Lene Nordrum

Comparing student learning experiences of in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback: strategies for formative assessment

This study compares students’ experiences of two types of criteria-based assessment: in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback, in an assessment design combining the two feedback channels. The main aim is to use students’ responses to shed light on how feedback strategies for formative assessment can be optimised. Following action research methodology, the study discusses key categories of student responses from three sources: reflective texts, a questionnaire, and interviews. Results show that different functions were attributed to the two feedback channels: in-text commentary to lower-order concerns related to language proficiency, and rubric-articulated feedback to higher-order concerns related to an overview of writing achievement. We argue that the different functions have the potential of creating a sufficiently balanced assessment design with the possibility of serving both short-term and continuous learning goals. On the other hand, some students found it difficult to navigate between the two feedback channels. The article therefore ends with a ‘lessons learned’ section where we list possible ways in which the current assessment design can be improved for optimal use of the synergy effects emanating from a combination of in-text commentary and rubric-articulated feedback for formative purposes.

How to Make Believe : The Fictional Truths of the Representational Arts

Over the last two decades, the notion of make-believe has become a major theory for the understanding of representational arts in general. As a contribution to this development, the current volume provides 17 articles on how make-believe theory can be used to explain the generation of fictional truths in various forms of representations such as novels, poems, plays, computer games, role playing games, music, and virtual reality.

Unpacking challenges of data commentary writing in master’s thesis projects: an insider perspective from chemical engineering

ABSTRACT Background Data commentary, in-text comments on the visual presentation of data, is acknowledged as a central aspect of academic writing in many engineering disciplines. At the same time, it is a feature that has been shown to be challenging for students. One of the genres in which data commentary plays a significant role in many engineering disciplines is the master’s thesis. Comparatively little research has been done on the process of master thesis supervision, and combining the study of data commentary and master’s thesis supervision is therefore particularly interesting. Purpose This study explores the challenges of data commentary writing through interviews with master’s students and thesis supervisors of chemical engineering. Sample and method Master’s students at a Swedish university were invited to participate in a workshop about the writing of data commentary. Nine master’s students and five supervisors were interviewed about what is difficult and important about writing data commentaries in their discipline as well as about decisions made in data commentaries written by the students. The interviews were divided into a semi-structured and a discourse-based part. Results Our results indicate that data commentary comes with a variety of challenges. Among the most difficult and important aspects are selection of content and clarity. The study also indicates a close connection between data commentary and disciplinary learning in chemical engineering, suggesting that highlighting data commentary in the teaching of master’s thesis writing will be time well spent. Conclusions In order to make the teaching and learning of data commentary effective in the context investigated, we propose that important measures are: the development of a shared metalanguage among students and supervisors, a genre approach, and collaboration between engineering and communication faculty.

María José López-Couso, Belén Méndez-Naya, Paloma Núñez-Pertejo and Ignacio Palacios-Martínez (eds.). Corpus linguistics on the move. Exploring and understanding English through corpora. Leiden: Brill/Rodopi. 2016. 368 pp. ISBN13 9-789-004-308077. Reviewed by Lene Nordrum, Lund University.

The collection of studies in Corpus linguistics on the move: Exploring and understanding English through corpora represents a selection of the papers presented at the 34th ICAME conference in Santiago de Compostela in May 2013. The volume includes a wide number of topics, divided into four general themes: 1) Issues in corpus compilation, 2) Investigating register variation through corpora, 3) Corpora and grammar: examining grammatical variation in space and 4) Corpus insights into the pragmatics of spoken English. As the editors María José López-Couso, Belén Méndez-Naya, Paloma Núñez-Pertejo and Ignacio Palacios-Martínez state in their introduction to the volume, there is a great deal of overlap between the sections, but the division still feels natural and provides some guidance to readers interested in specific topics. From a global perspective, a strength of the volume is that despite the wide range of topics covered in the four sections, the chapters share a solid descriptive purpose, bringing a sense of unity to the volume.

Swedish orka viewed through its English correspondences – ability, insufficient strength/energy or insufficient volition?

This paper explores the Swedish auxiliary orka and its English correspondences as reflected in English-Swedish parallel corpora. Orka is interesting from a contrastive perspective since it lacks a straightforward equivalent in English. We show that most of the English correspondences, both in the direction Swedish original to English translation and in the direction English original to Swedish translation, indicate a semantic analysis of Swedish orka involving a combination of two meaning components 1) ability and 2) sufficient physical or mental strength/energy . We suggest an analysis inspired by Nadathur (2016) where ability is the core semantic property, but sufficiency of physical or mental energy is included in the lexical meaning of the verb as a potential obstacle to ability. In addition, our material includes correspondences reflecting a second meaning involving sufficiency of volition (von Fintel, 2006), which we assume is derived from the meaning above. We also note that orka predominantly occurs in negative polarity contexts, and speculate that the relatively recent use of the imperative form orka in informal talk, meaning something along the lines of ‘I could not be bothered’, might have its source in such negative connotations. In addition to offering a specified semantic description of the Swedish verb orka , our study contributes to cross-linguistic studies of expressions of sufficiency meanings and sufficiency as a meaning component in verbs (Fortuin, 2013).

Data commentary in science writing: Using a small, specialized corpus for formative self-assessment practices

Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment is an edited volume in John Benjamins’ Studies in Corpus Linguistics series. In the introduction to the volume, the editors specify their main objective as identifying the value of learner corpora in bringing transparency to the assessment of second/foreign language (L2) proficiency. It is also suggested that the operationalization of L2 proficiency using such internationally recognized frameworks as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) be complemented by language specific lexical and grammatical descriptors derived from the analysis of learner corpus data. The volume has been organized into two sections each containing four articles. The contributions in section one present new corpus resources, tools, and methods specifically developed for language testing and assessment (LTA) purposes. The articles in section two deal with the problem of defining proficiency based on such vague criteria as institutional status and attempt to propose data-driven approaches to the assessment of proficiency.