Overall, academic writing simultaneously creates fascination and fear in English language learners, and I see it as part of my role to help demystify it, as well as encourage learner ownership, curiosity, confidence and pride. English language learners in my classes in British Columbia, Canada come from a variety of national, educational and professional backgrounds, which creates a very diverse learning environment. Like college instructors internationally, I am now teaching online and this brings new challenges, but it also provides opportunities for innovation and experimentation. Some of the graphic organizers I have selected were used in face-to-face instruction with whiteboards and/or pen and paper, while others had electronic versions, and I have also designed some with the purpose of using them for online teaching. With online learning a reality for the foreseeable future, and certainly not disappearing after a return to face-to-face teaching, I am eager to continue to explore how graphic organizers can be used online. Overall, I have found that online tasks require additional time to complete, and that sharing and providing feedback requires different strategies than in face-to-face learning. Learners have also said they find studying independently incredibly isolating and challenging, and that it is difficult to motivate themselves. My belief in the efficacy of graphic organizers to support learning is what initially led me to use them increasingly in online teaching and learning. I used them a considerable amount in the previous two terms online and want to continue to investigate additional strategies for implementation based on informal positive feedback I received from learners. I have selected five organizers that I have adapted and/or created for online teaching and learning because they provide creative and active ways for learners to develop and demonstrate cognitive and academic writing skills.
‘A graphic organizer is a visual and graphic display that depicts the relationships between facts, terms, and/or ideas’ (Strangman, Vue, Hal and Meyer 2004, p. 2). Graphic organizers are also referred to as cognitive organizers, knowledge maps, content webs, ideational frameworks, concept diagrams and concept, cognitive or semantic maps. Strangman, Vue, Hal and Meyer’s extensive literature review (2004) found that graphic organizers improve reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and learning across all academic subjects and support many different learning outcomes.
Marzano et al (2001) identify ‘Questions, Cues and Advance Organizers’ as one of the nine most effective strategies for instruction. In his comprehensive meta-analyses of over 1200 educational studies, Hattie (2015) ranked ‘Concept Maps’ as twentieth of one hundred and ninety-five interventions for effective learning. As a learning intervention, their efficacy is significant. The effect-size was measured at .64 and anything above .6 is considered to have a large positive effect on learning (82). Research has also shown that graphic organizers are successful for developing English language learners writing skills (Hidayat 2017; Yavanni 2018). Servati (2012), in Kilickaya (2019) found that graphic organizers were a successful strategy to improve writing.
Graphic organizers serve as a learning enhancement and allow for differentiated learning.
They also support those with cognitive and learning barriers, as complex information is organized in a more accessible format (National Center on Universal Design for Learning 2013). They allow for collaboration and multiple perspectives and responses, and this is useful in open-ended tasks such as brainstorming. They also scaffold speaking and writing tasks, support pairwork and teamwork, encourage strategic and purposeful reading, promote critical thinking and higher order thinking skills, provide quick feedback on comprehension and can also facilitate gamification in learning.
“Overall, I have found that online tasks require additional time to complete, and that sharing and providing feedback requires different strategies than in face-to-face learning.”
Academic writing requires the ability to use language ‘characterized by the specific linguistic features associated with the academic disciplines, but also higher-order thinking including conceptualising, inferring, inventing and testing’ (Scarcella 2003, in Olson & Land 2007). There are many cognitive strategies associated with academic writing, and these include activating previous knowledge, evaluating, analysing, creating connections, self-monitoring and metacognition, and reflecting; and these are beneficial and often indispensable for strong academic writing (Olson 2011). Additionally, Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives for the Cognitive Domain (Anderson et al. 2001) is frequently used in education and is a well-known framework for organizing cognitive skills. These cognitive objectives are generally classified into two groups: Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS), which include Remembering, Understanding and Applying, and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), which include Analysing, Evaluating and Creating. This framework is useful because it is widely used, simple and flexible, and it allows both the learners and instructor to identify and reflect on the writing skills being developed. The skills also fit in well with various rhetorical modes of writing, such as expository, compare and/or contrast, discursive and cause and/or effect. The framework is not without its limitations, which include its hierarchal structure and the assumption that learning occurs in a linear manner with LOTS always acquired first and subsequent higher order skills developed afterwards. It is therefore not essential to deliver these graphic organizer activities based on their order in the taxonomy, although there is greater success with higher order thinking skills when lower order skills are strong.
I have used the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Anderson et al. 2001) to classify the graphic organizer academic writing activities. I have selected one graphic organizer for each area, but each of these organizers could be applied to different cognitive skills. By providing this framework and some of my favourite uses of graphic organizers, I hope other instructors will be inspired to adapt these to suit their unique teaching and learning contexts.
Mind maps are used for many pre-writing and brainstorming activities. There are many mind map designs to choose from, and learners can also be very creative and incorporate their own stylistic features. I use a variety of mind maps for specific vocabulary topics, such as the environment, globalization or business, and find that adding constraints such as categories with syllables (one, two, three, four, five and six plus syllables), the number of letters in a word (three, four, five, six, seven and eight plus letters) and word forms/lexical categories (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) are useful, and adding constraints has also proven to be effective in increasing creativity (Gibson 2010). Learners can be introduced to mind maps and complete them individually, in particular if their essays are on disparate topics. This term, to make the class more dynamic and encourage broader participation, I used the online whiteboard for vocabulary mind maps, and then addressed areas for language development as they emerged to make the lessons more learner centred.
Linking Words: An activity I used this term focuses on the rhetorical functions of linking words, and this language is relevant to the entire class. This includes words to indicate cause/effect, contrast, addition and time (Time and Addition for organizing ideas but also for expressing temporal relationships), and these linking words are essential for creating coherence and cohesion in writing. They serve to organize the text, and also guide the reader through the writer’s argument; however, language learners often struggle with these. I wrote the functions of the linking words at the top of our electronic whiteboard, gave learners a few minutes to brainstorm on the board, and after, we discussed, moved and edited the words. When using the electronic whiteboard in a whole-class activity, I find it more beneficial to have a linear and structured vocabulary map. In a face-to-face or small group learning environment, learners could be more creative and design freer mind maps. After, if they were completed on paper, the papers could be passed around or posted at stations with learners visiting stations to record new items and note points for questions and feedback. In the future, I would like learners to use graphic organizer websites to record and present the language; however, for many, adapting to the various online college platforms has been frustrating, and learning new software seems like an added burden. Learners were also required to provide the correct punctuation rules and provide examples of usage. An alternative method involving analyzing requires providing a list of all the linking words, and learners must put the words into the appropriate categories. To make this more challenging, the category heads/superordinates (Contrast, Addition, Cause/effect and Time) could be removed, and they must also identify those. This could be created as a word document, edited and then submitted or shared with the class. For an integrated-skills focus, the instructor could read the word aloud, and preferably in an example sentence, and learners identify the function and place it in the correct position on the organizer on a shared digital whiteboard.
Essay organization: This activity involves learners reading, identifying and then reorganizing an essay. I used essays written by previous students as models of strong essay writing. Prior to the switch to online learning, I created several laminated sets of an essay and then cut it into sections. Learners reorganized the essay and placed the sections into categories on a graphic organizer. The introduction is separated into the hook, general information and thesis, and each body paragraph is divided into three to five sections, which include the topic sentence, two or three supporting ideas and evidence, examples and/or counter evidence and rebuttals. The conclusion is separated into the summary and final thoughts. Each essay differs in how it is organized and subsequently separated, and I made sure that there were clues such as pronouns, logical arrangement of ideas and other cohesive language that led to the next point. For our online class, which lacks the same haptic ease of moving the laminated sections around on a table to explore different combinations, I also created a Word document and numbered each paragraph and assigned a letter to each section within the paragraph. In their online group study rooms, learners reorganized the essay, and later in the week, they explained why they reorganized the essay in the manner they did, and by asking focussed concept-checking questions in the subsequent feedback session, I was able to identify areas for future development, namely increased reading for detail and greater emphasis on transition and sequencing language. They found it challenging, but they also liked the problem-solving/puzzle aspect of it, and once we had discussed it, it was clear why it had to be arranged in a very specific manner.
Strong reading skills are crucial for successful academic writing, and this activity requires learners to focus on context clues. It also requires considerable attention to detail, and when we are constantly switching between screens and skimming information, this is often sacrificed. Although mastery is an appropriate goal, simply providing models of exemplary writing does not actively engage learners. Reorganizing the text by identifying the parts of an essay requires a much deeper level of understanding and engagement.
Academic and everyday language: Having a clear idea of the difference between academic and everyday language is essential for strong academic writing, and T-chart activities can support this, with learners determining which category a lexical item belongs to. Prior to the activity, it is useful to discuss register and emphasize that language is complex, and better placed on a continuum with overly formal and archaic language at one end and slang at the other. In the middle, there are professional/academic and everyday language, and that depending on the context and the perspective of the user, there is variation. However, rather than viewing this as an obstacle, learners should be encouraged to see language offering great nuance and flexibility, and this is an area that can be developed and refined as they progress.
Everyday and Academic Language
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This activity requires producing the academic equivalents of everyday language. The left half of the T-chart is labelled ‘Everyday Language’ and everyday language such as phrasal verbs, simple verbs and overly general terms. Learners must then fill in the academic equivalents, and there are often several suitable possibilities. When I transferred this activity online, I modified the set-up and allowed ten minutes for everyone to individually look at the everyday language and think of the academic equivalents, and afterwards, we discussed the answers as a class. I have used this extensively in face-to-face learning, and because they are required to produce the language, group work allows learners to support one another and fill in gaps in lexical knowledge. However, as a result of online learning, I am beginning to reconsider my almost exclusive use of group work in class and reassess the value of individual work. Despite the obvious over-simplification of a binary/dichotomy, this activity nevertheless remains a useful awareness-raising activity, and often leads to an interesting discussion. This is particularly helpful for learners who have strong communicative English but are unsure of academic language. A variation on this is where learners first identify the pairs from a mixed-up list and then place the everyday language in the left column and academic language in the right column. Returning and adding to this chart throughout the term allows for retrieval practice and spaced learning, two strategies proven effective for retention by cognitive science
(Weinstein et al, 2018).
Selecting academic sources: Selecting appropriate sources is a key academic writing skill, and with the abundance of both reliable and unreliable information on the internet, understandably many learners find it challenging to select suitable sources for their work. To scaffold this, the class were given one specific essay topic: ‘What is the effect of eating disorders on teenage girls in Canada?’ They had to use the college’s library website to find suitable sources and post these in the discussion forum, using appropriate referencing. They also had to briefly explain why the sources they selected were relevant, reliable and recent. Last term, I used only this, but noticed learners still had considerable difficulty selecting and referencing appropriate sources, so this term I created an additional task with a new topic: ‘What are the effects of video games on the physical health of young adolescents in Canada?’ I included eight sources but only four of these were both relevant and recent. Because I was using the library website, the sources were reliable, which is the third factor we use in evaluation. I added a ranking ladder below this with five text boxes arranged vertically, so learners could copy the citations and see them presented clearly and accurately as they appear in a Works Cited/Reference list. In their groups, learners then ranked the sources on the ladder with brief notes justifying their decisions. This made the task more controlled and also led to more meaningful discussion because everyone had initially evaluated the same sources. When we met again the next class, each group screenshared and presented their ranking ladder and notes to the class, and most groups found one or two new sources, and we discussed why they had not included the other sources. This process of negation can be very illuminating, and humorous particularly if a few of the sources are clearly unsuitable. There were four suitable sources, but it was also extra practice for them to find additional sources.
The graphic organizer also allows learners to feel more confident because it serves as a visual aid to support their speaking; however, its limited space for notes also prevents them from reading prepared scripts. This is a contextualized opportunity to practice accuracy with academic citation, and they wrote the additional sources using APA (American Psychological Association) referencing. When we went over the organizers in class, many interesting issues emerged, such as how to cite a source with more than one author or the difference between a report and a magazine. Because there were still so many citation issues, rather than correcting the organizers for them, I assigned groups to correct one another’s and post the corrections in the discussion forum, and we went over these the next class, with each group taking on the role of the instructor and explaining their corrections. This greatly reduced teacher talk time, and also increased ownership, accountability and autonomy.
This task integrates reading and writing skills, which is more beneficial for learning as it requires a greater use of cognitive skills (Olson 2011). By further integrating listening and speaking, the class becomes more dynamic and participatory, and one of the frequent criticisms I have heard from learners about the limitations of online academic reading and writing classes is that they provide far fewer opportunities to develop listening and speaking skills. In contemporary education, digital and media literacy are a very important areas, and designing creative activities to strengthen critical thinking and evaluation serves our learners both inside and outside of the classroom. Requiring learners to select, evaluate and then explicitly outline why they have made the decisions creates a much deeper and more active learning experience.
Tabular notes: Tabular notes feature learners demonstrating how they will use their sources in their writing. The notes contain a matrix with the ‘x’ axis summarizing the topic of each the three body paragraphs and the ‘y’ axis identifying each of the three sources. The references should be written using the appropriate citation format. Learners write brief notes in each box outlining where, how and why each source fits into the paragraph. Some sources are used in multiple paragraphs and documenting it in this manner allows them to see how much citation is occurring in each paragraph. Learners finish the tabular notes, submit their first draft and present it to the class. This opportunity to share and learn from one another has been identified as important for success in developing academic writing (Olsen and Land 2007). Each learner had a maximum of five minutes to present it to the class, and this required them to prepare what they wanted to say in advance. As we had a small class, each person screenshared and presented their tabular notes to the whole class, but if I have a larger class next term, I will visit each group in their study rooms, and they can present there. The class asked questions, and I asked guided questions and gave suggestions about referencing to each learner. This task allowed them to view their writing in a visual but non-paragraph manner using the organizer. I included it as part of the participation marks, but next term, I think I will make it five percent of the total essay mark.
Tabular Notes TemplateUse this tabular notes template to help you organize your research. You need to fill in the table with the topics of your body paragraphs, the APA information for your sources as well as how you will use each source. You might only use one source in one paragraph or all three paragraphs. Each person’s essay will be different. You need to present this to the class/your group.
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When English instructors integrate cognitive skills into their lessons, over an extended period of time and in a variety of activities, it gives more opportunities for learners to acquire them, in particular as certain activities may resonate more strongly than others (Olson 2011; Olson & Land 2007). Olson & Land (2007 p. 273) also found that English language learners are most successful when instructors ‘have high expectations and do not deny access to challenging content’ and the use of graphic organizers can help learners process and understand difficult material. They also found that ‘when teachers explicitly teach and model the academic skills,’ learning is stronger (273). I show learners examples of how I use graphic organizers for my writing and am in the process of collecting learner-created graphic organizers to share with future classes. I elicit and raise awareness about which skills are being developed with each graphic organizer and highlight that these skills are transferable and useful in many contexts. I am also using graphic organizers in a literature class and have employed similar strategies. I have created a graphic organizer rubric and provide oral and written feedback.
Academic writing skills take a considerable amount of time to develop and practising them in a variety of contexts is essential to their development, as well as to maintaining learner engagement. Successful transfer of academic writing skills is a challenge; however, if learners are given sufficient opportunity to also develop metacognitive strategies such as noticing and reflecting, they will be much more successful. Additionally, with asynchronous online learning, learners have additional time to plan and reflect on their graphic organizers and writing. As an instructor, creating the materials, facilitating the learning, and then writing this article also developed my cognitive skills, in particular creativity and critical thinking. I look forward to using these activities with future learners and would be very interested to learn more about the graphic organizers instructors have successfully used in their classrooms.
References
Anderson L (Ed), Krathwohl D (Ed), Airasian P, Cruikshank K, Mayer R, Pintrich P, Raths J & Wittrock M (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
Gibson R (2010) The ‘Art’ of Creative Teaching: Implications for Higher Education. Teaching in Higher Education 15 (5) 607–13.
Hattie J. (2015) The Applicability of Visible Learning to Higher Education. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology 1 (1) 79–91.
Hidayat H (2017) Graphic Organizer Versus Sentence Combining: Determining a Strategy for Text Writing. ELT Echo: The Journal of English Language Teaching in Foreign Language Context 2 (1) 49–62
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