Textual Borrowing in Science Summaries: Upper-Elementary and Middle School Students Learning to Write the Language of Science

Autor/inn/en	Qin, Wenjuan; Uccelli, Paola
Titel	Textual Borrowing in Science Summaries: Upper-Elementary and Middle School Students Learning to Write the Language of Science
Quelle	In: Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 34 (2021) 10, S.2505-2528 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Qin, Wenjuan) ORCID (Uccelli, Paola) Weitere Informationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0922-4777
DOI	10.1007/s11145-021-10155-4
Schlagwörter	Elementary School Students; Middle School Students; Science Education; Writing (Composition); Academic Language; Writing Assignments; Plagiarism; Reading Comprehension; Age Differences; Reading Tests; Writing Skills; Reading Skills + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Schreibübung; Academic; Language; Languages; Akademiker; Sprache; Wissenschaftssprache; Plagiat; Leseverstehen; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Lesetest; Writing skill; Schreibfertigkeit; Reading skill; Lesefertigkeit
Abstract	In writing science summaries, student writers frequently borrow language fragments from source texts. While taking a text's ideas verbatim is commonly considered a failure in writers' expected use of their own words or even plagiarism, imitating "linguistic chunks" from skilled speakers is also an effective practice in language development. This study argues for the need to investigate textual borrowing (TB) from a developmental perspective. A total of 956 U.S. upper-elementary and middle school L1 students were administered a reading comprehension test, a written summary task, and a receptive academic language assessment. Multiple indices were generated to capture TB frequency, length, and one particular function of TB (i.e., definitions). Results revealed that 68% of summaries contained at least one incidence of TB. As expected, both TB frequency and length were negatively associated with reading comprehension and academic language skills. However, students in higher grades demonstrated significantly more and longer TB in comparison to their younger counterparts when summarizing the same passage. In addition, the frequency of borrowed word strings and the ratio of definitional borrowing were positively associated with summary writing quality, and the latter association was found to be stronger for students with higher academic language skills. Implications for pedagogy and future research are discussed. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED614239.] (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01