Browsing by Author "Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa"

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Competencias de escritura académica del español como lengua extranjera
(Universidad de Cuenca, 2021-08-19) Maldonado Arce, Sandra Margarita; Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
Students learning Spanish as a foreign language for academic purposes have difficulties in writing specialized texts, directly affecting their performance and interest in learning Spanish. Therefore, by observing this common situation from the experience of teaching Spanish as a foreign language, this research´s objective is to improve the writing of argumentative essays through the design and implementation of a teaching sequence. This sequence aims to guide the non – native Spanish student in the identification, development, and practice of academic writing skills. The study applies a qualitative methodology through action research and takes into account two approaches, modern linguistics and the eclectic approach to teaching this foreign language. Data collection is undertaken through a preliminary interview about their experience in writing essays with two North American students who took a course in grammar and advanced composition at the University of Cuenca. In addition, a preliminary and a final essay are analyzed to compare the results of applying the didactic sequence in the student´s written production. During the teaching sequence, the writing process is assessed through direct, in classes teacher observation, class discussions of the topics covered, and personalized tutorials. These activities allow the triangulation of data to strengthen this research. Although with some limitations, the results indicate that with the intervention of the didactic sequence mainly favorable changes were recorded in the linguistic competence and in the writing of the essays, while for the pragmatic and discursive competences there were differences in the performance of both students.
Doctoral Writing Groups for the Advancement of Dissertation and Publication Writing
(2023) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
In writing groups (WGs), participants exchange drafts so that their partners’ feedback can be used to improve writing. These groups accompany participants while they face authentic dissertation or publication writing projects, are linked to situated and real demands, and promote participants’ engagement. Nevertheless, this type of pedagogical initiative continues to be uncommon, especially in Latin America. This qualitative exploratory study analyses participants’ perspectives about the benefits and drawbacks found in joining doctoral WGs in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It focuses on three separate sets of doctoral writing groups implemented and facilitated within the last eight years in Argentina. Despite some drawbacks, participants considered these groups as valuable not only for the advancement of dissertation and publication writing, but also as horizontal spaces to develop as scholarly writers. Higher education institutions worldwide could benefit from similar pedagogical initiatives to enhance and promote research writing at the graduate level.
Estrategias para mejorar la comprensión lectora de textos en inglés de estudiantes de noveno de educación general básica
(Universidad de Cuenca, 2023-03-22) Quito Hurtado, Nancy Raquel; Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
This action research study examined the effects of cognitive and metacognitive strategy on the reading comprehension of English texts among a group of Ninth Grade students from “Educación General Básica” (N=15). This study was carried out through the design and application of a Didactic Sequence (DS), which used different activities. The investigation focused on providing tools that contribute to the participants’ reading comprehension. Data collection included a survey to identify the learners’ previous knowledge about the sampling, inference, prediction, correction, and concept mapping strategies. After that, data was collected related to the use of the selected strategies through the development of activities performed before, during, and after reading the texts. Afterwards, the tasks turned in by the participants, which included individual and group activities using inferences, predictions, and concept mappings were presented in tables and figures and analyzed descriptively. This made it possible to determine if the strategies were applied and useful for the participants. Finally, the results indicate that participants were positively influenced by the use of the strategies. Nevertheless, they need to have other opportunities to apply any reading strategies necessary to improve their English reading comprehension.
Innovation: a case study of an english teachers’ induction
(2019) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
The induction of new English teachers is not often made the focus of language programs. In many institutions, the orientation experience receives Little attention, resulting in work-related stress at the beginning of an instructor’s teaching contract. Consequently, not only the quality of teaching is affected but also the teachers’ motivation and perception of the program. This research article analyses the results of a case study of an innovation to a new teacher induction in a language program in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. For this, the case study was based on two-way communication between the administration and the teaching staff through direct feedback, the consideration of language program management principles, as well as the application of a teacher survey after implementation. As a result, the innovation to the induction of new teachers seemed to reduce teachers’ job-related stress during the first week of classes, thus helping to créate a learning environment where the program, its teachers, and its students benefit as a whole.
Interdisciplinarity as an opportunity in argentinian and ecuadorian writing groups
(2021) Colombo, Laura; Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
At the university level, writing groups have shown to be useful to teach and learn research writing as well as to advance academic-scientific publication and to discover collaboration opportunities among members from different disciplinary fields. At the same time, peer review, an important practice in the academic sphere, is learned within the groups through mutual peer feedback. A key feature of a writing group’s formation and progress is connected to how it is organised. One of the variables that seems to influence a group is interdisciplinarity. Nevertheless, the impact of the greater or lesser disciplinary distance in a group’s functioning has not been analysed in depth to determine its advantages or disadvantages. This article analyses interdisciplinarity of writing groups in two Latin American countries. In Argentina, the writing groups were formed by master's and doctoral students in the process of writing their thesis, while the writing groups in Ecuador were formed by early career academics and experienced research professors. The analysis of interview and group session transcriptions of the groups in both countries indicates that disciplinary distance mainly presents advantages if the distance is not too great, if there is, as one member put it, a ‘close distance.’ In this sense, research writing becomes, it seems, a meeting point for members, facilitating enriching exchanges.
Juntos escribimos: espacios para escribir ciencia sin interrupciones
(2024) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
University researchers face mounting pressure to conduct and disseminate their re- search findings, which often are important to measure career advancement, enhance scientific standing, and obtain funding for future investigations. Although scientific publications play a central role in higher education, their writing process is usually relegated to the background. In response, writing groups, where the main activity is to write during an uninterrupted time in the company of others, offer a viable strategy to move manuscripts forward toward publication. This descriptive case study examines the implementation of such a writing group within an Ecuadorian public university, shedding light on the motivations and expectations of its participants at the start of the initiative. Descriptive statistics was used as well as a thematic analysis of the information obtained through a short, online, anonymous survey. The findings highlight researchers’ continued quest for ways to enhance their academic writing skills and stress the need for dedicated spaces specifically for focused writing.
Lenguaje, aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras, inglés e interculturalidad: una perspectiva ecuatoriana
(2021) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa; Rodas Pacheco, Fabián Darío
Language, as part of individuals’ everyday lives, has been defined and redefined constantly in different ways, making it possible to know the local context that surrounds them as well as the outside world. On the other hand, with the passing of time, language, at a global level, has become an essential part of the official educational curriculum and, in recent decades, part of the teaching and learning of foreign languages. The purpose of this descriptive literature review is to share a series of elements and concepts to complement or reinforce readers’ current knowledge about language and its role in the teaching and learning of foreign languages, as well as the importance of English and itslink with interculturality today. Primary and secondary sources were considered if directly connected to the topic under review (between 2000-2020) and authors whose seminal work has contributed to the disciplinary field. Language, as a means of human communication, allows the development of communicative competence, but more importantly, it gives way for individuals to know and interact in a better way with the people who live around them
Looking at faculty writing groups from within: some insights for their sustainability and future implementations
(2021) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa; Colombo, Laura; Calle Calle, María Daniela; Cordero Carpio, Guillermo Alejandro
Scholarly publications are a key component of academics’ development in their roles as teachers and researchers. Writing groups seem to be effective to accompany this process as participants share their texts to improve them through peer feedback. To help academic developers in the understanding and implementation of faculty writing groups, a detailed analysis of what members talk about during their meetings was carried out with three Ecuadorian writing groups, complemented by in-depth interviews. Results show that in all groups most interactions focused on their common goal, the text and comments, and the organization of their meetings, supported by the facilitator.
Methodological Guidelines for Focus Groups with Children from Developing Regions
(2023) Peñaherrera Vélez, María José; Ochoa Avilés, Angélica María; Arpi Becerra, Nancy Consepción; Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa; Zuñiga Carpio, Gabriela Alexandra; Jerves Hermida, Elena Monserrath
Qualitative research with children has gained recognition in recent years. Nevertheless, special considerations should be analyzed before conducting focus groups with children from developing countries where methodological guidelines are scarce. This article provides methodological guidelines for conducting focus groups with children from developing countries based on an extensive literature review and our experience in urban and rural areas in Ecuador. Peculiarities of urban and rural contexts are highlighted, and child- friendly strategies are proposed. We conclude that focus groups can be conducted successfully with urban and rural children from low-and-middle- income countries if their specific circumstances, such as language and cultural diversity, are contemplated and all the materials are tested beforehand
Self-managed peer writing groups for the development of EFL literacy practices
(2021) Colombo, Laura; Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
Peer response writing groups present several benefits in language learning classrooms. However, they are usually supervised by the instructor and thus become time consuming when carried out in class. This descriptive case study offers a model for extramural peer feedback and analyzes 12 meeting transcriptions of four undergraduate EFL writing groups implemented outside class time as support for an academic writing course with limited time for student interaction. These peer response groups were organized to: 1) provide participants with an additional audience, 2) open a space to practice the L2 in an authentic communicative situation, and 3) engage in peer review activities, a literacy practice associated with scientificacademic writing. Based on the data analysis of participant interactions, three main themes emerged according to what the members talked about: interacting as authors and reviewers of research articles, using the L2 in authentic communicative situations, and talking about and enacting literacy practices Although the experience of these writing groups was mainly positive, one of the limitations was their short lifespan, which prevented additional training to model peer response that would help facilitate the interaction among the participants, an important consideration to achieve beneficial peer feedback and to scaffold the process
Sustaining writing-for-publication practices during COVID-19: Online writing groups at an Ecuadorian University
(Routledge, 2022) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
his chapter presents how online peer-feedback writing groups (WGs), composed of participants coming from a multidisciplinary research team at an Ecuadorian public university, provided their members with the support necessary to advance with their publication writing projects during the Covid-19 pandemic. After reviewing ten semi-structured interviews conducted with the participants and reflecting on her role as a coordinator, the author considers the aspects that seem to have positively influenced the implementation and continuation of these online WGs in comparison to her previous experience with their face-to-face counterparts. In this sense, three important themes that sustained participants’ scientific writing endeavors in these groups are presented: structure and consistency through WG functioning rules, the coordinator’s role enhanced by shared experiences and trust, and the role of digital technology and its influence on members’ interactions. Although there were also some challenges associated with the change to an online environment, for the most part, members seem to have experienced a positive pressure to focus more time on their writing, thus making their participation in the online WGs worth their time and effort. To conclude, the chapter offers some advice on strategies that can be implemented in similar contexts and situations in the future.
Taking a closer look together. Written and oral feedback in a faculty writing group
(2024) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
Peer response writing groups support faculty in their development as scholarly writers around the globe. Nevertheless, little is known about feedback provision inside these groups. This work analyses written and oral comments in a faculty writing group to determine how feedback progressed as meetings developed. Results indicate that participants shifted from mainly correcting or giving directions to eliciting clarification, confirmation or information. Similarly, orally retaken comments (oral comments that referred to previous written comments) changed from discussing linguistic accuracy issues to centring on the content and cohesion/coherence of the text, with most of the latter prompting exchanges among participants. With continued participation members moved from mainly offering corrections to establishing a dialogue with authors. In writing groups faculty safely engage in peer feedback practices that enrich texts and writers.
Un grupo de escritura virtual doctoral Factores que influyen en su funcionamiento según sus participantes
(2024) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa
One of the reasons why doctoral studies are not completed is the difficulty in writing the dissertation. This problem is further accentuated when students have limited exchange opportunities with peers and professors from their postgraduate programs towards the end of their studies. A pedagogical practice that has proven to be significant to advance this type of writing is the joint revision of texts in virtual writing groups. This article analyzes the factors that influenced the development of a virtual writing group composed of three doctoral students from different Argentinian universities that have been meeting for over a year. For this purpose, a thematic analysis of data from group and individual interviews, exchanges via email, and documents related to the group’s organizational issues was carried out. In line with previous work, our results show that, according to the participants, a writing group’s usefulness depends on three interconnected types of factors: logistical, cognitive, and interpersonal. Despite the narrow scope of our study, it contributes with empirical data that can inform future institutional initiatives created to support the development of thesis writing at the postgraduate level
Ventajas y desafíos de la interdisciplinaridad en grupos de escritura latinoamericanos según sus miembros
(2019) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa; Colombo, Laura
Writing groups in Ecuador as support for academics on the road to publication
(2018) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa; Colombo, Laura
Writing to publish: An experience with university researcher writing groups
(2021) Rodas Brosam, Elisabeth Luisa; Calle Calle, María Daniela; Cordero Carpio, Guillermo Alejandro
Scientific publications, as the means through which the academy generates and communicates knowledge, are commonly used both to evaluate the individual production of university research professors as well as that of higher-level institutions. In this context, writing-for-publication practices gain importance and deserve greater attention for their development. However, in Latin America, there are few initiatives that support this situation. Writing groups constitute anadequate professional-academic development tool to face these deficiencies. Within them participants share drafts for their peers to comment on and, throughcollaboration and exchange with others, authors gradually adjust their writing to the demands of an audience, a key aspect in academic-scientific writing. This case study investigated participants’ perspectives to explore how writing groups support the progress of writing for publication. The analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews with participants indicated that these groups benefit their participants in three main areas. First, learning how to give and receive feedback in a safe and low-risk space helped members to lose the fear connected to this activity inherent in these literacy practices. At the same time, the possibility of receiving reading impressions from a real and varied audience allowed them to improve their drafts for better comprehensibility. Finally, sustained meetings over time motivated participants to mark a space in their agendas and establish a rhythm to their writing; in turn, making room to write highlighted the lack of time faced by research professors.