Text Revision in Inclusive German Language Education - Results of a Mixed-Methods Study
Submitted by:
Daria Ferencik-Lehmkuhl
Abstract:
Educational opportunities for students in Germany are still unevenly distributed. Academic success is closely tied to factors like social background or migration history. Other factors, such as special educational needs, also have a significant impact on students' educational opportunities (OECD, 2018).
In this context, German language education plays a central role: by imparting writing and reading skills in the context of diverse student biographies, (linguistic) barriers can be dismantled, participation can be ensured, and equity can be promoted. In particular, the process-oriented writing instruction, focusing on writing and revising texts, offers largely untapped potential (Ferencik-Lehmkuhl, 2019). Overall, the area of writing and revising in heterogeneous settings remains insufficiently researched. There is a lack of fundamental insights into individual success conditions and different difficulties encountered in writing and revising.
The presentation will present the results of a preliminary study, which provided insights into the processes of text revision by 6th-grade students (N = 3) with diverse learning backgrounds. Of particular interest were individual strategies as well as strengths and weaknesses in identifying, diagnosing, and resolving coherence inconsistencies, the role of assistance in the revision process, and the influence of basic and higher-order reading skills on revising. A parallel mixed-methods design was chosen as the research design. An exploratory guided interview was used as a qualitative data collection method, supplemented by a Reading Comprehension Test.
The results partially confirm the findings of previous studies (Faigley & Witte, 1981). It is indeed the sub-process of error detection but also the process of error correction that pose challenges for students. Overall, reading skills correlate strongly with revision competence. However, the focus should be intensified on whether indicating the location of inconsistencies genuinely helps learners and whether metacognitive skills (knowledge and strategies) should be strengthened instead.
References:
Faigley, Lester; Witte, Stephen P. (1981). Analyzing Revision. In College Composition and Communication 32 (4), S. 400-414.
Ferencik-Lehmkuhl, Daria (2019). Texte schreiben und überarbeiten im inklusiven Deutschunterricht [Writing and Revising Texts in Inclusive German Classes]. In informationen zur deutschdidaktik (ide) 43 (4), S. 42-51.
OECD (Hg.) (2019). PISA 2018. Ergebnisse (Band I) [Results. Volume 1). wbv Media: Bielefeld.