Secondary school students’ source reporting and evaluation in project writing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.31391Keywords:
project-based learning in schools, group project reports, school students writing from sources, reporting verbs and expressionsAbstract
In Hong Kong schools, source-based writing has risen in prominence in recent years with the incorporation of inquiry project-based learning (PjBL) into the curricula. Understanding how school students write from sources in this context will constitute a crucial step toward identifying potential problems and targeting educational strategies. In this paper we report an exploratory study of how junior secondary school (Forms 1–3) students reported sources in their research-based group project reports in the Liberal Studies subject in the environment of a Wiki online platform. Our analyses of a sample of 30 project reports focused on discovering how the students used reporting verbs and expressions to report information from sources, and how they expressed positive and critical evaluation of their sources. Our study addressed a gap in the literature by examining school students’ source-use practices in their first language, with valuable pedagogical insights generated and avenues of future research suggested.
References
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Conrad, S. and Biber, D. (2000). Adverbial marking of stance in speech and writing. In S. Hunston and G. Thompson (Eds), Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, 57–73. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dant, D. R. (1986). Plagiarism in high school: A survey. The English Journal 75 (2): 81–84. https://doi.org/10.2307/817898
Education Bureau. (2012). Zhongguo yuwen jiaoyu xuexi linyu kecheng zhiyin [A curriculum guide for Chinese language education]. Retrieved on 21 February 2016 from http://www.edb.gov.hk/tc/curriculum-development/kla/chi-edu/curriculum-documents/kla.html
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HKEAA (Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority). (2012). Practice Paper (English Language): Report on Student Performance. Retrieved on 8 January 2016 from http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/
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Howard, R. M. (1993). A plagiarism pentimento. Journal of Teaching Writing 11(3): 233–245.
Hunston, S. (1993). Evaluation and ideology in scientific writing. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Register Analysis: Theory and Practice, 57–73. London: Pinter.
Hunston, S. (2002). Counting the uncountable: Problems of identifying evaluation in a text and in a corpus. In A. Partington, J. Morley, and L. Haarman (Eds), Corpora and Discourse, 157–188. Bern: Peter Lang.
Hunston, S., and Thompson, G. (Eds) (2000). Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Hyland, K. (2002). Activity and evaluation: Reporting practices in academic writing. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.) Academic Discourse, 115–130. London: Longman.
Ivani?, R. (2004). Intertextual practices in the construction of multimodal texts in inquiry-based learning. In N. Shuart-Faris and D. Bloome (Eds) Uses of Intertextuality in Classroom and Educational Research, 279–314. Greenwich, CT : Information Age Publishing.
Kirkpatrick, A. and Yan, Y. (2002). The use of citation convention and authorial voice in a genre of Chinese academic discourse. In D. C. S. Li (Ed.) Discourses in Search of Members: In Honor of Ron Scollon, 483–506. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Kong, K. C. C. (2006). Linguistic resources as evaluators in English and Chinese research articles. Multilingua 25: 183–216. https://doi.org/10.1515/MULTI.2006.012
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Li, Y. and Casanave, C. P. (2012). Two first-year students’ strategies for writing from sources: patchwriting or plagiarism? Journal of Second Language Writing 21: 165–180.
Lou, B. (2013). Zhongying daxuesheng xueshu lunwen zhong zhuanshu dongci ji lichang biaoda duibi fenxi [Reporting verbs and stance expression in British and Chinese undergraduates’ essays]. Shandong WaiyuJiaoxue [Shandong Foreign Language Teaching Journal] 2: 50–55.
Ma, H. J., Wan, G., and Lu, E. Y. (2008). Digital cheating and plagiarism in schools. Theory into Practice 47 (3): 197–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153809
Martin, J. R. and White, P. R. R. (2005). The Language of Evaluation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910
Mitchell, S. (2007). Penguins and plagiarism: Stemming the tide of plagiarism in elementary school. Library Media Connection 25 (7): 47.
Oliver, R. (2005). Writing ‘In your own words’: Children’s use of information sources in research projects. In G. Rijlaarsdam, H. van den Bergh, and M. Couzijn (Eds), Effective Learning and Teaching of Writing: A Handbook of Writing in Education, 367–380. Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2739-0_25
Penrose, A. M. and Geisler, C. (1994). Reading and writing without authority. College Composition and Communication 45 (4): 505–520. https://doi.org/10.2307/358762
Petri?, B. (2007). Rhetorical functions of citations in high- and low-rated master’s theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 6 (3): 238– 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2007.09.002
Sisti, D. A. (2007). How do high school students justify internet plagiarism? Ethics and Behavior 17 (3): 215–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508420701519163
Siu, F.L.C., Chan, R.C.H., Law, O.K.L., and Chu, S.K.W. (2014). Plagiarism-free inquiry learning. Paper presented at the CITE Research Symposium 2014, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Sun, Y. (2008). Citation problems of Chinese MA theses and pedagogical implications. The Journal of Asia TEFL 5 (1): 1–27.
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. and Feak, C. B. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students: A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Taylor, G. and Chen, T. (1991). Linguistic, cultural, and subcultural issues in contrastive discourse analysis: Anglo-American and Chinese scientific texts. Applied Linguistics 12 (3): 319–335. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/12.3.319
Thompson, G. and Alba-Juez, L. (Eds. (2014). Evaluation in Context. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.242
Thompson, G. and Ye, Y. (1991). Evaluation of the reporting verbs used in academic papers. Applied Linguistics 12 (4): 365–382. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/12.4.365
Wheeler, G. (2009). Plagiarism in the Japanese universities: Truly a cultural matter? Journal of Second Language Writing 18 (1): 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2008.09.004
White, H. D. (2004). Citation analysis and discourse analysis revisited. Applied Linguistics 25 (1): 89–116. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/25.1.89
Xie, J. (2016). Direct or indirect? Critical or uncritical? Evaluation in Chinese English-major MA thesis literature reviews. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 23 (3): 1–15.
Zhao, B., Zhou, M., Chu, S.K.W., Feng, D. and Chin, Y.K. (2011). Supporting secondary school students’ group project works with the Wiki. Paper presented at CITE Research Symposium 2011, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Bloch, J. and Chi, L. (1995). A comparison of the use of citations in Chinese and English academic discourse. In D. Belcher and G. Braine (Eds), Academic Writing in a Second Language: Essays on Research and Pedagogy, 231–274. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Chuzhong Hudong Yuwen [Junior Form Interactive Chinese]. (2014). Hong Kong: Pearson Education Asia Limited. Retrieved on 4 April 2017 from http://prd1.pearson.com.hk/index.php?section=59andpage=bookandbook_id=467
Charles, M. (2006). The construction of stance in reporting clauses: A crossdisciplinary study of theses. Applied Linguistics 27 (3): 492–518. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml021
Chen, J. (2011). Jiyu yuliaoku de yinshu dongci yanjiu jiqi dui yingyu xiezuo jiao xue de qishi [Corpus-based research on reporting verbs and implications for EFL writing pedagogy]. Waiyujie [The Foreign Language World] 6: 40–48.
Chong, W. (2013). Plagiarism Students Score a Break. Retrieved on 10 January 2016 from http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail. asp?art_id=136514andcon_type=3
Chu, S., Tavares, N. J., Chu, D., Ho, S. Y., Chow, K., Siu, F. L. C. and Wong, M. (2012) Developing Upper Primary Students’ 21st Century Skills: Inquiry Learning through Collaborative Teaching and Web 2.0 Technology. Hong Kong: Center for Information Technology in Education (CITE), Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong.
Conrad, S. and Biber, D. (2000). Adverbial marking of stance in speech and writing. In S. Hunston and G. Thompson (Eds), Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, 57–73. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dant, D. R. (1986). Plagiarism in high school: A survey. The English Journal 75 (2): 81–84. https://doi.org/10.2307/817898
Education Bureau. (2012). Zhongguo yuwen jiaoyu xuexi linyu kecheng zhiyin [A curriculum guide for Chinese language education]. Retrieved on 21 February 2016 from http://www.edb.gov.hk/tc/curriculum-development/kla/chi-edu/curriculum-documents/kla.html
Feak, C. (2009). Setting the stage for scholarly evaluation: Research commentaries in the EAP graduate writing curriculum. In D. Belcher (Ed.), English for Specific Purposes in Theory and Practice, 60–82. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2014). Close Reading and Writing from Sources. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
HKEAA (Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority). (2012). Practice Paper (English Language): Report on Student Performance. Retrieved on 8 January 2016 from http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/en/
HKEAA (Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority). (2015). Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination 2015 (Liberal Studies): School-Based Assessment teachers’ handbook. Hong Kong: HKEAA.
Howard, R. M. (1993). A plagiarism pentimento. Journal of Teaching Writing 11(3): 233–245.
Hunston, S. (1993). Evaluation and ideology in scientific writing. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Register Analysis: Theory and Practice, 57–73. London: Pinter.
Hunston, S. (2002). Counting the uncountable: Problems of identifying evaluation in a text and in a corpus. In A. Partington, J. Morley, and L. Haarman (Eds), Corpora and Discourse, 157–188. Bern: Peter Lang.
Hunston, S., and Thompson, G. (Eds) (2000). Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hyland, K. (1998). Hedging in Scientific Research Articles. Amsterdam: Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.54
Hyland, K. (1999). Academic attribution: Citation and the construction of disciplinary knowledge. Applied Linguistics 20 (3): 341–367. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/20.3.341
Hyland, K. (2002). Activity and evaluation: Reporting practices in academic writing. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.) Academic Discourse, 115–130. London: Longman.
Ivani?, R. (2004). Intertextual practices in the construction of multimodal texts in inquiry-based learning. In N. Shuart-Faris and D. Bloome (Eds) Uses of Intertextuality in Classroom and Educational Research, 279–314. Greenwich, CT : Information Age Publishing.
Kirkpatrick, A. and Yan, Y. (2002). The use of citation convention and authorial voice in a genre of Chinese academic discourse. In D. C. S. Li (Ed.) Discourses in Search of Members: In Honor of Ron Scollon, 483–506. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Kong, K. C. C. (2006). Linguistic resources as evaluators in English and Chinese research articles. Multilingua 25: 183–216. https://doi.org/10.1515/MULTI.2006.012
Lemke, J. L. (1998). Resources for attitudinal meaning: Evaluative orientationsin text semantic. Functions of Language 5 (1): 33–56. https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.5.1.03lem
Li, Y. and Casanave, C. P. (2012). Two first-year students’ strategies for writing from sources: patchwriting or plagiarism? Journal of Second Language Writing 21: 165–180.
Lou, B. (2013). Zhongying daxuesheng xueshu lunwen zhong zhuanshu dongci ji lichang biaoda duibi fenxi [Reporting verbs and stance expression in British and Chinese undergraduates’ essays]. Shandong WaiyuJiaoxue [Shandong Foreign Language Teaching Journal] 2: 50–55.
Ma, H. J., Wan, G., and Lu, E. Y. (2008). Digital cheating and plagiarism in schools. Theory into Practice 47 (3): 197–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153809
Martin, J. R. and White, P. R. R. (2005). The Language of Evaluation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910
Mitchell, S. (2007). Penguins and plagiarism: Stemming the tide of plagiarism in elementary school. Library Media Connection 25 (7): 47.
Oliver, R. (2005). Writing ‘In your own words’: Children’s use of information sources in research projects. In G. Rijlaarsdam, H. van den Bergh, and M. Couzijn (Eds), Effective Learning and Teaching of Writing: A Handbook of Writing in Education, 367–380. Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2739-0_25
Penrose, A. M. and Geisler, C. (1994). Reading and writing without authority. College Composition and Communication 45 (4): 505–520. https://doi.org/10.2307/358762
Petri?, B. (2007). Rhetorical functions of citations in high- and low-rated master’s theses. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 6 (3): 238– 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2007.09.002
Sisti, D. A. (2007). How do high school students justify internet plagiarism? Ethics and Behavior 17 (3): 215–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508420701519163
Siu, F.L.C., Chan, R.C.H., Law, O.K.L., and Chu, S.K.W. (2014). Plagiarism-free inquiry learning. Paper presented at the CITE Research Symposium 2014, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Sun, Y. (2008). Citation problems of Chinese MA theses and pedagogical implications. The Journal of Asia TEFL 5 (1): 1–27.
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. and Feak, C. B. (1994). Academic Writing for Graduate Students: A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Taylor, G. and Chen, T. (1991). Linguistic, cultural, and subcultural issues in contrastive discourse analysis: Anglo-American and Chinese scientific texts. Applied Linguistics 12 (3): 319–335. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/12.3.319
Thompson, G. and Alba-Juez, L. (Eds. (2014). Evaluation in Context. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.242
Thompson, G. and Ye, Y. (1991). Evaluation of the reporting verbs used in academic papers. Applied Linguistics 12 (4): 365–382. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/12.4.365
Wheeler, G. (2009). Plagiarism in the Japanese universities: Truly a cultural matter? Journal of Second Language Writing 18 (1): 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2008.09.004
White, H. D. (2004). Citation analysis and discourse analysis revisited. Applied Linguistics 25 (1): 89–116. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/25.1.89
Xie, J. (2016). Direct or indirect? Critical or uncritical? Evaluation in Chinese English-major MA thesis literature reviews. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 23 (3): 1–15.
Zhao, B., Zhou, M., Chu, S.K.W., Feng, D. and Chin, Y.K. (2011). Supporting secondary school students’ group project works with the Wiki. Paper presented at CITE Research Symposium 2011, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Published
2017-11-17
Issue
Section
Research Matters
How to Cite
Li, Y., Ge, M., Chen, Q., Hu, X., & Chu, S. K. W. (2017). Secondary school students’ source reporting and evaluation in project writing. Writing and Pedagogy, 9(2), 301-330. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.31391
