ATLAANZ 2012

Assessing and advising international students on academic writing during

orientation.

Martin McMorrow, Massey University

OVERVIEW

1.Rationale

2. Method

3. Outcomes

RATIONALE

• Early identification of students who may benefit from support

• Raise student awareness of their writing ability and challenges that lie ahead

• Evidence of impact of our services

• Evidence to support advocacy of institutional, curricular and pedagogical change

• Promote our services

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

• Students spend up to 20 mins writing a paragraph on why international students choose to study at universities in NZ

• The writing task is the last in a sequence of orientation activities for new international students

• Before writing, the students brainstorm ideas in groups – and can use these ideas or refer to suggestions on the screen as they write – They’re also given the first sentence of the paragraph to get them going

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

• Paragraphs written by the students are sorted into four bands (from most to least effective) based on:

Coherence Accuracy Range

• For analysis purposes, these four bands are merged into two groups:

• Group A = effective• Group B = ineffective

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

BAND 2: The paragraph communicates an adequate, though rather simple, argument. It has a simple structure, with basic connections between sentences (and, but, firstly, secondly). At least half of the sentences are correct – i.e. without basic grammar or vocabulary errors. The range of sentence types and vocabulary is limited with only one or two examples of non-basic vocabulary or syntax.

BAND 1: The paragraph develops a coherent and convincing argument. It is well-structured, with an opening, a set of three or more linked sentences, and a concluding comment. Most sentences are correct, with no basic grammar or vocabulary errors. There is evidence of a reasonable range of sentence types and some non-basic vocabulary.

Criteria for Group A (effective paragraphs)

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

BAND 4: The paragraph does not communicate a convincing argument as a whole, or at the level of individual sentences, which are mostly unclear. The overall structure is minimal and/or not coherent. Most sentences contain more than one basic grammar or vocabulary error. The range of vocabulary and sentence types is limited to basic forms.

BAND 3: The paragraph as a whole does not communicate a convincing argument at tertiary level. At points it is hard to follow. It has a simple structure and connections between sentences are rather awkward and/or inconsistent. Most sentences contain at least one basic grammar or vocabulary error. The range of sentence types and vocabulary is limited to basic forms.

Criteria for Group B (ineffective paragraphs)

There are various reasons why students choose to study in NZ. To begin with, New Zealand is a beautiful country to live, travel and study. People here enjoy all of the greens everywhere, which is the top reason for many of my friends coming New Zealand. Plus, New Zealand has prestigious education system. I heard the four top universities in New Zealand are all in the top 400 universities of the world, which is a fabulous thing. Last but not the least, there are people from different background travelling and living in New Zealand, which makes our socieity with variority and cheallanges. We can make friends from many nations around the world. This can broaden our horizons.

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

Example paragraph 1

There are several advantages of studying in uni in NZ. Firstly, learning multi-cultures is one of good ways that if you go to overseas countries for studying. For example, Asian students have not much knowledge about Europe, midle-east and American. Moreover, The development of English skill is fairly one of the goal that studying in uni in NZ. As we well know, NZ is a English speaking country, so it is a good way to everyone for learning English.

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

Example paragraph 2

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

• Students are sent personalised feedback by email ASAP after Orientation

• If students have written ineffective paragraphs, I check their paper enrolments and highlight in the email any particular challenges they might be up against in Semester 1.

• Here is an example of an email:

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

Hi_____________, My name is Martin McMorrow and I work in the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Massey. We are upstairs in the library.  Actually, I’m writing to give you some feedback on the writing exercise you did during my session in the International Orientation, and to check how things are going for you with your studies so far. I recommend that you contact the Centre at (email & phone) to make an appointment or just come in to see us on Level 3 of the library. I’ll also include some advice about resources etc. We can help students to develop their writing – and we also have consultants who can help with maths, finance, economics, accountancy, statistics and biochemistry. All of this is free to Massey students. It will be really useful for you in xxx.xxx, xxx.xxx and xxx.xxx this semester. regards, Martin

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT & ADVICE

Contents of this email 1. Feedback on your writing2. What makes writing good?3. What makes writing bad?4. How can you make your writing better?5. Kiwi Quiz

1. Feedback on your writing This is the paragraph which you wrote during International Orientation:(student paragraph transcribed here)What you wrote contained several grammar mistakes. It could be that this is because of the situation when you were writing. If so, no worries.  But it looks like you’ll need to improve your written English in order to succeed in your studies. You can start to do this by making an appointment to see me soon!

OUTCOMES

• Group A students were more successful on writing intensive business papers in the first year

Group A (18 sts) Group B (22 sts)0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Successful attempts at writing-intensive 1st year business papers

18 / 28 15 / 31 

OUTCOMES

• Group A students used the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) more

• However, nearly all international students who came to the CTL for writing-intensive papers passed, regardless of level

Group A (18 sts) Group B (22 sts)0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

Successful attempts at writing-intensive 1st year business papersSuccessful attempts by students who'd had consultations at the CTL

18 / 28

9 / 10  5 / 6

15 / 31 

OUTCOMES

• Students who entered with limited writing ability and were unsuccessful in first year writing-intensive papers continue to struggle with writing into their second year

• For instance, in semester 1 (2012), among this cohort of second-year international students, only five out of nine retakes (of first year papers) were successful

• Many of the students who most need it appear reluctant to engage with writing development support. Very few take elective writing papers, attend consultations at the CTL or respond to my cheery emails!

• I’ve used these figures to advocate for a greater emphasis on writing development and ‘strategic’ paper choices for international students

CONCLUSIONS

• Informal writing assessment and advice can be incorporated ‘seamlessly’ into Orientation

• Even such a rough and ready assessment as this has some predictive value

• Impact on awareness-raising and advocacy appears to have been limited so far – some seeds fall on stony ground!

• International students who attend one-to-one consultations at the CTL do considerably better than their peers on writing intensive papers.