Jenna Snyder and Faculty Mentor: Dr. Grant Eckstein, Linguistics and English Language

With Dr. Grant Eckstein leading our research team, we gathered TESOL writing teachers
together to start our data collection. Using an eye-tracker, we monitored the different grading
tendencies of 10 different writing teachers. Using this data, we made important observations
and applications to writing teachers who teach mixed classrooms of both native English
speakers and non-native English speakers.
For this research project, I became completed CITI training. CITI is the Collaborative
Institutional Training Initiative. I personally operated the eye-tracking device, calibrating the
machine and verifying the proper use of the eye-tracker. I also did follow-up oral interviews with
our participants that gave us important insight into their grading methods. This project was a
group effort, and was very valuable to be involved in various steps of the project.
Our team analyzed the specific data points that were most relevant. I learned how to categorize
statistically significant data and was made aware that math can be important even in the
linguistics field. We took our significant data and presented it at the I-TESOL conference in
Provo, Utah in October 2016. 3 of our team members worked together to make that
presentation, and it was a critical point of development in my professional career.
We divided our data into 4 groups: rhetoric, grammar, word choice, and organization. We
highlighted some of the more significant data findings and used them in our presentations and
our article. The graders gave special attention to the rhetorical sections of the ESL text and this
heavily influenced the final grade they gave to the student. They looked at rhetorical errors more
frequently than the other types of errors. Perhaps it was the nature of these rhetorical sections
that produced this result. The ESL rhetorical interest areas include contradictory statements and
explicit references to the student’s non-native nationality. The L1 rhetorical areas represent
structures that look out-of-place within a piece of formal writing, however these various
rhetorical phrases would be seen frequently in common native speech. Readers found the
rhetorical areas within the L1 text to be strange the first time, but did not have to go back to
make sense of what they meant. This is because the L1 selected rhetorical phrases are similar
to the readers’ own background and experience with writing errors. The odd rhetorical phrases
within the ESL text are more foreign, and therefore the reader had to glance back at them more
frequently.
I also wanted to know how our research could apply specifically to writing tutors. I have worked
as a writing tutor at the BYU writing center as well as the ESL Writing Lab. I met with Lisa Bell,
the BYU Writing Center coordinator, and we discussed the implications of this research project.
We talked about how this research applies to our ESL students and our tutors. It is a common
practice at the writing center to have the students read their own work out loud to catch errors. I
suggested that for non-native writers, this would be less effective. A part of tutor training dictates
that tutors should focus on global level errors such as organization, cohesion, and developing
thesis statements before looking at sentence level errors like grammatical issues. For many
ESL students, they struggle with basic grammar, and tutors should accordingly be ready to alter
their typical tutoring approach to help such students. In our research project, we did see that
there was a tendency to bias with grammar. In a writing center, we don’t give out grades, so an
extra focus on grammar issues may help students fix errors to prevent judgement from their
teachers who grade their writing. I felt that my research helped me to be a better writing tutor, so
hopefully my conversation with Mrs. Bell will lead to benefitting the other tutors to be trained in
the future. It was good to discuss how we can help improve our writing tutoring for this
demographic of the University.
At the conclusion of our research, we submitted our findings to the Journal of Writing
Assessment. Our team has done multiple revisions, and our most recent revision we did in
October 2017. The editors have reviewed our article and requested specific revisions before
publication. I read various related articles in order to be more well researched in this field that
we are researching. One specific article that helped me in this process was “A Usable Past for
Writing Assessment” which discusses that a large part of the biased grading solution comes in
creating specific rubrics, leaving little room for opinion and subjectivity. I have tried to apply this
in my own classroom. If there is a large portion of the grade that depends on “overall quality” or
something similar, it gives power to teachers to give points based on their opinion.
I also did a research presentation about my interpretations of this research for English
Composition Instructor training at BYU on September 21st 2017. I mostly highlighted that our
research proves that there are certain biases that we carry with us as writing teachers even if
we are not aware of them. It is important to be aware of them, so that we can change them. One
point is that writing teachers need to be clear on their expectations of organization in writing so
that they can grade fairly with clear guidelines. The creation of the rubric is also important, and it
should be designed so that there are clear expectations for grammar as well. In our research,
we found that ESL writing teachers tended to ignore the grammar mistakes of L2 writers, but
graded more harshly on the grammar of native speaker writers. A good rubric is a way to
combat these biases. I felt that presenting at this teacher training was a great way to share
some of the important findings from this research project.
Overall, this research has been a turning point in my college career. Without this opportunity, I
would’ve been blind to the importance of research in the TESOL academic field. Research is a
fundamental part of developing curriculum. As a teacher working in the real world, I need to be
proactive in developing my own teaching methods. Teaching is a field in which you can always
improve your methods, and even slight alterations can make a huge difference in the classroom.
Completing this research project has benefited me both personally and professionally.
Conducting this research project alongside classmates and under the guidance of Dr. Grant
Eckstein has most importantly made me realize that research is a valuable tool in all areas of
study. As an English major I haven’t done any official research projects in the past, but now I
know that research has a place of great importance in the Linguistics field. This particular
research project will help me to be a better teacher in my own classrooms, and also help other
teachers as they confront the difficulties of teaching native English writers and non-native
writers.