Ebook: Revision Cognitive and Instructional Processes
- Tags: Language Education, Cognitive Psychology, Psycholinguistics
- Series: Studies in Writing 13
- Year: 2004
- Publisher: Springer Netherlands
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- pdf
Revision Revisited LINDA ALLAL* & LUCILE CHANQUOY** *University ofGeneva, SWitzerland, **UniversityofNantes, France Revision is a fundamental component of the writing process. So fundamental that for some specialists writing is largely a matter of revising, or as Murray (1978) stated, "Writing is rewriting..." (p. 85). Experience with writing does not, however, automatically translate into increased skill in revision. Learning to revise is a lengthy, complex endeavor. Beginning writers do little revision spontaneously and even experienced writers encounter difficulties in attempting to improve the quality of their texts (Fitzgerald, 1987). Although revision has been extensively dealt with in the writing and learning-to write literature, this book proposes to "revisit" theory and research in this area through a series of new contributions. The introduction begins with an overview of what revision encompasses. It then examines two parallel interrogations that under lie the chapters assembled here, namely: (1) What are the implications of research on cognitive processes for instruction in revision? (2) What are the questions raised by instructional research for the investigation of cognitive processes of revision? A final section presents the chapters of this book.
This book draws together current research on revision from two areas. The first is the large body of empirical work on the cognitive processes involved in the revision of written language production. This research looks at how operations of revision intervene during various phases of writing, at the resources or constraints (e.g., working memory load, content knowledge, strategy use) that affect revision and at developmental aspects of revision capabilities. The second area of research concerns the study of students learning to revise texts in instructional settings. This research examines the effects of instructional design conditions (structure and sequencing of tasks, strategy instruction, word processing) and the impact of peer interactions on student acquisition of revision skills.