication. This dissertation highlights the need for education to focus more on the development of theoretical thinking and to engage students in meaning-making activities which engage them actively in dealing with the dialectical relationship of personal and external meanings. In particular genre-based writing instruction should emphasize a theoretical conceptualization of genre, rather than just the teaching of empirical features of specific genres. This study also offers insights to the following areas: genre-based instruction, the application of the emovement from the abstract to the concretef, and to writing assessment. This study also suggests potential contributions of sociocultural/activity theories to Applied Linguistics.