Enforced Revision with Checkli

(Sultan bin Hassan al-Hazmi and Phil Sca)

---

Abstract

This study is a piece of action research conducted in an effort to improve the English writing of low proficiency Saudi university students, studying in a foreign language context where product-based teaching methods dominate. A regime of enforced draft revision, using a checklist, was imposed on two groups over three writing tasks completed partly in class and partly at home. One group was trained in peer revision, the other revised solely alone. There were clear draft improvements in quality, especially in mechanics, despite only modest amounts of meaning-changing and multisentential revisions being recorded. Most changes were meaning-preserving. However, final draft quality improved only slightly on performance before the intervention and fell significantly in a time limited exam situation following it. There was little difference between the revision groups, though peer revision, new to these students, was favourably commented on. There was evidence from qualitative interview data that neither peers nor the emphasis of the checklist on higher level concerns succeeded in directing attention substantially towards organisation and content, despite positive attitudes. It is surmised that these students were not ready to abandon the traditional surface error focus of their classroom.
PDF

References