Paraphrasing Workshop: An ESL Instructor’s Perspective

Lara McInnisFebruary 15, 2011

Objectives

• To discuss the benefits and challenges of learning how to paraphrase appropriately

• To briefly discuss some findings from my research on paraphrasing for L1 and L2 students

• To overview an approach to paraphrasing evaluation in an ESL context

Objectives

• To discuss the benefits and challenges of learning how to paraphrase appropriately

• To briefly discuss some findings from my research on paraphrasing for L1 and L2 students

• To overview an approach to paraphrasing evaluation in an ESL context

Objectives

• To discuss the benefits and challenges of learning how to paraphrase appropriately

• To briefly discuss some findings from my research on paraphrasing for L1 and L2 students

• To overview an approach to paraphrasing evaluation in an ESL context

What do educators and researchers know about paraphrasing?

• a strategy to avoid plagiarism• shows proof of comprehension• students often confuse paraphrasing with patchwriting• an essential academic skill

(e.g., for idea synthesis in research essays)• helps students understand, appreciate and value

someone’s intellectual property

What is still not known about paraphrasing?

• Can ESL learners learn from the “triadic model” approach? (quote/paraphrase/summary steps)

• Can low-level ESL learners access enough background knowledge in order to paraphrase appropriately?

• Can ESL learners recognize plagiarized passages consistently?

Factors influencing how students paraphrase• Cognitive, linguistic, cultural

(Pennycook, 1996)

• Student and teacher attitudes towards plagiarism as an unethical practice

• Pragmatic factors (e.g., time spent on task)

My four claims about paraphrasing:• It is a useful tool for students to build meta-language

awareness.• It can facilitate vocabulary development.• It promotes mindful, meaningful, reflective thinking.• It encourages adult learners to become invested in,

and responsible for, their language learning.

My Research

• 9 participants (5 L2, 4 L1)• 4 paraphrasing tasks• Measured paraphrasing strategies, paraphrase quality

and appropriateness• 2 raters for paraphrase appropriateness

Findings• L2 participants had difficulty finding the “gist” of the

original excerpt

• L1 participants summarized instead of paraphrased

• L1 participants copied more often than L2 participants

• L2 participants took much longer to complete the task

Quality: Mean percentage of words in unique links per participant. (Mean % of words copied)

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

High inter-rater reliability

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Excluded from

analysis Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

Low inter-rater reliability (even after training/norming session)

What criteria would you use to determine what an appropriate paraphrase is?

Sample criteria from my research: Attributed source to original author Cited page reference of original author Appropriate/sufficient use of synonyms All key points of the original excerpt are retained Sufficient syntactical shift (word order, active to passive, etc.) It is not a summary Word form changed Participant’s opinion is not reflected

Attributed source to original author All key points of the original excerpt are

retained It is not a summary

0% paraphrased appropriately.

Q: What % of participants paraphrased appropriately (using 3 criteria)?

I’ve adapted these criteria using language more familiar to my ESL students:

Y/N Retained all key points from the original

Y/N Provided author’s name

Y/N Used appropriate synonyms Y/N Provided year of publication in parentheses (e.g., (1978))

Y/N Changed sentence structure Y/N Used a reporting phrase in past tense

Y/N Avoided giving own opinion Y/N Clear grammar/mechanics

Y/N Avoided direct copying (plagiarism)

Y/N Correctly interpreted overall meaning of original passage

*see handout for sample paraphrasing task and student checklist

Some points to consider:• Our students receive mixed messages from

academia, teachers, media, classmates, etc.• Step-by-step instruction can work, but it must

be highly contextualized and task-oriented, learners must be engaged

• feedback must be immediate, explicit and analytical

• What realistic time-frame should be given to ESL students in a paraphrasing task?

Any questions?

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