Research in English: Research Briefs.

Purpose of this blog: Reviews of interesting research in English education journals. When possible, I suggest applications to the classroom.

10-second review: Teachers’ feedback on writing. Curricula for pre-service teachers. Academic journals.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” RLO Larson and A Bechan. Research in the Teaching of English (December 1992), 446-465.

What helps weak writers learn to write better? Students who improved most (1) found a way to “remedy misunderstandings about teachers’ feedback” on their writing and (2) learned to use effectively the concrete, specific revision strategies developed by the teachers. BC Bushey. P. 462. 1991. [Comment: (1) Need to ask students how they interpret teachers’ comments on their papers. I maintain that most students do not understand what teachers are saying when they write “awk.,” etc. Maybe we should take the time to explain the most frequent comments. (2) Of course, from this brief summary of the research, I do not know what the teachers’ specific suggestion for revision were, but the idea of being specific about steps in revision is a good one. RayS.]

Curricula for pre-service teachers: Curricula for pre-service teachers should include “models of the teacher as a reflective practitioner and researcher.” CL Pippen. P. 463-464. 1991. [Comment: As I’ve said before, teaching is only a part of the teacher’s role. Reflecting on one’s teaching and on research is another important element in improving teaching. How does one model reflecting on one’s teaching and research? Keeping a journal is one way to record reflections. Brainstorming is a way to begin reflecting. Raising questions. Doing one’s own research in the classroom is another method for reflecting on and evaluating one’s own teaching. RayS.]

Academic journals. Reports that an experimental study of an art class in which students wrote journal entries and comments on their assignments confirmed that students in the experimental group (with journals), because they focused on their problems through writing, learned more than did the control group, which did no writing. Reports also that journals were  “useful for understanding and following student learning and for improving teaching.” W Murdick. P 464. 1991. [Comment: I think this is an important study, showing the usefulness of writing in learning, understanding student difficulties, following students’ progress in learning and for improving teaching. This assumes, of course, that the teacher reads the student journals. Academic journals can be used with any subject. RayS.]