Welcome
International Conference on Enhancement
and Innovation in Higher Education
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow
9-11 June 2015
The expectations of essay
writing for students and staff
Michael P McEwan
Academic Development Unit
University of Glasgow
Why Look at Expectations?
As Biggs (1996, p. 348) states:
‘The learner brings an accumulation of assumptions, motives,
intentions, and previous knowledge that envelopes every
teaching/learning situation and determines the course and
quality of the learning that may take place.’
Student outcomes are influenced by the agreement between
student expectations and the realities of the learning
environment (set by teachers, disciplinary cultures, etc).
Students and Teachers?
• A mismatch between students’ expectations and the first year
learning experience can result in poorer attainment (Smith and
Werleib, 2005).
• Any difference between student expectations and the reality
becomes increasingly difficult to manage as first year progresses
(Lowe and Cook, 2003).
Understanding of student and teaching staff expectations and
perceptions of tasks are vital factors in supporting transition to
HE.
Why Focus on Essays?
Essays are a dominant assessment method in many disciplines
(Race, 2009) and the impact on student outcomes is obvious for
summative essays.
• Students
expectations
and
interpretations don’t typically match
the teacher’s (Norton, 1996) .
• Essay writing requires experience;
its more than just knowledge
(Hounsell, 1997).
What Might Affect Expectations?
‘Students who have experienced different life paths come with
different expectations, different needs, different learning styles,
and different ambitions’ (White, 2014).
Academic, sociocultural & language
differences?
Academic
background?
Are these not also potential
factors for an increasingly
diverse group of international
teachers?
The Study
To what extent are expectations and perceptions regarding essay
writing shared across teacher/lecturers and first year students?
Concerns regarding
essays
Understanding of
essay assessments
Expectations of
required essaywriting skills
How do you
approach
interpreting an
essay question?
A Focus on Essay Questions
Two sample essay questions were created to analyse
respondents’ approaches to interpreting essays questions. Here
is one of them
‘Discuss and evaluate the most influential factors on the
development of the English language between the years 1400
and 1800.’
What words do you
immediately focus on?
A Focus on Essay Questions
Two sample essay questions were created to analyse
respondents’ approaches to interpreting essays questions. Here
is one of them
‘Discuss and evaluate the most influential factors on the
development of the English language between the years 1400
and 1800.’
The verbs of
instruction?
A Focus on Essay Questions
Two sample essay questions were created to analyse
respondents’ approaches to interpreting essays questions. Here
is one of them
‘Discuss and evaluate the most influential factors on the
development of the English language between the years 1400
and 1800.’
The overall
topic?
A Focus on Essay Questions
Two sample essay questions were created to analyse
respondents’ approaches to interpreting essays questions. Here
is one of them
‘Discuss and evaluate the most influential factors on the
development of the English language between the years 1400
and 1800.’
The limiting
context?
A Focus on Essay Questions
What about this question? What words do you immediately
focus on?
‘Identify the main political actors and analyse their role in the 37
days prior to the start of the First World War.’
What words do you
immediately focus on?
A Focus on Essay Questions
What about this question? What words do you immediately
focus on?
‘Identify the main political actors and analyse their role in the 37
days prior to the start of the First World War.’
The verbs of
instruction?
A Focus on Essay Questions
What about this question? What words do you immediately
focus on?
‘Identify the main political actors and analyse their role in the 37
days prior to the start of the First World War.’
The overall
topic?
A Focus on Essay Questions
What about this question? What words do you immediately
focus on?
‘Identify the main political actors and analyse their role in the 37
days prior to the start of the First World War.’
The limiting
context?
Key Points on Essay Questions
Students (79%) pay more attention to the verbs compared to
teachers (42%); in fact 38% of teachers did not pick out the verbs
at all.
The ‘teacher’ group included a significant proportion of markers
for essay assignments, so what is it these ‘markers’ are
inherently looking for?
Key Points on Essay Questions
Teachers in this study always focus on the topic of an essay
question (42% entirely, 58% partially) whereas a fair proportion
of students (28%) fail to focus on the topic of an essay question
(they were looking at the verbs).
Could this be why teachers often complain that students ‘don’t
answer the question’...
Other Findings: similarities
Teachers and students on a number of things: examples and
good sources are needed in an essay, courses don’t support
academic writing development, prior education has not
prepared students for university writing very well but...
Other Findings: similarities
Staff (63%) students (51%) agree: students don’t really know
what to do to get a good grade nor do students understand what
the marker is looking for (43% of staff and 47% of students).
That’s a lot of students
that are feeling a bit lost.
Other Findings: differences
Students (97%) thought they focused well on answering set
essay questions but staff (79%) disagreed.
Staff (71%) expect critical analysis of sources; students thought
using sources (65%) was enough.
Conceptions of plagiarism were different for
students and staff: students thought they
understood it, teachers thought students
didn’t. Students were confident that they
avoided plagiarism, staff were less confident.
So, what affected these differences?
‘Students who have experienced different life paths come with
different expectations, different needs, different learning
styles, and different ambitions’ (White, 2014).
International
background
WAS NOT really
a factor.
Experience of and
time spent in higher
education WAS a
factor.
Implications for Teaching
Essays for first year students are a bit daunting – your students
don’t really know what the goalposts are. They are still novices
in HE and this means a lack of experience.
Have you
discussed the
‘goalposts’ with
your students?
And your
colleagues?
Including GTAs?
And have you given
everyone a bit of practice in
applying those rules?
Implications for Teaching
Essays for first year students are a bit daunting – your students
don’t really know what the goalposts are. They are still novices
in HE and this means a lack of experience.
Can you use
exemplars that
illustrate essays that
address the question
and those that don’t?
Can you facilitate an
exercise (e.g. Carroll,
2007, p. 53: ‘where do
you draw the line?’) on
academic integrity?
References
Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher
education, 32(3), pp 347 – 364.
Carroll, J. (2014). Tools for Teaching in an Educationally Mobile World
(Internationalisation in Higher Education Series). Routledge.
Hounsell, D. (1997). Contrasting Conceptions of Essay-writing. The Experience of
Learning, 2, pp. 106 – 125.
Lowe, H. & Cook, A. (2003). Mind the Gap: are students prepared for HE? Journal
of Further and Higher Education, 27(1), pp. 53 – 76.
Norton, L. S., Dickins, T. E., & McLaughlin Cook, N. (1996). “Rules of the Game" in
essay writing. Psychology Teaching Review, 5, 1-13.
Race, P. (2009). Designing assessment to improve physical sciences learning. Hull:
Higher Education Academy.
Smith, J. & Werlieb, E. (2005). Do First-Year College Students’ Expectations Align
with their First-Year Experiences? NASPA Journal, 42(2), pp. 153 – 174.
White, P. (2013). Embracing Diversity. 7th Annual Learning and Teaching
Conference, 9th January 2013, [online]. Available at:
https://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/cpd/conf/2013/res/preso [Accessed on 10th July
2014].