建構與評估互動式網路英文教師寫作評語系統---以活動理論探討教師寫作評語之多面向分析(II)

Abstract

英文寫作教學中，教師寫作評語一向被視為學生寫作進步的主要動力。相關文獻大多探討以文法錯誤為主或以內容為主的教師評語對學生寫作成效，但忽略了教師評語的給予及學生理解教師評語是一個相當複雜的過程。因此有學者呼籲相關研究應由多面向探討教師本身對於教師評語的理念及立場、教師所處的環境、及和師生互動關係等因素如何影響教師評語。另一方面，越來越多寫作中心的成立突顯國內對於英文寫作的需求，如何提昇英文寫作教學成效，需要更多相關研究投入。本計畫為兩年期計畫，採用活動理論為研究主軸，深入探討外在環境、教師個人因素、及線上教師寫作評語系統對於教師寫作評語以及學生對於老師評語的理解與採用的影響。第一階段探討中外籍寫作老師的教學信念、認知與目標、其使用之評語工具的中介角色、個人所處之社群與規範，以及與學生和同事之間的互動等因素如何影響他們在給予寫作評語的類型及行為模式，並比較教師寫作評語與學生對於老師寫作回饋期望之間的差距；第二階段則彙整第一階段所分析之中外師寫作評語類型與學習者的需求，建構網路互動式英文寫作評語系統(WITCS)，並以活動理論為架構評估WITCS在英文寫作課堂中所扮演之中介角色對於寫作老師與學生對於評語的影響。

In L2 writing, giving written comments is one of the most important tasks for writing teachers and is highly rated by their students. Previous studies have mostly examined the effects of form-focused or content-focused feedback on the improvement of students’ writing. In recent years, research in teacher commentary have noticed that how teachers give comments and how students take them in writing revision is a complex process, which may be affected by factors from teachers’ belief, the contexts where teachers are situated, and the relationship between teachers and students (Goldstein, 2005; Leki, 1990; Prior, 1995). This two-year project, drawn from the inspiration of research called for exploring the complexity of teacher commentary in L2 writing and for pedagogical implementations of increasing writing centers in Taiwan, aims to explore EFL writing teachers’ beliefs on their commentary, the types of comments they respond to student writing, and the influence of a self-developed online commentary system, Web-based Teacher Commentary System (WITCS), on teacher commentary. The project adopts Activity Theory as the theoretical framework of the project to explain the complex interwoven factors underlying teacher commentary. The project is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the project targets five English writing teachers, three native speakers and two non-native speaking of English in a writing center at a public university and explore how they provide to written comments, how their personal and contextual factors influence their commentary, and how their students perceive teachers’ commentary to their revision. Data are elicited from interviews, class observations, questionnaires, and teacher written comments. In the second stage of the project, WITCS will be developed based on the commentary types and teacher as well as students’ needs collected and analyzed from the data in the first stage of the project. The research focus aims to explore how WITCS, as a mediated artifact, play roles in writing teachers’ commenting behaviors and how both teachers and students perceive teacher commentary through the system. Two writing courses will adopt WITCS as the venue of teacher commentary. Data will gather from interviews, think-aloud protocols, observation, questionnaire, and student writing. Activity Theory will serve as the theoretical and analytical model to identify the important elements in the process of teacher commentary via WITCS. The results of the project are expected to provide an in-depth understanding of the process of teacher commentary from both teacher and student perspectives and the factors influencing teacher commentary and students’ adoption of teacher comments. The online commentary system is expected to increase the efficacy of teacher commentary and facilitate the process of giving and receiving teacher commentary in English writing classes.