EFFECTS ON SELF-EDITING IN L2 WRITING
The article is devoted to the research devoted to both second language acquisition (SLA) and second language writing, and provides the specifics of their practical implementation. The authors highlight the importance of self-editing during the process of education since it is one of the best ways to check the quality of the acquired knowledge. According to the authors, a number of researchers were dealing with this issue and confirmed that self-editing helps to assess and improve the performance of a student. In the article, the author informs that a special mobile application, Grammar Clinic, was designed with the purpose of improving the self-editing skills of student. Further, the authors describe the specifics of the program and how it works. They provide an interactionist approach to LA and the Noticing Hypothesis along with definitions of the main terms (input, interaction, feedback. output). We can see that the importance of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) is emphasized; moreover, the authors present the information about the existing studies related to MALL.
It is worth to highlight the role of Grammar Clinic in the article since it is a recent application and requires further testing. The authors provide the specifics of methodology: how the application was implemented, describe the participants taking part in the studies, materials used for it. Also, they inform that a student questionnaire was held in order to understand the ESL learner’s actual use and perception of the application. Moreover, I would like to emphasize of the fact that the article provides a detailed report about the process of work with Grammar Clinic and the specifics of its use by the students as the main auditory. Later, we can see a table with the results of the research conducted and analysis of it. Also, the authors provide the statistical data and analyze the effects of Grammar Clinic via examination of the sets of variables: students’ performance of self-editing (Papers 1 and 4 were checked), grammar tests taken before and after the testing of Grammar Clinic, error rates in the final drafts (for the Papers 1 and 4).
However, in the classroom-based study, the researchers faced a lack of comparative reference that lead to inability to attribute directly to the use of the application. Instead, the authors provide a number of interconnected factors that influenced the improve of students’ performance. Among them collaborative learning during peer review and corrective feedback on the work from instruction are distinguished. As a result of the study, the authors claim that the analysis results suggest the existence of two types of effects that can have the Grammar Clinic on a student: the immediate and the long-term one.
Also, it is important to mention the specifics of ESL learners’ perception of the mobile application that were conducted via the questionnaires. According to the authors, the majority of students (71%) who took part in the tests confirmed that they are willing to use it on a daily basis for learning purposes, 82% paid attention to the convenience of the application. However, 35% of the students informed that they used the program on their own after the study was over. Therefore, the authors make a conclusion that they perceive the application as another way of home assignment whereas it presupposes self-learning that is not connected to the university classes.
As a conclusion, I would like to say that Grammar Clinic showed mainly positive results, and it proved to be a useful application for the ESL students. Also, the authors suggest further research of MALL studies claiming that it will help to illuminate important factors influencing the learning of the language.
References
Li, Z., & Hegelheimer, V. Mobile-assisted grammar exercises: Effects on self-editing in L2 writing. Language Learning & Technology, 17(3), 135–156. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2013/lihegelheimer.pdf
