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Abstract
In order to increase the competence of students in content writing, it is mandatory for the teacher to make them competent to a certain degree in all the four skills-LRWS. We, the researchers, took up writing skills, the biggest challenge for students, to help them write content in general and essays in particular. The students of FYBA English medium, are required to write essays of approximately 1000 words on argumentative and expository topics. The researchers identified a problem with regards to students’ writing competence. The curricula recommended providing key points to aid the writing of ‘Guided Essays’ but it was not found to be very effective in aiding students to write organized, coherent and cohesive essays. The researchers decided to use the Process approach and Modelling / Imitation approach as outlined in a similar research undertaken in the University of South Africa. The teaching- learning context in our classrooms was suitable for application of these two different writing approaches.
The students were given a pre-writing task to check their writing skills before the interventions. They were given process writing instructions and model / imitation essays to use for writing essays. A post-test was given at the end of the interventions. The students were also asked to fill a questionnaire on their attitude to writing. Only 27 scripts made it to the final stage as these students had gone through the entire process from start to finish. The findings indicate that all these approaches improved the writing skills of the students mainly in terms of output and structure. Spellings and language skills were not greatly impacted .
Introduction: Context Of The Research
This project has been undertaken at Maniben Nanavati Women’s College affiliated to SNDT Women’s University. The target group comprises of the first year students (English medium). The total strength is 116. The majority of the students are from economically disadvantaged sections.
The students of FYBA (English medium) exhibited weak writings skills which contributed to lower student achievement in the area of writing. Evidence for the existence of the problem was gleaned from writing samples and teacher observations.
Analysis of the probable causes of the problem, based on students, teacher discussions, reveals that lack of modeling of writing and background knowledge can be identified as the major causes of poor writing. Unfortunately essay writing is not taught at the 12th standard level. Students need to be exposed to good examples of writing. They learn when taught through demonstration. Students have limited exposures to models of writing in their homes and need opportunities to see writing demonstrated. Background knowledge is another important link to success in the area of writing. The students need a larger base of knowledge to draw upon, when it comes to writing. Most students also do not see any connection between writing and reading processes. Exposure to models of writing based on a wide variety of topics help the students to develop both reading and writing skills.
However, the elements of good writing, do not just naturally occur, they need to be taught. Without clear definitions of what specific skills a good writer possesses, teachers and students cannot be expected to recognize, demonstrate, apply or assess writing skills in consistent meaningful ways. As per the requirements of the syllabus, students of FYBA (English medium) are expected to write meaningful, coherent essays and express their opinions. The essays are expected to display students’ ability to think critically on a given topic. The structure should show that the content is well organized into a systematic and cohesive development of the argument, and the introduction and conclusion are well thought out. In terms of language, vocabulary, spellings and punctuation, the students must show accuracy as well as fluency.
Essay writing is usually taught in a way that focuses on inputs from the teacher as limited to the “how” that is process, methodology of presenting content, but the content that is the “what” is usually left to the student to generate. The challenge before the researcher was how the issue of generating content is to be addressed. In short, can we use a content based instruction approach (CoBI) to teach Essay writing in our classrooms.
The focus of a CoBI lesson is, as we are aware, on the subject matter. Students are exposed to new information and advanced thinking skills. The ‘content’ brought into the classroom can cover a wide range of topics. The researchers realized that this approach of choosing content (in this case articles) based on general topics of interest would help students to learn though “modeling” or “imitation” and that is an approach that corresponds more to the way in which they originally learnt their first language.
Modeling is using model essays as examples. Imitation refers to students trying to imitate the form style and language used in the model. Students learn better when they have an example. It is based on the instinct of learning by imitation that is inbuilt in human beings. This helps to avoid the ‘hit and miss’ attempts and helps students to approach the task of writing with confidence that they have an example or model to follow. Students are made aware that they have to ‘copy’ the methods rather than the actual words and ideas. The model essay is a resource and not an ideal. The model essays are introduced when the student is writing the first draft of the essay. Writing competencies related to essay writing are taught through the step by step process approach. The challenge before the researchers was to use contextual and interesting content in the classroom to make the writing of essays, joyful, meaningful and purposeful,
Students are usually expected to write essay type answers which demand demonstration of knowledge and the researchers felt that essay writing, using the process writing and modeling/imitation approach, would help to fulfill several needs. It would make essay writing more interesting and motivating as the CoBI approach would develop a wider knowledge of the world. It would develop comprehension and expose students to valuable thinking and language skills. It would help them to generate ideas that could be transferred to other subjects.
It would also help to integrate the skills of reading and writing. Writing tasks can be integrated to reading as the emphasis is on writing from sources (sample articles from books and internet). Students have to read and interpret information. The focus is on what is said as well as how it is said. Extended reading preceded writing so that students had active control of ideas, and extensive processing of information raised their awareness of both ‘what’ and ‘how’ of good writing.
Literature Review –
The researchers decided to replicate to the extent possible the writing interventions that had aided other researchers in improving the writing skills of students. Two researches proved valuable guides as models for the project.
1. Action research on the implementation of Writing Approaches to improve Academic
Writing Skills of Namibian Foundation Programme students. By Karoline du Plessis Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master Of Arts With Specialisation In Tesol (Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages) At The University Of South Africa Supervisor: Brenda Spencer January 2012
2. Improving Student Writing Skills Through The Modeling Of The Writing Process Dawn Kapka Dina A.Oberman An Action Research Project Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of education in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching and Leadership Saint Xavier University& IRI/Skylight Field- Based Master’s Program Chicago, Illinois April 2001
Methodology
At the beginning of the project, the students were asked to complete a questionnaire to determine their attitude towards writing in English as well as their writing habits. There were 21 questions. The results show that students had a positive attitude to writing, but had limited knowledge of the procedure of writing.
The two approaches selected were the Process approach and the Modeling/ Imitation approach. The process approach: In this approach the activities are divided into three sections or stages.
1. Pre- writing
2. Writing
3. Reviewing
Pre-writing or planning includes:
a. Analyzing the topic
b. Generating ideas
c. Organizing ideas
This is the stage that requires maximum time and also an environment conducive to thinking and writing. It is also the stage that poses the maximum challenge as students do not have the “background knowledge” to generate ideas.
The teachers make the students aware of the crucial elements of good writing: organizational skill, focused writing, grammar and spelling. Organizational skills involve paragraphing, indenting and having a beginning, middle and end in essay. Focused writing means to maintain the topic that is being written. Finally using correct grammar and spelling in the essay is also important. Students are also made aware of the marking ‘good’ for grading essays. They know what is expected from them.
It is here that the modeling/ imitation approach proves invaluable. Reading for content and style can precede the pre- writing stage. Reading helps to strengthen the students information base. The aim is to develop the topic to its fullest. The content is the most important aspect and students are asked to read the sample essays and also to analyze the organizational and language skills of the writer. The teacher’s help is essential so that students are able to benefit fully from exposure to the model essays.
The model essay selected were:
1. Dieting can change a person’s life for the better or ruin one’s health completely. What is your opinion?
2. Animals are smart
3. What kind of pet is best, cat or dog?
4. Does college prepare us for life?
5. Advantages and disadvantages of being your own boss
Procedure
A prompt to write an argumentative writing was provided ‘Students Should Live On Campus’. The students had a forty minute block to plan, organize and write their papers. No model was provided.
The prompt for the post test was ‘Being a Single Child- Advantage and Disadvantages’. The papers were assessed in two ways, through writing and scoring checklist
The writing checklist included nine skills grouped into two categories: organization and conventions.
The checklist comprised of organization
1. Paragraphing
2. Indenting
3. Introduction(beginning)
4. Body(middle)
5. Closing(end)
The conventions included
1. Punctuation(commas, periods, colons, exclamation, marks)
2. Grammar
3. Spellings
v Quantity of output and quality of ideas
The following method of scoring was used to evaluate the papers of 27 students who completed the project. One point was given for each of the above areas.
Data Analysis
A comparative studies pre test and post test scores is presented below:
Results and discussion
· In the pretest 14 students had a sense of paragraphing, 13 demonstrated that paragraphing skill had not been attained.
In the post test 24 had mastered paragraphing, 3 were yet to attain the skills.
· In indenting the scores were as follows:
11 had the skill 24 had attained the skill
16 not demonstrated the skill 3 not attained the skill
· In introduction the scores were as follows:
10 had the skill 27 had attained the skill
17 not demonstrated the skill
· In body the scores were as follows:
7 had the skill 25 had attained the skill
20 not demonstrated the skill 2 not attained the skill
· In conclusion the scores were as follows:
5 had the skill 27 had attained the skill
22 not demonstrated the skill
· In punctuation the scores were as follows:
11 had the skill 26 had attained the skill
6 not demonstrated the skill 1 not attained the skill
· In grammar the scores were as follows:
1 had the skill 19 had attained the skill
26 not demonstrated the skill 8 not attained the skill
· In spelling the scores were as follows:
8 had the skill 23 had attained the skill
19 not demonstrated the skill 4 not attained the skill
In terms of quality and quantity the following observations can be made
· In terms of quantity, output increased for all 27 students.
· Improvement of quality was most marked in the weak students i.e. those who were just able to write a few sentences or points in their pre-test assignment.
· In terms of quality of ideas almost all the students benefitted. Once again the very weak students benefitted the most.
· In one case the pre test essay was better than the post test effort. The topic may have made the difference.
Conclusions
The results of the project show growth in organization, conventions, quantity and quality of writing. The improvement of the specific skills varied. The students show greatest progress in the area of organization. They now have a clear idea of paragraphing, indentation, writing a good introduction, body and conclusion. However, in the area of grammar students did not show much improvement. More attention should have been given to language skills. The knowledge of process writing and the use of the modeling/imitation approach proved most beneficial for very weak students.
The researchers found the implementation of the project interesting and rewarding. But in trying to implement the interventions again, some issues would need to be addressed. Writing is a long process. One period of 50 minutes a week for essay writing of is insufficient. It is better to break the entire process into mini- lessons and also select a smaller number of students. For example, in place of using several ‘model essays’ , one essay could be used to teach all aspects of organization and conventions. The aim would be to produce one good essay in terms of both quality and quantity. Despite the results, the experience of this project has been very rewarding.
References
- Action research on the implementation of Writing Approaches to improve Academic Writing Skills of Namibian Foundation Programme students. By Karoline du Plessis Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master Of Arts With Specialisation In Tesol (Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages) At The University Of South Africa Supervisor: Brenda Spencer January 20
- Improving Student Writing Skills Through The Modeling Of The Writing Process Dawn Kapka Dina A.Oberman An Action Research Project Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of education in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching and Leadership Saint Xavier University& IRI/Skylight Field- Based Master’s Program Chicago, Illinois April 2001
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