Silencing the Soundtrack: An Alternative to Marginal Comments

Heller, Dana

doi:10.2307/358130

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Therefore, students see it as a technique in which they do not lose &dquo;authorial ground&dquo; but rather gain &dquo;empowerment&dquo; (Heller,t989,p. 211) because, according to Gilbert (1990), students deserve oral feedback from their peers. Heller (1989) recommends that students mark in the margin of their paper &dquo;at least five places where a reader unfamiliar with the writer's intentions might have questions or difficulty with text&dquo; (p. 212) to get audience reaction to their writing. Furthermore, these &dquo;paragraphs of intention&dquo; help the students maintain their original sense of purpose.…”

Section: Advantages and Disadvantages Of Conferencesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Gilbert (1990), on the other hand, used peer critique on a whole-class basis, with all students providing the author of the paper being discussed an opportunity to share in its assessment. In the pair-or group-evaluation system advocated by Heller (1989), those doing the critiquing know whose work is being assessed. But Gilbert (1990) allows the students whose papers are being assessed the opportunity to remain anonymous.…”

Section: Advantages and Disadvantages Of Conferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Efficacy of Several Writing Feedback Systems

Quible

1997

Business Communication Quarterly

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Over the years, a number of systems have been developed or adapted for use in grading the work of students in written business communication courses.Although the "perfect" system most likely has not been developed, a number of those currently used fulfill theirgoal of helping students become more proficientwriters. Some systems undoubtedly fulfill their goal more effectively than others, however. Regardless of which feedback system an instructor uses, he/she needs to be aware of its advantages and disadvantages as well as ways to maximize its effectiveness. This article provides a review of three different systems: written comments, conferences, and peer evaluation.WRITING F E E D B A C K is essentially &dquo;input from a reader to a writer...&dquo; (Keh, 1990, p. 294). In the business communication classroom, feedback has three primary uses: (i) to help the writer revise, (2) to provide the writer with knowledge to prevent the same error(s) in future writing, and (3) to assess the worth of written work. In an educational setting, the third use will likely be a factor in determining an appropriate grade. Pearce and Ackley (1995) indicate that writing instructors seem continually to be looking for more effective ways to give their students sufficient feedback. One problem is that some systems provide too few remarks. Another problem is that students don't understand the feedback they do receive.To overcome these problems, business communication instructors have developed a number of writing feedback systems, often applications of approaches originally used in English composition classes. Nothing in the literature suggests the feedback systems are not comparable in their efficacy in various types of writing-oriented classesat DALHOUSIE UNIV on April 13, 2015 bcq.sagepub.com Downloaded from 110 whether they are business writing, technical writing, or English composition-or for students of various grade levels, ranging from high school through college. This article discusses three systems: written comments, conferences, and peer evaluation..411 systems vary in ways ranging from the minor to the significant in terms of the following factors:i. Ease with which the system is understood by the learner (written comments, the most widely used system, appear to be most , difficult for the learner to understand).2. Frequency of use (written comments are used more frequently than the other systems).3. Amount of teacher time involved in using (peer evaluation consumes less grading time than written comments or conferences). 4. Effect on students' attitudes about writing (according to the research, written comments of a negative nature tend to have a detrimental impact on student attitudes about writing). 5. Effect on helping students improve writing skills (according to the research, written comments generally do not have a positive impact on overall improvement of students' writing skills). 6. Involvement of students in the process (students are extensively involved with the conference and peer-evaluation feedback systems and...

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Section: Advantages and Disadvantages Of Conferencesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Advantages and Disadvantages Of Conferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Efficacy of Several Writing Feedback Systems

Quible

1997

Business Communication Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bean's support for the end comment is especially clear when he provides particular suggestions for constructing an end comment whose purpose is "not to justify the grade but to help writers make the kinds of revisions that will move the draft toward excellence" (250). This tendency to favor the end comment over the in-text comment is not surprising considering earlier scholarship, such as that of Heller (1989), who strongly opposed the in-text comment. While Heller does acknowledge her own previous participation in the construction of marginal comments, she also claims that marginal comments are too directive because they silence student writers and undercut students' control over texts.…”

Section: A Higher Preference For the End Commentmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Most past and recent scholarship on instructor response to student texts investigated comments in either the in-text form or the end comment (Heller, 1989;Smith, 1997), or focused on the content of responses without paying much attention to the ways in which the format and/or placement of those comments affected the content (Gee, 1972;Straub, 1996;Cho, Schunn & Charney, 2006;McGarth, Taylor, & Pychyl, 201l). Even less work has been done to compare the different kinds of asynchronous electronic response formats available to instructors and tutors, yet some composition pedagogy and the majority of online writing centers encourage a non-directive approach to working with student writers.…”

Section: Potential For the Effectiveness Of In-text Commentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most importantly, Sommers concluded that "Written comments need to be viewed not as an end in themselves ... but rather as a means for helping students to become more effective writers" (155). Following Sommers' lead, many scholars (Hayes & Daiker, 1984;Ziv, 1984;Daiker 1989;Heller 1989) pursued research that sought to determine the ways instructors respond to student texts. One such project was Connors & Lunsford's (1988) national study of teacher-marked student essays, in which they found that teachers tended to focus their comments on marking error.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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