Table Of Contents
Provide models of what you expect from the students
When asked what the Unversity could do to help students improve their ability to write academic English, a recurring recommendation from the students was to provide more examples of written assignments in which they could see for themselves how other students had dealt with the specific problems they encounter in their writing - whether it be a matter of overall structure, of the appropriate use of sources, or of the finer details of structuring and linking paragraphs and shaping an argument.
Among teaching staff interviewed for this project there was a range of views about giving students examples or models of written assignments to clarify what they expect their students to produce. There was a sense that in preparing students to write an assignment it might be useful to show them short samples of 'good' and 'bad' writing for analysis and discussion; but that providing examples of complete assignments would be to condone if not to encourage a formulaic approach and a practice of imitative writing that fails to demonstrate 'deep' learning, and at its worst results in outright plagiarism.
I'm not keen to give them examples. I'd much rather they went through the process of improving their English, and improving their writing, rather than getting a model. I don't want to put up models.... All they do is copy the models and say, "I don't know why I haven't done so well - I've done what this model's done". I don't think that the model works. It's the formulaic approach - "This will give me an HD if I write just like that." I'd rather they learned based on what they had achieved, and build on it, rather than looking at 'a perfect model'. It's really about process, it's getting them to be aware of what makes good writing ...
— Economics lecturer
The belief seems to persist about Chinese students (and South-East Asian students generally) that their approach to learning involves little more than memorising texts and "regurgitating" them, evidently undigested, in exams and written assignments. Any evidence that appears to support this belief worries teachers who understand memorisation or 'rote' learning to be a 'superficial' form of learning which precludes or at least impedes developing a deep understanding of the subject matter.
The idea that memorisation is incompatible with 'deep learning', or learning for understanding, has in fact long since been refuted ( Marton et al. 1996), and John Biggs ( 1996) has found consistent evidence that Chinese students are, if anything, more oriented towards 'deep learning' than are Australian students.
Of course, as the number of Chinese students coming to this country increases, so does the internal diversity of that cohort, in terms of educational background, achievement, capacity and motivation; and Louie (2005) and Ryan and Louie (2005) warn us against replacing one stereotype of the Chinese learner with another. But most importantly, Chalmers and Volet (1997) point out that, coming from a culture where memorisation is standard practice to one where it is not, these students "strategically adjust to the different learning context ... [and] adapt in order to meet the particular university requirements and to achieve their learning goals" (p. 96).
This adaptation and adjustment is the burden of the very substantial research literature on Chinese students over the last ten years, as it is of the interviews quoted throughout this website.
In giving feedback on an assignment, on the other hand, value was seen in posting up one or two of the best responses for other students to compare with their own and learn from.
What the students say about using models
In regard to first learning how to write an assignment, interviewees report making use of seeking examples of written assignments from senior compatriots and other students, in addition to using resources supplied by the university.
Students also gained valuable insights into their own weaknesses by comparing their own assignments after assessment with those of other students.
When you first had to write an assignment, did you have any difficulty?
All sorts of difficulty! I didn't understand anything about the format to use, the type of language to use - because you have to use quite formal language. And then you have to type it on a computer, and print it out. In China you just write it by hand; here you have to type it, format it correctly, and all that. And the requirements are so strict. You have to use the computer too much – you never get away from it.
So what sort of process did you go through in learning how to write an assignment? Did you ask your teachers? Did you get help from your friends?
All of that. Mind you, I wouldn't go to the teacher to ask how to use Microsoft Word...
But the assignment format, use of references, and so on ...
I went to the Library, and used the Q Manual 
.
How did you know about the Q Manual?
The teacher said, "If there's anything you don't understand about assignment writing, go to the Library and use the Q Manual." And there were a few samples that I had a look at.
What was the Q Manual most helpful for?
Referencing, first of all. And then the formats for essays and reports... it taught me a lot.
But I also borrowed some essays from friends – not essays on the same topic, just to see the format, how to write it. And things like the cover sheet, and executive summaries ....
— Diane
Have you read the Q Manual?
In my first semester, when I was learning about essay-writing and writing a lit review, the Q Manual showed me how to write them. But since then, once I understood how to write assignments, I haven't been back to it.
So with each new genre of assignment you went to the Q Manual to find out how to write it?
Yes; and I'd ask other students as well, students who'd already done it, to give me examples to look at.
— Lionel
The first major essay that you had to write: what was that like?
Even now I can still remember how hard it was. Because I didn't know what introduction is, what conclusion is, what abstract is....
At that time, I didn't go to discuss with the lecturer, because I guessed that he expected us to have already known these things already; because he didn't a very clear guideline, he just said, 'it's a very short essay, and and I expect all of you can do it well; and that's all I can say for this essay: you can't come to me to ask the detailed things, because it's not fair to the others' – that's what he said.
I totally had got no idea at that time, so I had to do a lot of different way to get me skilled. I asked my friend who studied at the other universities, because that student, my friend, had already write some assignment at that time; and I ask him to send his assignment to me, [so] I can know what the structure is. And I also asked some friends, even though they did different major, but I asked them to send their formal assignment to me, for the references. And then I got to know how to write the, how to do the quotations, and what the structure is like...
— Keith
When you wrote a bad essay, what was the reason?
Just that my thoughts were not very clear. When I was writing, I thought that I did understand it; but when we got the essay back, the lecturer in that course gave us an example to look at and compare.
— Caroline
All my failed essays, my teacher says too much information, not evaluation, not comparison...
And did you understand what they meant, when you read that on your essay?
I know a little now, but then I didn't know.
How did you find out what that really meant?
I first asked my teacher. She told me what evaluation means, so I tried to evaluate. And I also look, borrow some my classmates their essays and tried to learn how to evaluate, and look the journals I download from the Internet, and look how they organise....
And when she said that to you, could you see that? Could you agree with that? Or...
At first I can't. I think it's very clear, I tell everything about the topic, I also do much research, and I can't see the problem; but when I see some examples, I see my essay is very worth to get the failed – it's too bad, too bad, it's very very – bad!
— Nana
Promoting the ethical use of models
There is every reason to believe seeking examples of written assignments from compatriots to learn from is a wide-spread practice, particularly among students who have had no prior training in academic writing, and one that is not likely to be eliminated by fiat. Always provided that the use made of such models does not go beyond accepted ethical bounds, it should be seen as independent action taken by students to promote their own learning – something to be facilitated rather than condemned.
If problems are likely to arise, it is when the models the students are accessing are not obviously, or at all, within the reach of the assessing teachers. Model assignments explicitly provided by lecturers are hardly likely to be abused – hence the value of a resource such as the sections of Language and Learning Online on writing in specific subject areas , which provide examples of student writing together with annotations and feedback from teaching staff, and recorded comments on the writing process from the writers themselves.
Be aware that this resource, extensive as it is, does not and cannot provide examples of every assignment for every course, both graduate and undergraduate. Before recommending it to your students, therefore, you need to familiarise yourself with what is offered there, so that you can clarify for your students the aspects of it that are relevant to the assignments you are setting.
It can also serve as a model for teaching staff who want to supplement it with examples of assignments gathered (with their writers' permission, of course) from their own courses.
Promoting academic integrity
For further ideas on limiting the possibilities for plagiarism, collusion and other forms of unethical conduct in written assignments, see the following:
- Professional Development resources on plagiarism for teaching staff , University of Melbourne/Monash University
- Plagiarism Education and Prevention Project (PEPP) , Monash University
- Minimising plagiarism , Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE), University of Melbourne
- Deterring, detecting and dealing with plagiarism , Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brooks University
- Plagiarism Advisory Service , Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), UK
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How do you think the assessments that you do in your subjects could be improved for you?
I think should give us more details. For example, the essay - give us the structure for essay, and which part, and what contains in this part, and generally what kind of information you can look for; and give us more examples. Examples can explain a lot.
— Terrie
Are there any specific ways in which the University can improve things for students like you?
Maybe – give some more examples about – ahm – Before we write our first essay, we all feel confused for a long time how to write, how to get the first word onto the paper, how to get – we don't know, we can't find any examples, we can't follow the - right way, we just go the wrong direction.... I think if possible, maybe you can put more examples – you know, if you only give us instructions how to get your essays – first, the research, second, organise, and brainstorm ... yes, we know, of course we should follow these steps; but how to do [the essay itself]? how can we achieve this finishing step? - we don't know how to achieve [this]. We just want specific – more specific examples of the essays ...
— Nana
I attended some classes on the post graduate assignment writing, but to be honest, I didn't think it was helpful. I attended three or four times, but I still didn't get any idea – they are not so practical; I forget what they told us, but my impression is that after that I still didn't know how to do it. So my suggestion is, if you give the students this kind of lecture, you have to do it in a practical way, just give them examples – if you do essay like the name of this, what I'm going to do, if I just get the topic: first step, I have to do this, and the next step, I have to do this, and in the final – and they will know, if they get the topic, they will know how to prepare for that. But what I learned from the lecture was, I got those segments, some very detailed segments, but I have no the total idea, I have no the whole picture. That's what I really felt at that time.
— Keith