We’d like you to help us with the British Academic Written English Secondary School (BAWESS) corpus project. Please read this information sheet carefully and ask us if you have any questions about any details of the project, or what taking part would mean for you.

Take your time to decide if you’d like to take part. It’s up to you if you want to do this. If you don’t, that’s absolutely fine.

If you want to participate, you’ll be asked to sign a consent form (which you will receive via email). If you’re under the age of 16, we’ll also need your parent or guardian to sign a consent form.

1) Why are we doing this research?

We’re interested in learning more about language in different subjects. The aim of the project is to collect written texts from exam classrooms (iGCSE/GCSE, A Level and IB). These texts will form the British Academic Written English Secondary School (BAWESS) Corpus (a corpus is a collection of texts that is digitally accessible). This corpus will be used as a resource for teachers, learners, and researchers to support writing in schools.

2) Why have you been asked to take part?

We are collecting students’ writing from Years 10 to 13 in the UK and international schools from different countries.

3) Do I have to take part?

Participation is completely voluntary. It’s up to you to decide to take part in the project. We’ve asked students who are studying for their iGCSE, GCSE, A Level and IB exams to participate in this study. If you decide you’d like to take part, we’ll ask you to sign a form to confirm you agree to take part. We will give you a copy of the signed form and information sheet.

4) What would taking part involve?

You won’t have to do any extra work. We plan to collect the writing tasks that you’re doing in your class together with some contextual information (e.g. exam type, task type, subject, exam board, awarded grade). Your teacher will make a copy of your written work, remove your name and share the copies with the research team. Your teacher will tell you when your written work has been given to the research team. This will typically be two weeks after your written texts have been collected by your teacher. We’ll then make the texts digital and develop a corpus which can be searched online by students, teachers and others who are interested in language education. At this point, no student names of schools will be available and the data will be anonymous.

5) Are there reasons why I should not take part?

We can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t want to take part.

6) What are the benefits of taking part?

When the corpus is ready, we’ll offer sessions in schools for learners that explain how a corpus tool can help you in examination writing. (e.g., it could help you with vocabulary and language structures used in different subjects).

7) What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

We can’t think of any disadvantages or risks to taking part. If you don’t want to be involved in the project, please let your teacher or the researcher (Gail Forey) know.

8) Will taking part involve any discomfort or embarrassment?

You shouldn’t feel any discomfort or embarrassment from taking part in the project. If, however, you do feel uncomfortable or upset at any time, please let your teacher or the researcher know.

9) Who will have access to the information that I provide?

Only the research team will have access to the information that you provide. This includes access to your anonymised texts complemented by contextual information (such as region, school type, exam type, task type, subject, exam board, awarded mark). All information that is collected during the research will be treated as confidential. Your name will be removed from the text before it’s given to the research team. All data will be kept on a password-protected file on the University of Bath secure server. This storage of information will be done in accordance with the current UK data protection legislation. All information that you provide will only be able to be accessed by the research team.

10) What will happen to the data collected and results of the project?

All records will be treated as confidential. We’ll keep your consent forms securely for 10 years. After 10 years, the consent forms will be destroyed safely. Your name or other identifying information won’t be shared in any presentation or publication from the research. The texts that you write will be analysed for the language in the text. As the texts are anonymous, nobody will know who wrote the texts. After the project has finished, we’ll provide you and your school with a summary of findings, if you’d like a copy. This summary won’t include information relating to any particular young person in the project. Once the project is completed, other teachers, learners and researchers may access the BAWESS corpus which will be publicly available online and will contain your anonymised texts complemented by contextual information (such as region, school type, exam type, task type, subject, exam board, awarded mark). If we use your data for anything else, we’ll check with you first and ask for your consent. The data will continue to be stored in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

11) How can I stop taking part in the project after it has started?

If you agree to take part and later change your mind, that’s absolutely fine. Tell your teacher as soon as possible that you no longer want to take part in the study, and your written texts will be removed and will not be used in the study in any way. After collecting your written texts, your teachers will keep your written work for two weeks, during which you can change your mind. Your anonymised written work together with some contextual information (e.g. exam type, task type, subject, exam board, awarded grade) will then be given to the research team. Once the research team have your texts, which have been anonymised, the research team won’t be able to identify your texts anymore and it will not be possible for you withdraw your written work from the study. Your teacher will tell you when they have given your written texts and information to the research team.

12) Who has reviewed the project?

This project has been approved by the University of Bath, Social Science Research Ethics Committee (SSREC) [reference: 1112-11759].

13) University of Bath privacy notice

The University of Bath privacy notice can be found here.

14) What happens if there is a problem?

If you have a concern about any aspect of the project, you should ask to speak to the main researcher, Gail Forey, at the University of Bath (email: g.forey@bath.ac.uk; telephone: +44 (0)7853144556), who will do her best to answer any questions.

If Gail is unable to resolve your concern or you wish to make a complaint regarding the project, please contact the Research Governance and Compliance Team at research-ethics@bath.ac.uk

You may also ask your Parent/Guardian to do it for you.

15) If I want to know more information, who should I contact and how?

You can contact Gail Forey at the University of Bath g.forey@bath.ac.uk; telephone: +44 (0)7853144556) who will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Please also talk to your parent/guardian about your decision whether to take part in the project.

Thank you for taking the time to help us with this research project!