ARLE 2017
Abstracts for 'Pre-conference PhD participation ARLE 2017: June 14h 2017. Register for free'

RC Dielemans      Linguistic Reasoning in L1 grammar education
Magdalena Flores
Gert Rijlaarsdam
Daphne van Weijen     
National survey on teaching writing in public secondary schools in Chile
Miriam Granado Peinado
Elena Martín
Isabel Cuevas Fernandez
María del Mar Mateos     
Teaching to synthesize contradictory information from different sources in higher education
Deneke Lefebo      The implementation of mother tongue based bilingual eduaction model where bilingulaism is not maintained: The case of SNNPRS, Ethiopia
Louise Molbæk      Situation based writing - challenges and potential
Hilkka Paldanius      Disciplinary literacy in high school level history: the genre of an expository essay
Marloes Schrijvers
Tanja Janssen
Olivia Fialho
Gert Rijlaarsdam     
Fostering Personal and Social Insights in the Literature Classroom: A Review of Intervention Studies
Daina Urbonaite      Language ideology in teaching Lithuanian as L1 at school
Jimmy H.M. van Rijt      L1 grammar education based on linguistic concepts
Anders Westerlund      Essayistic dimensions in student texts in upper secondary school
Astrid Wijnands      The use of reference grammars in secondary education
Caroline Wittig      The Aesthetic Theatrical Implementation of Graphic Novels
Anneke J.G.R. Wurth      Feedback and L1-Oral language education in secondary school: what teachers and students put into practice
Gu Yixin      Chinese secondary school students’ self-questioning in independent fiction reading and its relationship with their reading motivation and reading amount of fiction


RC Dielemans (Netherlands (the))
LINGUISTIC REASONING IN L1 GRAMMAR EDUCATION
Language awareness & communcative skills
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-227 Chair: Uusen, Anne
Discussants: Uusen (Estonia); Rijlaarsdam (Netherlands (the))
In the pedagogy of grammar teaching Dutch teachers and writers of textbooks use a lot of mnemonic devices and action plans. In particular grammar education focuses on the correct answer. Students follow the steps and use tricks to write down the right answer as quickly as possible. The result is that a lot of students are not aware of any theory of linguistic concepts. Van Gelderen (2010) calls the focus on one correct answer by labelling word classes where the student does not learn any metalanguage theory about those forms as ‘traditional grammar teaching’. This method does not invite students to reason. Teachers can measure and stimulate the critical thinking skills only when they can analyse students’ reasoning.

To facilitate the development of higher-order learning materials within the language subjects, we developed a conceptual framework for linguistic reasoning, based on a review of literature and an expert consultation. We interviewed several professors and asked them to explain the syntactical structure of a sentence. We analysed the recorded reasonings. This framework is based on an integrated model for understanding thinking and learning by Moseley et al. (2005) in which three phases of thinking are distinguished: information gathering (exploring), building understanding (catching) and productive thinking (creating).

This poster presentation intends to introduce the concept of linguistic reasoning in the context of L1 teaching. I will demonstrate the six components of a conceptual framework for linguistic reasoning as a tool to support teachers in the development and assessment of linguistic higher-order excercises.

254 words

References
-Van Gelderen, A. (2010). Does Explicit Teaching of Grammar Help Students to Become Better Writers? In T. Locke, Beyond the Grammar Wars (pp. 109-128). New York and London: Routledge.
-Moseley, D., Elliott, J., Gregson, M., & Higgins, S. (2005). Thinking Skills Frameworks for Use in Education and Training. British Educational Research Journal, 31(3), 367–390. http://doi.org/10.1080/01411920500082219


Magdalena Flores & Gert Rijlaarsdam & Daphne van Weijen (Netherlands (the))
NATIONAL SURVEY ON TEACHING WRITING IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN CHILE
Teaching/aquiring languages & cultures (secondary ed.)
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-133 Chair: Lepajoe, Kersti
Discussants: Puksand (Estonia); Ehala (Estonia)
The quality of Writing education in secondary level in Chilean public schools needs to be improved. Improvement and innovation must always be based on a realistic appreciation of the current practice, because this can determine what changes are required (Graham & Rijlaarsdam, 2016; Cutler & Graham, 2008). Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine teachers’ current practices and beliefs about L1 Spanish writing and writing instruction in Chilean secondary public schools. Thus the aim is to establish the current state of L1 writing instruction in Chile, as a baseline for future interventions.

Method
An online national survey has been developed in which teachers of Spanish at the Secondary level of public schools are invited to participate. The survey has been based on instruments used in previous studies with a similar purpose (e.g. Cutler & Graham, 2008; Brindle, 2013). The theoretical framework is based on the Chilean curriculum of Language and the results of a meta-analysis on writing instruction for adolescents by Graham and Perin (2007).

Results
Data will be collected in May 2017. We predict that teachers will report a lack of teacher training related to writing education. In addition, we expect that they will report that they spend little time on writing instruction and that they base their practices mostly on traditional approaches to teaching writing.

Issues to be discussed
In the session, we would like to discuss how we could focus our future interventions based on the results of our survey.
The survey we have constructed could be relevant for the others studies in the L1-research community.

References
Brindle, M. (2013) Examining relationships among teachers’ preparation, efficacy, and writing practices. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.
Cutler, L. & Graham, S. (2008) Primary Grade Writing Instruction: A National Survey. Journal of Educational Psychology. 100, 4, 907-919.
Graham, S. & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2016) Writing Education around the Globe: Introduction and Call for a New Global Analysis. Reading and Writing, 29(5), 781-792.
Graham, S. & Perin, D. (2007) A Meta-Analysis of Writing Instruction for Adolescent Students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 3, 445-476.


Miriam Granado Peinado & Elena Martín & Isabel Cuevas Fernandez & María del Mar Mateos (Spain)
TEACHING TO SYNTHESIZE CONTRADICTORY INFORMATION FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Integrating texts in aquiring communication proficiency
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-133 Chair: Lepajoe, Kersti
Discussants: Puksand (Estonia); Ehala (Estonia)
Writing synthesis from multiple sources is a task that requires the integration of ideas from different positions and promotes knowledge transformation (Segev-Miller, 2007; Mateos et al, 2014). Research has shown that collaborative writing resulted in higher benefits than individual writing. Collaboration tasks provided opportunities to generate ideas, to integrate them with prior knowledge, to consider multiple perspectives, to receive and to give feedback, to generate and to participate in the cognitive conflict. (McAllister, 2005; Storch, 2005; Nussbaum, 2008; Prichard, Bizo, and Stratford, 2006; Johnson and Johnson, 2009). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of three types of intervention conditions aimed at improving the quality of written syntheses by integrating contradictory information on a topic from two different sources. To assess the quality of the synthesis, a categorization system, which was elaborated in previous studies, was applied. Four experts rated the synthesis showing higher inter-rater agreement (Cronbach’s α =.90).The participants were 57 students from a psychology degree, distributed into three conditions. In the first one, they received a guide with questions, in graphic format, that helped to identify, contrast and integrate the arguments and counterarguments of the contradictory positions of both texts. Participants in this condition performed a total of 6 written syntheses individually. In the second condition, the guide was also provided but participants worked in pairs. In the last condition, in addition to the guide and the collaborative work, an explicit instruction was given through an explanation of the researcher and a video which showed two students doing the task. This instruction illustrated the process of integrating arguments from different sources in collaboration with a partner. The results showed that students in all three conditions improved their ability to integrate conflicting information. In the pre-task most students followed a pattern of refutation, with very little integration of the positions, while in the post-task the level of integration was higher. There were no differences between the three interventions. The limitations of this pilot study, the possible reasons for the lack of differences between groups and the changes in the design of a new one will be discussed.

References:

Johnson, D. y Johnson, R. (2009). Energizing Learning: The instructional Power of Conflict. Educational Researcher, 38(1), 37-51.

Mateos, M., Solé, I., Martín, E., Cuevas, I., Miras, M. y Castells, N. (2014). Writing a Synthesis from Multiple Sources as a Learning Activity. En P. Klein, P. Boscolo, L. Kirkpatrick y C. Gelati, (Eds), Writing as a Learning Activity (pp. 168-190). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

McAllister, C. (2005). Collaborative writing groups in the college classroom. En T. Kostouli, (Ed), Writing in context(s): textual practices and learning processes in sociocultural settings (pp. 207-227). NY: Springer.

Nussbaum, E. (2008). Collaborative discourse, argumentation, and learning: Preface and literature review. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 345-359.

Prichard, J., Bizo, L. y Stratford, R. (2006). The educational impact of team-skills training: Preparing students to work in groups. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 119-140.

Segev-Miller, R. (2007). Cognitive processes in discourse synthesis: The case of intertextual processing strategies. En G. Rijlaarsdam (Series Ed.), M. Torrance, L. van Waes y D. Galbraith (Vol. Eds.), Studies in Writing: Vol.20: Writing and cognition: Research and applications. (pp. 231-250). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Storch, N. (2005). Collaborative writing: Product, process and students' reflections. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 153-173.


Deneke Lefebo (Ethiopia)
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MOTHER TONGUE BASED BILINGUAL EDUACTION MODEL WHERE BILINGULAISM IS NOT MAINTAINED: THE CASE OF SNNPRS, ETHIOPIA

ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 16:00-17:30 Room Mare-226 Chair: Uusen, Anne
Discussants: Uusen (Estonia); Feytor Pinto (Portugal)
This PhD study is aimed to explore the successes and challenges of the decision and implementation of early exit transition to L2 model of mother tongue based bilingual education by taking the case of one regional state of Ethiopia. As the result, this pilot study was aimed to gain lessons towards employing the designed data gathering tools, selecting subjects of the study and analyzing the data obtained ahead of commencing data gathering for the main study. Though the language use decision in education in Ethiopia is noted for its progressiveness regarding the mother tongue instruction, currently one of the regional states has come to decide and implement a weak model of bilingual education i.e. early exit transition to English. This is for The Education and Training Policy (1994) of Ethiopia has provided a right to regional states to plan educational language use for primary education in a decentralized way. Hence, the premises of this study is that it might be imaginary to assume that students in the first four years of primary school can master a foreign language and then transit to use it as main medium across curriculum. The research design which is proposed for this study was explanatory case study. Mainly qualitative case study method is designed to be employed to explore the case in depth. To this end, a framework for successes in bilingual education program (Brisk, 2006), UNESCO guidelines on language and education (UNESCO, 2003), threshold hypothesis and interdependence hypothesis of language learning (Skutnabb-Tangas, 1976; Cummins, 1984) were sought as main theoretical frameworks to conceive the results. The subjects of the study were teachers and students at grade five and six levels, educational leaders, curriculum heads/designers/experts and parents. Semi-structured interviews and actual classroom observation were designed as major tools. For this pilot study, one primary school was selected purposively. The analysis of data obtained through interview revealed that teachers’ proficiency in L2 was found minimal and they were also unable to make explanations on contents of the subjects of their teaching by using English. Their academic language proficiency in the learners’ Mother Tongue (MT) was very much limited. The data obtained through observation of actual classroom teaching revealed that teachers could not make prolonged explanations and posing examples by using the target language and learners were not observed making any interaction through English. Hence, from this preliminary findings, significant lessons were gained for the commencement of data gathering for the main study and it would be possible to infer that the language use as a main medium might fail to result in quality learning.
Key-words: Mother tongue, bilingual education, language proficiency, educational language use, early exit transition, case study
References:
1. AGATHA J. VAN GINKEL, Ph.D. Senior Multilingual Education Specialist - SIL LEAD email = agatha_van_ginkel@sil-lead.org
2. Fekadu Mulugeta (PhD) Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia email = fekadu.mulugeta@aau.edu.et
3. Jemal Mohammed, (PhD) Mekele University, Ethiopia. email = jemalmha@yahoo.com


Louise Molbæk (Denmark)
SITUATION BASED WRITING - CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL
Verbal and digital arts
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 16:00-17:30 Room Mare-133 Chair: Lepajoe, Kersti
Discussants: Lepajoe (Estonia); Ehala (Estonia)
Key-words: teaching writing, intermediate stage, educational design, rhetorical situations, ethnografic approach

Within social semiotics texts are perceived in relation to the context of situation. The rhetorician Carolyn Miller has defined genre as typified rhetorical action; the writer acts on a particular interpretation of the situation. In this light, the teaching of writing, that aims at a more critical and deeper conceptual understanding of what writing is, must focus not only on content and form, but also bring to light the actual context of situation.

In my ongoing Ph.d-project, I have tried out an educational design focused on writing based on rhetorical situations. These situations have been represented in three classrooms (5th grade) in form of a fictional short film and two different real world situations.

Based on teacher’s text modelling and in two of the classrooms drama exercises, (to provide embodied experiences of the use of language as action) students were stimulated to work in small groups on interpretations of the rhetorical situations using so called writing maps: They were asked to define a purpose of writing, discuss how they wanted to present the topic of writing and position the reader and themselves as writers in order to achieve their defined goal in that specific situation. Afterwards the students had to write texts collaboratively based on these interpretations.

My purpose has been to explore, describe and comprehend the events taking place. Using ethnografic approach; observation, voice recordings and interviews I explore how students encounter, enact and attach aspects of writing significance. I am processing the events as cases aiming to identify challenges and potential and develop new hypotheses. At the time of writing, I am in particular working with categories such as possibilities of selfhood, meaning making, investment, imagined communities and the use of voices. I have found (and would like to discuss the basis for these finds), that this specific design of situation based writing:

• is challenging for some students
• holds a potential of representing writing as dialogical action
• indicates that real world rhetorical situation may be real and stimulate imagination but not necessarily authentic from the perspective of the students


References

Ivanic, R (1998). Writing and Identity. The Discoursal Construction of Identity in Academic Writing. Benjamins

Miller, C. (1984). Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70, 151-167.

Norton, B. (2001). Non-participation, imagined communities, and the language classroom. In M. Breen (Ed.), Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research (pp. 159–171).Harlow, England: Pearson Education


Hilkka Paldanius (Finland)
DISCIPLINARY LITERACY IN HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL HISTORY: THE GENRE OF AN EXPOSITORY ESSAY

ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 16:00-17:30 Room Mare-133 Chair: Lepajoe, Kersti
Discussants: Lepajoe (Estonia); Ehala (Estonia)
Problem statement

In my dissertation I study literacy in high-school level history by focusing on the genre of an expository essay. Essays are commonly used in assessing students’ learning in Finland. However, in subjects other than languages writing is rarely taught. Also in linguistic research the written products in these subjects have caught less attention in Finland. The study is based on the concept of disciplinary literacies, which means that the practices of construing knowledge are seen to reflect on texts and the literacy demands of a discipline. (Moje et al. 2011.) My goal is to study the genre of an expository essay to build understanding of one aspect of the literacy demands in the subject of history.

Research question and methods

In this presentation my research question is "what is the functional structure of an expository essay in history like". The data consist of 52 document-based essays that were written as a part of a history exam in Finnish high-school. The assignment asks students to explore what can be said about who started the Cold War. The essays are analyzed by describing the communicative functions and linguistic features that realize the genre of the essays. For the qualitative text analysis a genre-theoretical move-analysis (Swales 1990; Bhatia 1993, 2004), and also the systemic-functional theory by M. A. K. Halliday (1985) are applied.

Results and discussion

As the outcome of a genre-theoretical move-analysis three different moves and seven steps realizing the structure of the essays were found. Communicative functions of these structural elements are to contextualize the historical content of the essays, to analyze historical documents, and to use the analysis for arguing about the presented statements. According to the analysis, essays have features of an expository text but also those of argumentative genres. The article suggests that explicit teaching of the linguistic features and communicative functions that realize the genre of a history essay could enhance literacy teaching in history.

References
Halliday, M. 1985. Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Victoria: Deakin University. ¬
Moje, E. – Stockdill, D. – Kim, K. – Kim, H. 2011. The Role of Text in Disciplinary Learning. – M.L. Kamil, P.D. Pearson, E. B. Moje & P. P. Afflerbach (edit.), Handbook of reading research 4 p. 453–486. New York: Routledge.
Swales, J. 1990. Genre Analysis. English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.


Marloes Schrijvers & Tanja Janssen & Olivia Fialho & Gert Rijlaarsdam (Netherlands (the))
FOSTERING PERSONAL AND SOCIAL INSIGHTS IN THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM: A REVIEW OF INTERVENTION STUDIES
Curriculum, objectives & learning media
ARLE PhD Preconference plenary Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-226 Chair: Mattheus, Ave
Discussants: Mattheus (Estonia); Pieper (Germany)
Reading literary novels, short stories or poems may have an impact on readers’ self-reflection, self-concepts and social perceptions (e.g., Bal & Veltkamp, 2013; Fialho, 2012; Koopman & Hakemulder, 2015). Accordingly, in the Dutch context, literature education is assumed to have ‘an important value for developing citizenship, [for instance by] broadening social and cultural horizons and developing empathic capabilities’ (Dutch Institute for Curriculum Development, 2015, p. 15). A recent study supported this claim: adolescents reported to have gained personal and social insights due to literature classes in Dutch upper secondary schools, although this varied from class to class (Schrijvers, Janssen, Fialho & Rijlaarsdam, 2016). How, then, may educators actively foster these kinds of personal and social learning experiences in the literature classroom?

To identify educational design principles that may inform the design of literature education fostering adolescent students’ personal and social insights, we conducted a systematic review study. We applied database searches, hand searches, citation tracking and expert consultation. Sixteen empirical intervention studies met our inclusion criteria, which we coded for methodological quality criteria and intervention characteristics.

We derived three general design principles from these intervention studies. To foster personal and social insights, effective literature instruction should (1) promote dialogic learning in a safe classroom context, in which students feel free to explore and share their authentic, affective and possibly contradictory responses; (2) use fictional texts that stylistically and thematically stimulate personal and social insights, e.g., including deviations from conventional language use while addressing moral or social issues; and (3) instruct students to focus on personal experiences triggered by texts or learning activities, which will help them to connect their reading to self-aspects and to their own lives. We present a hypothetical model of how these design principles may ideally be implemented in the literature classroom.

Bal, M., & Veltkamp, M. (2013). How does Fiction Reading Influence Empathy? An Experimental Investigation on the Role of Emotional Transportation. Plos One, 8, 1-12.
Dutch Institute for Curriculum Development (2015). Curriculumspiegel Deel B: Vakspecifieke Trendanalyse. [Curricular Description Part B: Domain-Specific Trend Analysis.] Enschede: SLO.
Fialho, O. (2012). Self-Modifying Experiences in Literary Reading: A Model for Reader Response (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://era.library.ualberta.ca
Koopman, E.M., & Hakemulder, F. (2015). Effects of Literature on Empathy and Self-Reflection: A Theoretical-Empirical Framework. Journal of Literary Theory, 9(1), 79-111.
Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, S. & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2016). The impact of literature education
on students’ perceptions of self and others: Exploring personal and social learning experiences
in relation to teacher approach. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 17, p. 1-37.


Daina Urbonaite (Lithuania)
LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY IN TEACHING LITHUANIAN AS L1 AT SCHOOL

ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-227 Chair: Uusen, Anne
Discussants: Uusen (Estonia); Rijlaarsdam (Netherlands (the))
This presentation is a part of the ph.d. project, which topic is language notion and ideology in the mother-tongue language school textbooks. In this context, language education policy (LEP) plays an important role. As Shohamy (2007) points, LEP is a powerful tool imposing language behavior on pupils, for whom participating in the system is compulsory, determining criteria for language correctness and obliging people to adopt certain ways of speaking and writing (Shohamy 2006: 77). According to de los Heros (2009), the new LEP in Peru officially promotes language diversity in education, but analysis of textbooks proves, that language diversity is not really being endorsed.
In the presentation, I argue that standard language ideology and national ideology has a significant impact on the Lithuanian LEP, i.e. teaching of the L1.
Lithuanian language policy is prescriptive and normative, and regulated by the law of the state language. Language correctness and pureness is controlled by the state’s language control institutions like The state commission of the Lithuanian language and The state inspectorate of the Lithuanian language, which supervise the use of the standard language and do not allow non-standard language variation. Standard language ideology is pervasive and entrenched in the Lithuanian language policy, which also manifests itself in the Lithuanian L1 education policy. The research question of the present study is to find out what notion and ideology of the Lithuanian language is being formulated and presented to the pupils in the Lithuanian L1 school textbooks. For this purpose, the following aims have been set – to analyze the current national curriculum, as well as the Lithuanian L1 school textbooks for the upper secondary/gymnasium grades. Methodology of the study includes analysis of the LEP documents, discourse analysis of the Lithuanian L1 school textbooks, using the qualitative data analysis program NVivo, and comparative analysis of the LEP documents and L1 textbooks. The analyzed documents of LEP include The Lithuanian law of education, the recent and valid national curriculum of the Lithuanian language for lower and higher secondary school, the strategy of the Lithuanian education etc. There have been analyzed four Lithuanian L1 school textbooks for the 11-12 (higher secondary / gymnasium) grades, published since year 2000.
The analysis of the national curriculum and the textbooks of the Lithuanian L1 shows the dominant standard language ideology. The focus of language teaching in the Lithuanian L1 textbooks is teaching of the standard language variety, which is considered the only one correct and allowed for usage norm, the “good” language. Language variation in the Lithuanian language textbooks is scarcely presented and considered in most cases as violation of the correct standard norm, which should therefore be avoided and always corrected in to the “good” language.
Moreover, the analysis of both national curriculum and Lithuanian language textbooks shows that language in the Lithuanian education policy is considered to possess and express the notion of the Lithuanian national identity. The national ideology is pervasive in the L1 teaching – the language function of national identity is presented in the textbooks as very important, while the communicative function of language does not gain the high importance.
Teaching of the Lithuanian language at school can therefore be seen as ideologically loaded – language becomes the bearer of standardization and nationality.

References:
Heros, S. de los. 2009. Linguistic pluralism or prescriptivism? A CDA of language ideologies in Talento, Peru’s official textbook for the first-year of high school. Linguistics and Education 20(2): 172–199.
Shohamy, E. 2006. Language Policy. Hidden agendas and new approaches. London: Routledge.


Jimmy H.M. van Rijt (Netherlands (the))
L1 GRAMMAR EDUCATION BASED ON LINGUISTIC CONCEPTS

ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-227 Chair: Uusen, Anne
Discussants: Uusen (Estonia); Rijlaarsdam (Netherlands (the))
In the past century, linguistics has yielded a great amount of conceptual knowledge for teachers to enrich language curricula. However, a considerable gap between academic linguistics and school grammar still remains. School grammar is mainly characterized by traditional pedagogy (e.g. isolated parsing exercises) and outdated linguistic content.
The core of this problem partly lies in how linguists have generally taken little interest in the related school subject (Hudson & Walmsley 2005, p. 608), and have refrained from identifying a general agreement on essential linguistic concepts, although discussions about the foundations and principles of linguistic theory have been plentiful. Therefore, related school subjects can hardly make any use of recent linguistic insights.
In an exploratory study, we have attempted to reach a general agreement about the linguistic concepts from the syntax-semantics interface by interviewing linguistic experts in a Delphi study (n=23). The Delphi consisted of a semi-structured interview round (which was qualitatively analyzed) and two additional rounds of questionnaires. We asked linguistic experts to define and rank the essential linguistic concepts from the syntax-semantics interface for linguistic theory and for educational purposes.

We will elaborate on the conceptual agreement reached, with an emphasis on the pedagogical implementation of some relevant concepts. We will also show design principles for concept-based grammar lessons, derived from experiences from a teachers’ learning community, which explored these concepts in secondary schools.

References
Hudson, R. & Walmsley, J. (2005). The English patient: English grammar and teaching in the twentieth century. Journal of Linguistics 41, 593-622.


Anders Westerlund (Finland)
ESSAYISTIC DIMENSIONS IN STUDENT TEXTS IN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
Language & digital skills in subject teaching
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 16:00-17:30 Room Mare-133 Chair: Lepajoe, Kersti
Discussants: Lepajoe (Estonia); Ehala (Estonia)
The aim of my thesis is to examine essayistic dimensions in student texts (L1 Swedish) from upper secondary school in Finland, by combining theoretical perspectives from writing research and literary theory. In the literacy practices in school in general, the essay is a very heterogeneous genre. The aspects I am examining are above all the combination of reflection and writing as represented by the essayistic tradition from Montaigne.

According to Good (1988) the essay preserves "the process of thinking", thus dealing with the individual's self-experience. Atkins (2005) similarly sees the essay as "reflection upon experience". In writing pedagogy these perspectives primarily correspond to cognitive as well as expressive approaches. The six discourses of writing that Ivanič (2004) describes are also a helpful instrument in the analysis of the functions of the essay.

The empirical data consists of different kinds of student essays from L1 education and history, and also L1 textbooks.

The thesis will consist of five articles and a comprehensive summary. The first article analyses the potential of reflection and ambiguity in essay writing, two central aspects of the essay according to Adorno (1991). The second examines how students use essayistic strategies when describing a picture. The third article examines how different types of student essays relate to different descriptions of the essay as genre. The fourth will be a discourse analysis of the notion of essay in L1 textbooks; is the essay presented as an object belonging to the history of literature or as a genre with relevance for the students' own writing? The last article studies how students in the central national Matriculation Examination in history use essayistic strategies.

References

Adorno, Theodor W. (1991) Notes to Literature. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia University Press.

Atkins, G. Douglas (2005), Tracing the Essay. Through Experience to Truth. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Good, Graham (1988), The Observing Self. Rediscovering the Essay. London: Routledge.

Ivanič, Roz (2004), Discourses of writing and learning to write. Language and education vol 18:3 p. 220–245.


Keywords: student essay, qualitative text analysis, writing pedagogy


Astrid Wijnands (Netherlands (the))
THE USE OF REFERENCE GRAMMARS IN SECONDARY EDUCATION
Language awareness & communcative skills
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-227 Chair: Uusen, Anne
Discussants: Uusen (Estonia); Rijlaarsdam (Netherlands (the))
The use of reference grammars in secondary education 

L1 grammar teaching has been discussed extensively in recent years (see Locke, 2010) especially as to what knowledge about language should be taught in the classroom to help students to become better language users. With an educational focus on the prescriptive norm, we would expect students to actually use sources in which they can search for language rules (Coppen, 2013). Appropriate sources would seem to be the general reference grammars, such as the Algemene Nederlandse Spraakkunst (‘General Dutch Grammar’) for Dutch, Le Bon Usage for French, Grammatik der Deutschen Sprache for German and A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language for English. Those grammars are written for mother-tongue speakers who have some understanding of grammar and want to learn more about their language. They would seem to fit L1 grammar teaching extremely well because their grammatical description of the language is based on traditional school grammar terminology. However, the level of linguistic abstraction appears to be too high for secondary school students and consequently, those grammars are rarely used in this domain. 

This study examines whether reference grammars can be made useful in L1 grammar teaching and what students and teachers expect they will learn from these grammars. We studied literature on L1 grammar teaching in the Anglophone and Dutch countries from 2010 till 2016. We used a qualitative content analysis in which we focused on the purpose of different ways of L1 grammar teaching. Furthermore, we conducted a semi-structured questionnaire among 150 Dutch students and (aspirant-)teachers, and a group interview of six Flemish L1 teachers about the use of reference grammars in secondary education.  

We will present the results of the literature study, the questionnaire and the interview. We also present some preliminary pedagogical arrangements based on the results of this research. 

References
Locke, T. (2010). Beyond the grammar wars: A resource for teachers and students on developing language knowledge in the English/literacy classroom. New York: Routledge.
Coppen, P.A. (2013). Tegen het leed dat grammatica heet. In: S. Vanhooren & A. Mottart (red.), Zevenentwintigste conferentie van Het Schoolvak Nederlands. Gent: Academia Press, XXXIV-XXXIX.

Keywords: L1 grammar teaching, reference grammars, secondary education


Caroline Wittig (Germany)
THE AESTHETIC THEATRICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF GRAPHIC NOVELS
Aesthetically oriented texts as means of pedagogy
ARLE PhD Preconference plenary Wednesday, 16:00-17:30 Room Mare-227 Chair: Mattheus, Ave
Discussants: Mattheus (Estonia); Janssen (Netherlands (the))
From research on reception processes of graphic novels, pictoral representations of narrated stories were scenically and play-fully visible in verbal and non-verbal observations by children (cf. Hoffmann soon). These approaches shall be deepened with an intervention study: In a project-week at a primary school, Anke Kuhl’s graphic novel The clay giant’s alive! (2015) will be scenically staged in a live audio-play. In this story, two children unintentionally create a Golem during a game. The quest for orienting itself brings about chaos. Finally, its creators can prevent a catastrophe by asking the clay giant to play with them. Reading and playing the graphic novel should bring narrative resources of the respective art form to the children’s attention, but also change and widen the view of the story. The question becomes: What aspects of literary learning (cf. Spinner 2006) will be initiated? Which perception of the Golem is imagined by the children during the transformation process? The children’s imagination, their subjective involvement and their perception of language and pictures in the graphic novel are focused on. The scenic development and conversation about it will be filmed. Based on this data, observation protocols will be written in order to enable the analysis of verbal and non-verbal expressions. Transformation processes in a multimodal literary context will be explored from two different angles: transformation of the story (written language and pictures are transformed into spoken language and sounds) as well as the liminal experience of the children in the play. The choice of Clay giant lives! is connected to the Golem-motif, whose core aspects are transformation processes and animation from inanimate materials. I would like to demonstrate how transformation processes are stimulated through didactic capabilities.

References

Hoffmann, Jeanette (soon):„guck mal jetzt (-) jetzt hat die katze drei köpfe“ – Acquisition of Narrative Images in Kindergarten with the Example of David Wiesners 'Mr. Wuffles!'. In: Lieber, Gabriele/Irene Pieper/Bettina Uhlig (Hgg.) (soon): Explanations Between Image and Text. Perspectives on German and Art Theory. (working title) (in preparation).
Kuhl, Anke (2015): The clay giant’s alive! Berlin: Reproduction.
Spinner, Kaspar H. (2006): Literary Learning. In: Praxis Deutsch, H. 200, S. 6-16.


Anneke J.G.R. Wurth (Netherlands (the))
FEEDBACK AND L1-ORAL LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL: WHAT TEACHERS AND STUDENTS PUT INTO PRACTICE
Language & digital skills in subject teaching
ARLE Preconference short presentations with extended discussion Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-133 Chair: Lepajoe, Kersti
Discussants: Puksand (Estonia); Ehala (Estonia)
Key words: oral language, L1, Feedback, presentation skills, educational design research

Standards for the examination program are described for various domains of Dutch mother tongue education in secondary schools. Spoken language is one of these domains including arguing, discussing and debating. The standards provide information of what students should strive for, but do not give information on how teachers can support their students to achieve these goals.

Problem
Hardly any empirical evidence is provided on how students’ development of Dutch spoken language can be supported. A field consultation of expert L1-teachers in the Netherlands (Neijt et al., 2016) showed that teachers want their students to become conscious language learners. Feedback (self-evaluation, teacher and peer feedback ) can have a catalyst function in becoming more language aware by focusing learners’ attention to language in use and to let them experience what they need for their further development to proficiency (Bolitho et al. 2003).

Research questions
This Phd-study can be characterized as educational design research. It focuses on the relationship of feedback and the development of oral language skills in the context of argumentative speech in upper secondary education (students aged 15-18). The research questions refer to what role feedback is playing in current classroom practice and in what ways feedback can strengthen the development of students’ presentation skills.

Method
The research is divided into two parts: the first part involves several substudies and describes lesson practice and theory on feedback and development of oral language skills. The results will feed into the second part, the actual educational design research. In a substudy of the first part data are collected from interviews and questionnaires with teachers and their students to see how the oral language lessons are constructed and in what way they involve feedback.

Results
The aim of this substudy is to get perceptions of how the lessons are designed and conducted: which materials are used and in what way are feedback, oral practice and tests incorporated in class? In addition, teachers’ and students’ evaluation of the lessons is addressed.

Discussion
The findings of this particular substudy will be presented and discussed. In addition, these findings will be related to another study of the first part: it is about major teaching methods in the Netherlands and the way feedback in spoken language education is applied.

References:
Bolitho, R. et al. (2003). Ten questions about language awareness. ELT Journal Volume, 57/3.
Neijt, A. Mantingh,E., Coppen,P-A., Oosterholt, J., De Glopper K., Witte,T. (2016). Manifest voor het Schoolvak Nederlands. Bewust geletterd’ als nieuwe koers voor het schoolvak Nederlands. Levende Talen Magazine, 1, 28-29.


Gu Yixin (China)
CHINESE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SELF-QUESTIONING IN INDEPENDENT FICTION READING AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR READING MOTIVATION AND READING AMOUNT OF FICTION
Translating cultures and teaching arts
ARLE PhD Preconference plenary Wednesday, 13:20-15:20 Room Mare-226 Chair: Mattheus, Ave
Discussants: Mattheus (Estonia); Pieper (Germany)
Few studies have investigated Chinese secondary school students’ self-questioning situation and problems in independent fiction reading. Neither had any previous researches studied the relationship between Chinese students’ self-questioning level and their reading motivation or reading amount. To fill in the blank, I plan to conduct this mixed method research.
The first part of the research will use quantitative method to investigate the types of questions favored by Chinese high school students in their independent fiction reading, and the relations between their use of self-questioning and reading motivation as well as reading amount for fiction reading. A 30 item six-factor questionnaire measuring Chinese adolescent students’ self-questioning use for literary fiction is invented based on Buehl’s (2015) and Krathwohl’s (2002) relevant works. A starting pilot study with 169 samples has just been conducted and the Cronbach’s alpha of the total 30 items is 0.943 (alpha of memory level questions= 0.662; alpha of analyzing level = 0.793; alpha of applying level=0.804, alpha of analyzing level =0.804, alpha of evaluative level=0.791, and alpha of creative level=0.723). Explorative Factor Analysis showed although the items could be mainly clustered onto 6 factors, many of the items are cross loading. Therefore I plan to conduct a larger scale of pilot soon and the formal testing will be carried out on March-April, 2017. The Chinese Reading Motivation Questionnaire invented by Lau & Chan (2003) is slightly revised and used to measure Chinese high school students’ reading motivation for fiction reading, with 24 items, 4 dimensions and a total Cronbach’s alpha of 0.902 ( alpha of self-efficacy= 0.845, alpha of extrinsic motivation=0.806, alpha of intrinsic motivation= 0.825, alpha of social factors=0.818). Revised Reading Activity Inventory by Guthrie, J.T., McGough, K. & Wigfield (1994) is used to measure Chinese high school students’ reading amount of fiction, with 4 items, 1 dimension and a total Cronbach’s alpha of 0.633.
After the self-questioning questionnaire’s validity is improved, Pearson correlation will be used to examine the correlation between self-questioning use and reading motivation, and the correlation between self-questioning use and reading amount. MANOVA with Interaction Effect will be used to see whether the relationship between self-questioning and reading motivation for fiction is significant depending on reading amount, or whether the relationship between self-questioning and reading amount is significant depending on reading motivation.
The second part of the research is to examine the process and perception of Chinese high school students' self-questioning in fiction reading, finding out how, when and why they use self-questioning, what levels of questions they mainly asked themselves, what kind of difficulties or problems they meet in generating higher level questions, and how self-questioning in fiction reading affect their motivation, interest or attitude toward reading fiction. This part will adopt qualitative method. Think-aloud strategy will be taught and used by students to report the process of their use of self-questioning and interviews will also be conducted to deeper understand their perceptions of self-questioning in fiction reading.
Buehl, D. (2009). Self-questioning taxonomy. In D. Buehl (Ed.), Classroom strategies for interactive learning (3rd ed., pp. 157–161). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Krathwohl D.R. (2002) A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview, Theory Into Practice, 41:4, 212-218, doi: 10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2

Lau, Kit‐ling & Chan, David W. (2003). Reading strategy use and motivation among Chinese good and poor readers in Hong Kong. Journal of Research in Reading, 26(2), 177-190. doi: 10.1111/1467-9817.00195

Guthrie, J.T., McGough, K. & Wigfield, A. (1994). Measuring reading activity: An inventory (Instructional Resource No. 4). Athens, GA: National Reading Research Center.