Instructor Feedback in Upper-Division Biology Courses: Moving from Spelling and Syntax to Scientific Discourse

Autor/in	Szymanski, Erika Amethyst
Titel	Instructor Feedback in Upper-Division Biology Courses: Moving from Spelling and Syntax to Scientific Discourse
Quelle	In: Across the Disciplines, 11 (2014) 2 PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1554-8244
Schlagwörter	Spelling; Syntax; Feedback (Response); Biology; Science Instruction; Discourse Analysis; College Science; Undergraduate Students; Technical Writing; Writing Assignments; Majors (Students); Writing Across the Curriculum; Writing Instruction; Science Curriculum; Science Teachers; College Faculty; Semi Structured Interviews; Washington + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Schreibweise; Biologie; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Diskursanalyse; Technical documentation; Technische Dokumentation; Schreibunterricht; Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Fakultät
Abstract	In this study, I present an analysis of instructor comments on assignments written for upper-division courses in the biological sciences as a window into current practices around teaching science writing to major students. My results demonstrate that, while the overwhelming majority of instructors respond primarily to lower order issues of grammar and other surface mechanics, a minority comment primarily on concerns specific to scientific discourse with a corresponding decrease in focus on lower-order issues. What discriminates between these two groups is that the minority assign genres that closely mimic fully-developed professional writing in the appropriate field; the majority assign conventional undergraduate genres such as the research paper that do not explicitly reference the writing students who continue in the field can expect to perform following graduation. Interviewing several of the professors in this minority, I find that their attitudes toward teaching with writing are closely coupled with envisioning student writing as apprentice-professional work, suggesting that encouraging faculty in such attitudes may, in addition to other benefits, improve their feedback practices. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	WAC Clearinghouse. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Tel: 970-491-3132; Web site: http://wac.colostate.edu
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01