Writing with peer response using different types of genre knowledge

Hoogeveen, M., & van Gelderen, A. (2016). Writing with peer response using different types of genre knowledge: Effects on linguistic features and revisions of sixth-grade writers. The Journal of Educational Research, 1-15. doi: 10.1080/0220671.2016.1190913

Background

The authors highlighted research that had emphasized the importance of genre knowledge involving functions of linguistic indicators of time and place for writing ability but noted that studies focusing specifically on the effects of the use of genre knowledge on writing with peer response had been rare.

Aims

This study aimed to improve the approach to writing with peer response by using two types of genre knowledge – specific genre knowledge (SGK) and general aspects of communicative writing (GAWC) during instructional time.

Sample

The participants were 140 sixth-grade students and five teachers from four elementary schools in the Netherlands and the language was Dutch.

Method

Students were randomly assigned within classrooms to each of the three conditions. In condition 1, students received instruction in peer response using SGK. In condition 2, students received instruction in peer response using GACW. In condition 3, the baseline control condition, students received regular language instruction from their own teacher. The students in the experimental conditions had 12 writing lessons (60 min each) in which six lessons comprised the writing of narratives and the other six lessons focussed on the writing of instructive texts. Each pair of lessons (120 min) culminated in one writing assignment. A post-test consisting of four writing assignments in which the use of cohesive ties and student functional revisions of their work were analyzed.

Findings

The results demonstrated positive relationships between the use of functional indicators of time and place and writing quality on all four post-test writing tasks. Students in the SGK condition used functional indicators of place and time much more frequently, and made more functional revisions of place, time, form and meaning in their writing than did students in either the condition in which peer response was supported by knowledge of GACW or the baseline control condition. There were no significant differences in usage and revisions between the two last mentioned conditions. The results suggested that students who were focused on the genre specific functions of indicators of time and place during writing practice and in the peer-response sessions increased their functional use and revisions of these indicators in writing.

Implications

The results indicated that instruction aiming at the functional use of specific linguistic features generally helped students to focus on linguistic features, including both meaning and form aspects of their texts. Future studies can be implemented to check this claim.

Original article retrieved from Taylor & Francis.