Undergraduate science degrees in South Africa seldom offer explicit courses focussing on improving the disciplinary writing skills required for effectively communicating scientific research. Similarly, most students entering the 'Honours' degree in Molecular Medicine at a South African university have not commonly been afforded opportunities to…

Since its release in late 2022, ChatGPT and subsequent generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools have raised a wide variety of questions and concerns for the field of technical communication: How will these tools be incorporated into professional settings? How might we appropriately integrate these tools into our research and teaching? In…

Having students write reflections has been shown to help teachers improve their instruction and students improve their learning outcomes. With the aid of Natural Language Processing (NLP), real-time educational applications that can assess and provide feedback on reflection quality can be deployed. In this work, we first evaluate various NLP…

Although formative peer assessment (FPA) has become a prevailing learning activity in different educational settings, there are not enough suggestions on how to structure it with instructional supports in online environments to optimize its benefits. Therefore, this study aims to propose design guidelines for the development of an effective online…

This study investigated project-based learning approaches for teaching argumentative writing in Indonesian elementary schools. It, therefore, focused on three dimensions of competency: the student's knowledge, ability, and attitude during the learning process. A case study research design with a qualitative approach was adopted to answer the…

This study investigated the efficacy of behavioral skills training (BST) and interteaching in enhancing the American Psychological Association (APA) formatting skills of online graduate learners. Writing skills are foundational to academic success and professional competency, particularly in online graduate programs characterized by learners with…

Universities across Canada and elsewhere have a longstanding focus on improving students' writing skills, including for the purpose of fostering better learning. In this paper, we present findings from two sources of data--a discursive analysis and student survey--exploring the impact of writing instruction and support in the context of a required…

If, as I argue, student-to-student peer review is animated by "improvement imperatives" that make peer review a form of what Lauren Berlant calls "cruel optimism," then rhetoric and composition will need to imagine theories and structures for peer review that do not repeat cruel attachments. I offer slow peer review as a…

Inspired by Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Storch's framework of peer interaction, this study investigated the nature and outcome of peer interaction in EFL (English as a foreign language) learners' peer review and revision activities. During two 16-week semesters, 32 lower-intermediate learners participated in an Advanced Writing university…

Background: Writing is an important and complex skill, which could be enhanced by teaching students effective writing strategies such as outlining. Electronic outlining - integrated feature in Microsoft® Word -- has been shown to enhance students' writing performance. However, little is known about the optimal didactic approach for electronic…

Providing feedback to students in a sustainable way represents a perennial challenge for secondary teachers of writing. Employing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to give students personalized and immediate feedback holds great promise. Project Topeka offered middle school teachers pre-curated teaching materials, foundational texts and videos,…

Writing support programs for students in writing-intensive, disciplinary courses are well established and take many forms, including communication centers, web-based skill development programs, and embedded writing consultants. This paper assesses the effectiveness of a program that embeds a writing grader, who assesses only the grammar of…

Enabling learners to successfully use their second language (L2) in meaningful ways is a critical goal of instruction. Ultimately, most learners want to meet the L2 demands of the contexts in which they will use the language. To accomplish this, learners must develop linguistic knowledge and apply it in a manner that is contextually appropriate…

This article examines a manageable approach that provides students with significant opportunities to write and improve their writing over time in an introductory quantitative business course. The study examines six elements of written communication skills, as evidenced by assessment data from memorandum assignments administered following…

This applied dissertation was designed to understand and explore common faculty perceptions of why some faculty engage their online healthcare graduate students who are deficient in writing skills to improve and what interventions they used. This study utilized a case study qualitative approach to collect and analyze the data. This study explored…