Focus and Interaction in Writing Conferences for EFL Writers

Abstract

It is widely recognized that writing conferences benefit second or foreign language writers for the immediacy and the potential to address their needs and provide tailored and individualized support. However, limited attention has been given to the foci and interaction between teacher and student in writing conferences longitudinally. To address this need, this study examined writing conferences between five university English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students and their instructor in an argumentative writing course over one semester in a key Chinese university. Multiple sources of data were collected, including conferences, students’ essay drafts and written reflections, and interviews with the students and the instructor. Data analyses show that the conferences covered a large variety of topics such as varied aspects about argumentative writing, learning habits, and expectations about the course, which were related to English proficiency and English writing ability of each student. Second, the instructor took different approaches to communicate with each student in writing conferences considering their difficulties and needs. Finally, the conferences contribute to a deliberative process critical to the process of learning to write argumentation. The students found conversations with the instructor helpful in their subsequent revisions whereas the instructor gained a better understanding of students’ difficulties in writing. This study suggests that more research is needed to examine the role of conferences in EFL writing instruction. This study supports that conferences, as an important aid, will facilitate EFL students in the process of learning to write in English in addition to teacher written feedback and peer review.

Student-Teacher Conferences in an English Pronunciation Course: Goals, Characteristics and Views

“…Also, despite all acknowledging the drawback of the amount of time needed for these conferences, only one of the instructors expressed a desire for fewer and less frequent meetings. These positive perceptions regarding the usefulness of the student-teacher pronunciation conferences and students' desire for more echo findings from student-teacher writing conferences (Maliborska and You, 2016;Yang, 2022;Yeh, 2016). To address the need for more individualized practice, instructors might want to consider incorporating recorded oral assignments for feedback.…”

“…Instead, Sowell recommends to approach L2 writing conferences with much more flexibility because some multilingual students may prefer the instructor to lead the meeting. Yang (2022) observed this flexibility in the interactions of an EFL writing instructor and her five students. The instructor adopted different strategies according to student needs: more directive strategies with passive students and more indirect feedback through thought-provoking questions with more active students.…”

“…Thus, most research on student-teacher conferences has focused on L1 writing and, to a lesser extent, on L2 writing. Existing research shows that L1 and L2 writing conferences are viewed favorably because of their positive influence on students' writing skills (Maliborska and You, 2016), confidence (Keh, 1990), empowerment (Young and Miller, 2004), and relationship with the teacher (Eckstein, 2013;Yang, 2022;Yeh, 2016). As Keh (1990) reflects, these conferences offer a "live" audience (i.e., the teacher), which makes it possible for the learner to ask for clarification, check understanding, and get assistance as they try to solve writing problems.…”

“…As Keh (1990) reflects, these conferences offer a "live" audience (i.e., the teacher), which makes it possible for the learner to ask for clarification, check understanding, and get assistance as they try to solve writing problems. Writing conferences afford students more timely, targeted, and accurate feedback on their writing drafts (Keh, 1990) and a chance to develop genre awareness and strategies for subsequent writing (Wu and Lin, 2015;Yang, 2022). In a survey involving 100 ESL students and eight writing instructors, Maliborska and You (2016) found high overall satisfaction regarding learning outcomes and the frequency (weekly) of the writing conferences although most instructors and students would have preferred having met for longer than 10 minutes.…”

“…Yet, little is known about the goals, format, and views of student-teacher pronunciation conferences. Thus far most research on conferences has focused on first and second language (L1/L2) writing conferences (e.g., Eckstein, 2013;Maliborska and You, 2016;Walker and Elias, 1987;Wu and Lin, 2015;Yang, 2022;Yeh, 2016;Young and Miller, 2004). The current study seeks to extend this research area by investigating the goals, characteristics, and views of five mandatory student-teacher pronunciation conferences that were incorporated into an ESL pronunciation course.…”