Exploring the ways students develop academic writing skills in higher education contexts: Reframing the Script to Include Research Skills Development Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Artila and I am a PhD candidate with the School of Education. My supervisors are Dr Ann-Cheryl Armstrong and Dr Ledua Waqailiti. Today, I am going to present on some preliminary findings of my PhD research which is entitled: Exploring the ways students develop academic writing skills in higher education contexts: reframing the script to include research skills development. PhD Candidate:: Artila Devi Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. AC Armstrong & Dr L Waqailiti

Research Skills Development

methodology Quasi-experimental design; mixed methods approach; purposive sampling; triangulation for cross-tabulation. Assessments Tools Researched Essay Diagnostic Mid-Semester Test Pre Self-administrated questionnaire Seminar Interview schedule 1 students Researched Report Interview schedule 2 students Exam Post Self-administrated questionnaire Number Assessment Tools   1 2 3 4 5 Pre-Q Diagnostic Post-Q Interviews 1050 ü 190 130 66 The research project focuses on the development of academic writing skills in the context of the RSD framework. Research skills form a very important part of academic writing skills and the UU114 course at USP is tasked with equipping students in all academic skills including research. Every semester around 1200 students enroll in English for Academic Purposes: UU114 on the on campus mode. Like other generic core courses, it is a prerequisite to pass this course before progressing onto year 2 of studies. In order to get a comprehensive insight into the development of academic writing following research skills the following instruments were employed: Self-administrated perception questionnaires, Diagnostic, Assessments, and Interviews. Sample size of 130 students took part in the research out of which a subset of 66 also completed a pre and post perception questionnaire. Today’s presentation is on these subset of students. Today I am going to present on a subset of my data of those 66 people who completed the perception questions in addition to completing all the assessment tasks.

Research questions What are the perceptions of students regarding research? What is the relationship between the perceptions of students and their demonstration of research skills development? What is the efficacy of the Research Skills Development framework in the academic writing of students for whom English is a Second Language? 1. (questionnaires) (ability to research, their beliefs, attitudes, reflection and degree of agreement on research) 2. (questionnaires and assessments). Is it a positive correlation or the reality is something quite different? 3. (development in academic writing over time) While students are being taught how to research, how to expand and support their ideas, how to synthesise sources, how to expand their lexical resources…does RSD framework assist them.

Perception in first week Perception by last week perceptions of students REGARDING research? Q 7b: Conducting research produces trustworthy outcomes Perception in first week Perception by last week To ease students into asking them about research skills, one of the first constructs they were asked was on Research Outcomes. This is one of the three questions they were asked. I will be highlighting the results of two of those questions. As you can see, by the end of the semester 97% of students believed that conducting research produces trustworthy outcomes.

Q 7c: Being able to conduct research is a useful and worthwhile skill Perception in the first week Perception by last week

1. WHAT are THE PERCEPTIONs OF STUDENTS regarding RESEARCH? Measures: Four questions per construct of Research skills and Ability to conduct research Test: Wilcoxon signed ranks test Results: 1. Research skills: difference is significant at 0.00. 2. Ability to research: difference is not significant at .861. Over the period of one semester, students did not believe their ability to research to improved significantly

2. What is the relationship between the perceptions of students and their performance? Measures: Perception in week 1 compared to performance in week 1 (diagnostic) Perception in last week compared to performance in last assignment Test: Spearman’s Rho tests were conducted Results: Negative co-relation in both cases Perception Performance Non-parametric tests were used to assess this and using Spearman’s Rho we discovered that the correlation between the perception of students to their performance was negative. So, students were rating themselves higher than their actual performance. These results match a study that was done at USP in 2001 where students were asked to rate their macro skills in English and they had done the same. A number of studies have shown this. The results in the second case were similar. Though they appreciated research and research skills more now and were aware of it, they were still rating themselves higher than their actual performance. This may have had something to do with human nature where people would be scared to rate themselves lower. After all it’s perception.

3. What is the efficacy of the RSD framework on ESL students’ academic writing skills? Measures: Progress in performance from initial and final assessment. Progress from one assessment task to next. Tests: Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test Results: Significant! From initial to final assessment Significant between all assessments except the last. Do students develop overtime or The course teaches research methods, has learning activities designed to promote research skills, uses the rsd rubric and teaching is designed around the rsd framework. To this this, the development was measured from the very first task to the last one. There were five assessments – diagnostic, assignment 1, mid-semester test, oral seminar, and, last assignment. Statistics show that there was significant development

Preliminary FINDINGS Students accept the importance and relevance of Research Skills Development more positively over time. Students perceptions of their level of research skills are higher than their actual performance but their performance does improve over time. Students academic skills develop significantly over time within the RSD framework. Fresh out of high school, in first class of university students have not been subjected to the treatment of rsd and overtime, being immersed in the rsd culture does change their perception of research for the better. They may over-estimate their abilities but evidence shows that they do develop their academic skills which is a course that is integral to their transfer of skills in the following semesters. RSD framework works as a model that develops learners.

Exciting times ahead … A detailed analysis of writing …What comes next… A detailed analysis of writing to determine the change in complexity… Exciting times ahead …

Thank you very much VINAKA Vakalevu / dhanyavad