Degree Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2019
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
Major
TESL/Applied Linguistics
First Advisor
Volker Hegelheimer
Abstract
Language teachers often encourage the use of prewriting strategies such as outlining, brain storming, and mind-mapping as a means of helping students improve their writing. However, it is difficult to determine which strategies were used based only on the finished assignment. Google Docs has a version history feature which could allow teachers to see their students’ writing processes in addition to the final product. This researcher examined the written assignments of a class of university ESL students completed using Google Docs to see what strategies ESL students used, how strategy use related to their writing performance, and what version history could reveal about ESL students’ writing processes. The study found that ESL students used a variety of strategies with some of them specific to the given assignment. The use of prewriting strategies increased after explicit instruction, and some students had a recursive writing process while others appeared to write in stages.
Copyright Owner
Erik Dean Goodale
Copyright Date
2019-05
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
47 pages
Recommended Citation
Goodale, Erik Dean, "Viewing the unseen: Using Google Docs to track prewriting strategies of ESL students" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 17019.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/17019
