Faculty
Sam Boothby
The Influence of Computer-Mediated Writing Conferences on Revision:
Case Studies of Two University Students
Samuel Y. Boothby • Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1988
Abstract
Instructors use peer conferencing to develop audience awareness, and computers to assist revision. This thesis examines Computer-Mediated Writing Conferences (CMWC), a method that integrates these two approaches by having students already writing on networked university computers use electronic mail as a medium for writing conferences. The primary question of this thesis is: What is the influence of CMWC comments, from both peers and the teacher, on two students’ revisions?
CMWC provides theoretical advantages of complete, in-text records of conference feedback and a non-threatening conferencing environment. However, previous research on teachers’ comments suggests CMWC will only be effective if the feedback provides concrete suggestions for improving the text.
Case studies of one graduate and one undergraduate student provided information on the influence of CMWC on revision. Subjects’ CMWC comments were categorized according to an inductively derived taxonomy of type and referent. Subjects’ revisions were classified using a modified Faigley & Witte instrument.
Analysis of the graduate student’s texts indicated few revisions were related to CMWC comments. However, the largest meaning-changing revisions were related to CMWC comments. The majority of CMWC-related revisions were associated with teacher comments. Interview data indicated the subject felt CMWC provided a non-threatening atmosphere.
Analysis of the undergraduate’s texts indicated that in her longest texts, the majority of revisions were both meaning-changing and CMWC-related, but the teacher felt the largest CMWC-related revision decreased the quality of the text. The largest revisions were each related to comments from both the teacher and peers. Interview data indicated the subject had not established comfort with computers and therefore CMWC.
Both the graduate and undergraduate cases indicated that the largest revisions were associated with repetitive feedback on the same textual problems.
Based on this initial experience, future CMWC implementations may be improved by eliminating excessive time lags, encouraging commenting from printed texts, and experimenting with electronic bulletin board features allowing commenter interactions.
Future experimental research should evaluate the CMWC method in two contexts: 1) CMWC implementations that incorporate additional strategies for revision skills instruction and 2) a comparison of CMWC with oral conferences as students’ initial peer conferencing experience.
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