1. Paraphrasing Workshop: An ESL Instructors Perspective Lara McInnis February 15, 2011

2. Objectives To discuss the benefits and challenges of learning how to paraphrase appropriately To briefly discuss some findings from my research on paraphrasing for L1 and L2 students To overview an approach to paraphrasing evaluation in an ESL context

3. Objectives To discuss the benefits and challenges of learning how to paraphrase appropriately To briefly discuss some findings from my research on paraphrasing for L1 and L2 students To overview an approach to paraphrasing evaluation in an ESL context

4. Objectives To discuss the benefits and challenges of learning how to paraphrase appropriately To briefly discuss some findings from my research on paraphrasing for L1 and L2 students To overview an approach to paraphrasing evaluation in an ESL context

5. What do educators and researchers know about paraphrasing? a strategy to avoid plagiarism shows proof of comprehension students often confuse paraphrasing with patchwriting an essential academic skill (e.g., for idea synthesis in research essays) helps students understand, appreciate and value someones intellectual property

6. What is still not known about paraphrasing? Can ESL learners learn from the triadic model approach? (quote/paraphrase/summary steps) Can low-level ESL learners access enough background knowledge in order to paraphrase appropriately? Can ESL learners recognize plagiarized passages consistently?

7. Factors influencing how students paraphrase Cognitive, linguistic, cultural (Pennycook, 1996) Student and teacher attitudes towards plagiarism as an unethical practice Pragmatic factors (e.g., time spent on task)

8. My four claims about paraphrasing: It is a useful tool for students to build meta-language awareness. It can facilitate vocabulary development. It promotes mindful, meaningful, reflective thinking. It encourages adult learners to become invested in, and responsible for, their language learning.

9. My Research 9 participants (5 L2, 4 L1) 4 paraphrasing tasks Measured paraphrasing strategies, paraphrase quality and appropriateness 2 raters for paraphrase appropriateness

10. Findings L2 participants had difficulty finding the gist of the original excerpt L1 participants summarized instead of paraphrased L1 participants copied more often than L2 participants L2 participants took much longer to complete the task

11. Quality: Mean percentage of words in unique links per participant. (Mean % of words copied)

12. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

13. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

14. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

15. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

16. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

17. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

18. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

19. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

20. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

21. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected High inter-rater reliability

22. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Excluded from analysis Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

23. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected Low inter-rater reliability (even after training/norming session)

24. What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is? Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participants opinion is not reflected

25. Attributed source to original author All key points of the original excerpt are retained It is not a summary 0% paraphrased appropriately. Q: What % of participants paraphrased appropriately (using 3 criteria)?

26. Ive adapted these criteria using language more familiar to my ESL students: Y/N Retained all key points from the original Y/N Provided authors name Y/N Used appropriate synonymsY/N Provided year of publication in parentheses (e.g., (1978)) Y/N Changed sentence structureY/N Used a reporting phrase in past tense Y/N Avoided giving own opinionY/N Clear grammar/mechanics Y/N Avoided direct copying (plagiarism)Y/N Correctly interpreted overall meaning of original passage *see handout for sample paraphrasing task and student checklist

27. Some points to consider: Our students receive mixed messages from academia, teachers, media, classmates, etc. Step-by-step instruction can work, but it must be highly contextualized and task-oriented, learners must be engaged feedback must be immediate, explicit and analytical What realistic time-frame should be given to ESL students in a paraphrasing task?

28. Any questions?

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