Current Search: writing activities (x)
View All Items
- Title
- EFFECTS OF INTEGRATING WRITING ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS' ATTITUDES AND ACHIEVEMENT IN PROBLEM SOLVING: AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY.
- Creator
-
Culbert, Kelly, Ortiz, Enrique, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This action research study investigated my practice of using writing activities in the mathematics classroom. The study was conducted to determine the effect of integrating writing with mathematics on students' achievement in, and attitudes towards problem solving, and the relationship between students' attitudes and their achievement in problem solving. The study was conducted over a six-week period. Students participated in daily problem solving activities. Data were collected using a...
Show moreThis action research study investigated my practice of using writing activities in the mathematics classroom. The study was conducted to determine the effect of integrating writing with mathematics on students' achievement in, and attitudes towards problem solving, and the relationship between students' attitudes and their achievement in problem solving. The study was conducted over a six-week period. Students participated in daily problem solving activities. Data were collected using a problem solving themed writing rubric for evaluating student journal responses, anecdotal records, and using a pre- and posttest problem solving attitude inventory. In this study, students demonstrated overall increased mathematical knowledge, strategic knowledge, and abilities to explain their procedures. In addition, all three data-collection instruments demonstrated students' positive attitudes toward problem solving. Moreover, evaluation of the data sources illustrated a relationship between students' performance and attitudes. The study suggested that writing about mathematics is beneficial to students' achievement and attitudes toward problem solving.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000435, ucf:46392
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000435
- Title
- Evaluating Teaching Grammar in Specific Constraints of Context: A Pilot Study in the Developmental Writing Program at Seminole State College.
- Creator
-
Roney, Joshua, Marinara, Martha, Scott, John, McDaniel, Rudy, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This pilot study investigated the efficacy of a supplemental Active Learning intervention that was administered with grammar workbook software in remedial-level composition classrooms at Seminole State College. The study analyzed student response data in a pre-test and post-test instrument in four classrooms; two followed standard methods while two incorporated the additional experimental intervention. The groups are identified in this study as either (")Standard(") or (")Experimental,(")...
Show moreThis pilot study investigated the efficacy of a supplemental Active Learning intervention that was administered with grammar workbook software in remedial-level composition classrooms at Seminole State College. The study analyzed student response data in a pre-test and post-test instrument in four classrooms; two followed standard methods while two incorporated the additional experimental intervention. The groups are identified in this study as either (")Standard(") or (")Experimental,(") according to the method administered in the classroom.The intervention was designed based on five grammar topic areas which correspond with content assessed in the pre-test and post-test. The Active Learning method required students to prepare a short, guided presentation on selected grammar topics. Findings showed that there was no significant change in improvement between the pre-test and post-test among the Standard or the Experimental groups, due in part to a relatively small sample size. A positive change approaching significant level occurred in the Experimental group in topic areas related to critical thinking. No significant or near-significant change was observed in the topic areas related to memorization in either group. Recommendations were made for further sampling, modification, and future applications of the intervention used in the study and for continued testing of grammar software used for instruction in Developmental Writing classes at Seminole State College.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004590, ucf:49218
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004590
- Title
- Consequences of Skipping First Year Composition: Mapping Student Writing from High School to the Academic Disciplines.
- Creator
-
Bell, Craig, Roozen, Kevin, Bryan, Matthew, Rounsaville, Angela, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Research in writing studies has focused on students who make the traditional transition from high school to first year composition, to the entry level discipline specific courses in their chosen majors (Wardle, 2007, 2009; Sommers and Saltz, 2004; Beaufort, 2007; Carroll, 2002). Very little scholarship addresses those students who (")skip(") first year composition and find themselves in entry level discipline specific courses classrooms. With three former students, I conduct a case study over...
Show moreResearch in writing studies has focused on students who make the traditional transition from high school to first year composition, to the entry level discipline specific courses in their chosen majors (Wardle, 2007, 2009; Sommers and Saltz, 2004; Beaufort, 2007; Carroll, 2002). Very little scholarship addresses those students who (")skip(") first year composition and find themselves in entry level discipline specific courses classrooms. With three former students, I conduct a case study over the course of eight months via a series of face to face, facetime, skype and email interviews. Each of these students, through earning high test scores in high school, forego first year composition and move directly to entry level discipline specific courses. Using third generation activity theory as a lens (Engestr(&)#246;m, 1996, 1999, 2001; Roth and Lee, 2007; Russell, 1995, 1997; Kain and Wardle, 2002), I examine these students' understanding of what they have experienced in high school writing(-)specifically high school English class(-)what they think college writing will demand, and finally what, in fact, they find the college writing demands to be. Not only do I find that each of the students felt very prepared for the demands they will encounter, but they remained confident. The study does, however, illuminate unforeseen challenges for both students and those who teach them: student literate lives are incredibly complex, and there is a real potential for a writing gap between formal writing instruction and when students will engage in intensive discipline writing tasks.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006933, ucf:51636
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006933
- Title
- A hermeneutic study of secondary English Language Arts teacher candidates' writing instruction experiences in ESOL methods courses.
- Creator
-
Bello, Paula, Olan, Elsie, Nutta, Joyce, Hopp, Carolyn, Mihai, Florin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this hermeneutic study was to understand, describe and interpret secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teacher candidates'(TC) experiences with writing instruction while attending English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) methods courses. The study included a purposeful convenience sample of 15 (fifteen) secondary ELA teacher candidates' (TC) attending 4 (four) different sections in 2 (two) ESOL methods courses. TCs were invited to participate in inquiry driven activities...
Show moreThe purpose of this hermeneutic study was to understand, describe and interpret secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teacher candidates'(TC) experiences with writing instruction while attending English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) methods courses. The study included a purposeful convenience sample of 15 (fifteen) secondary ELA teacher candidates' (TC) attending 4 (four) different sections in 2 (two) ESOL methods courses. TCs were invited to participate in inquiry driven activities including written reflections in response to a literacy questionnaire, oral interviews responding to open-ended questions and focus/work groups' discussions, which allowed them to reflect about their past and present literacy and learning experiences and become reflexive about the application of knowledge and practices in their future classrooms. The phenomenological hermeneutic qualitative design granted the researcher insight into participants' literacy and learning experiences as lived in relationship with their contexts, in a specific place and time.Colaizzi's (1978) seven-stages data analysis procedure, enabled the analysis and thorough description of TCs' experiences with writing instruction along their schooling and teacher education career. The following thematic categorization of participants' experiences was outlined: a)- TCs' experiences with instruction received and knowledge developed in teacher education programs, b)- TCs' recognition of good and bad practices in educational settings, including planning accommodations in general education classrooms, c)- TCs' experiences with ELs in authentic settings, d)- TCs' awareness process of ELs in schools, and e)- TCs' experiences with and about writing instruction to teach ELs.Further in depth data analysis guided the researcher into the interpretation of the fundamental structure of the phenomenon of teacher education experiences with writing instruction. TCs' experiences, drawn from different learning settings (including methods and content courses and field practicum), were articulated thanks to their participation in inquiry based learning activities. This breath of experiences specifically informed TCs' writing instruction experiences while attending ESOL methods courses. TCs' reflective and reflexive stances position them at the center of the educational phenomenon, in which TCs develop from facilitators of classroom communication to facilitators of learning processes and intercultural mediators.The phenomenon of TCs' lived experiences with writing instruction while attending ESOL methods courses, and by extension, content area courses and field practicum, needs to be analyzed, described and interpreted in order to develop practices conducive to inform the curricular development of teacher education programs and courses, to better prepare TCs to teach every learner develop knowledge and literacy, paying special attention to ELs'proficiency in English as a second language (ESL).?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006681, ucf:51904
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006681
- Title
- Using Hashtags to Disambiguate Aboutness in Social Media Discourse: A Case Study of #OrlandoStrong.
- Creator
-
DeArmas, Nicholas, Vie, Stephanie, Salter, Anastasia, Beever, Jonathan, Dodd, Melissa, Wheeler, Stephanie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
While the field of writing studies has studied digital writing as a response to multiple calls for more research on digital forms of writing, research on hashtags has yet to build bridges between different disciplines' approaches to studying the uses and effects of hashtags. This dissertation builds that bridge in its interdisciplinary approach to the study of hashtags by focusing on how hashtags can be fully appreciated at the intersection of the fields of information research, linguistics,...
Show moreWhile the field of writing studies has studied digital writing as a response to multiple calls for more research on digital forms of writing, research on hashtags has yet to build bridges between different disciplines' approaches to studying the uses and effects of hashtags. This dissertation builds that bridge in its interdisciplinary approach to the study of hashtags by focusing on how hashtags can be fully appreciated at the intersection of the fields of information research, linguistics, rhetoric, ethics, writing studies, new media studies, and discourse studies. Hashtags are writing innovations that perform unique digital functions rhetorically while still hearkening back to functions of both print and oral rhetorical traditions. Hashtags function linguistically as indicators of semantic meaning; additionally, hashtags also perform the role of search queries on social media, retrieving texts that include the same hashtag. Information researchers refer to the relationship between a search query and its results using the term (")aboutness(") (Kehoe and Gee, 2011). By considering how hashtags have an aboutness, the humanities can call upon information research to better understand the digital aspects of the hashtag's search function. Especially when hashtags are used to organize discourse, aboutness has an effect on how a discourse community's agendas and goals are expressed, as well as framing what is relevant and irrelevant to the discourse. As digital activists increasingly use hashtags to organize and circulate the goals of their discourse communities, knowledge of ethical strategies for hashtag use will help to better preserve a relevant aboutness for their discourse while enabling them to better leverage their hashtag for circulation. In this dissertation, through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Twitter discourse that used #OrlandoStrong over the five-month period before the first anniversary of the Pulse shooting, I trace how the #OrlandoStrong discourse community used innovative rhetorical strategies to combat irrelevant content from ambiguating their discourse space. In Chapter One, I acknowledge the call from scholars to study digital tools and briefly describe the history of the Pulse shooting, reflecting on non-digital texts that employed #OrlandoStrong as memorials in the Orlando area. In Chapter Two, I focus on the literature surrounding hashtags, discourse, aboutness, intertextuality, hashtag activism, and informational compositions. In Chapter Three, I provide an overview of the stages of grounded theory methodology and the implications of critical discourse analysis before I detail how I approached the collection, coding, and analysis of the #OrlandoStrong Tweets I studied. The results of my study are reported in Chapter Four, offering examples of Tweets that were important to understanding how the discourse space became ambiguous through the use of hashtags. In Chapter Five, I reflect on ethical approaches to understanding the consequences of hashtag use, and then I offer an ethical recommendation for hashtag use by hashtag activists. I conclude Chapter Five with an example of a classroom activity that allows students to use hashtags to better understand the relationship between aboutness, (dis)ambiguation, discourse communities, and ethics. This classroom activity is provided with the hope that instructors from different disciplines will be able to provide ethical recommendations to future activists who may benefit from these rhetorical strategies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007322, ucf:52136
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007322