This paper discusses the role of formative feedback in teaching academic writing for a large class of first-year business students. The paper contributes to our knowledge on how to design an effective formative feedback process for a class in excess of 300 students. Based on survey data from 2018 the paper addresses how the students respond to…

This study examines the types of oral comments from a reviewer's as well as an author's perspective offered within an online writing group (OWG) that met during the confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose was to zoom in on the members' interactions to have a broader perspective of how these exchanges could provide support through…

The aim of the Foundation Year of university is to prepare students for their undergraduate study. Part of this preparation is enculturation into ways of speaking. Undergraduate study involves small group interaction in which students are expected to use educational dialogue to co-construct conceptual understanding and engage in critical thinking.…

Recent emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology has stimulated interests as well as concerns in their potential in teaching and learning. Situated in the new and transforming context, this study provides an avenue for students to introspectively explore their use of GenAI in a postgraduate course. Seventy-four students…

"OpenEssayist" is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of "OpenEssayist," (named a 'rainbow diagram'), illustrates how well the key concepts within the writing…

Feedback practices for students' speaking activities in an online environment are very different from those on-site. This study investigated online feedback practices for speaking skills in a Sino-UK joint-venture university, as well as teachers and students' perceptions of the practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four…

We conducted a comparative study to evaluate the efficacy of synchronous and asynchronous interaction modes when providing feedback for improving academic writing, achievement motivation and critical thinking. The participants undertook an academic writing task, and were given feedback by a mentor using one of three interaction modes:…

Feedback plays a vital role in the process of mastering writing in many academic disciplines. Although peer feedback has been proven helpful to develop students' academic writing competency, the role of additional face-to-face peer dialogue in this context remains indistinct. Face-to-face peer dialogue on written peer feedback is expected to…

Maastricht University (UM) has a distinct global perspective and a strong focus on innovation. UM offers an array of PhD courses to distance and campus based students who have access to elective, credit bearing modules and the language needs of these students are catered for by the Language Centre. Many PhD candidates choose to take an academic…

Theoretically emerged from Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of mind (SCT), Dynamic Assessment (DA) highlights the notions of mediation and reciprocity as the dynamics of learners' progress toward independent functioning. As a qualitative inquiry into the nature of Iranian EFL learners' development in DA based academic writing courses, this study…

The concepts of 'graduateness' and graduate attributes became contested terrain before COVID-19 destabilised even the most assured of shared learning constructions. Indeed, for those of us immersed in the delivery of work-based learning (WBL), this has long been the case. Promotion of reductive notions of 'skills' acquisition to comply neatly with…

Before arriving in a host country, international students may be motivated to complete some institutional requirements online. Many studies address computer-assisted instruction for second-language students, but few focus on fully online English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing courses. This comparative case study, grounded in action research,…

Drawing on Vygotskian sociocultural theory of mind and social constructivism, and adopting a sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach, this study explored the impact of online dynamic assessment (DA) on EFL learners' academic writing skills through one-on-one individual and online synchronous DA sessions over Google Docs. It also investigated…