Fostering better writing skills
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Authors
Butrón, Francisco
Issue Date
2017
Educational Level
ISCED Level 3 Upper secondary education
Curriculum Area
Geographical Setting
Peru
Abstract
Context: In Toquepala, Peru, a third-grade English class faced challenges in developing students' writing skills despite progress in speaking. Students, mostly at an A2-B1 level, lacked formal writing abilities and demonstrated weak sentence structures and limited vocabulary. Recognizing these gaps, the teacher sought to foster writing skills through targeted strategies.
Aims: The project aimed to improve students' writing competence by enhancing support strategies, increasing student confidence, and addressing difficulties in vocabulary and grammatical structures. The teacher also sought to understand students' emotional responses to writing tasks and identify effective methods of providing feedback.
Methods: Data collection involved a student questionnaire, peer observation, and a focus group interview. The teacher used these tools to explore classroom dynamics and assess student perceptions of writing tasks, focusing on strategies students employed, their emotional responses, and the type of support they needed. A peer observer provided additional insights on classroom interactions, noting teacher feedback patterns and student independence.
Findings: The data highlighted that students primarily used brainstorming and planning as pre-writing strategies but required extensive teacher support, particularly for vocabulary and grammar. While students felt challenged and motivated to write, they also reported stress, especially due to vocabulary limitations. Observations showed that feedback was not sufficiently provided to all students, often only to early finishers. Additionally, students frequently asked how to express certain phrases in English, revealing a dependence on teacher input for language support.
Implications: The study suggests that integrating structured feedback and independence-building strategies, such as bilingual dictionaries and peer feedback, may help students develop greater autonomy and confidence in writing. The observed success of the "hamburger model" writing frame and mind maps indicates these tools can effectively support students in organizing ideas and expanding vocabulary, lessons that may inform other contexts in teaching writing.
Aims: The project aimed to improve students' writing competence by enhancing support strategies, increasing student confidence, and addressing difficulties in vocabulary and grammatical structures. The teacher also sought to understand students' emotional responses to writing tasks and identify effective methods of providing feedback.
Methods: Data collection involved a student questionnaire, peer observation, and a focus group interview. The teacher used these tools to explore classroom dynamics and assess student perceptions of writing tasks, focusing on strategies students employed, their emotional responses, and the type of support they needed. A peer observer provided additional insights on classroom interactions, noting teacher feedback patterns and student independence.
Findings: The data highlighted that students primarily used brainstorming and planning as pre-writing strategies but required extensive teacher support, particularly for vocabulary and grammar. While students felt challenged and motivated to write, they also reported stress, especially due to vocabulary limitations. Observations showed that feedback was not sufficiently provided to all students, often only to early finishers. Additionally, students frequently asked how to express certain phrases in English, revealing a dependence on teacher input for language support.
Implications: The study suggests that integrating structured feedback and independence-building strategies, such as bilingual dictionaries and peer feedback, may help students develop greater autonomy and confidence in writing. The observed success of the "hamburger model" writing frame and mind maps indicates these tools can effectively support students in organizing ideas and expanding vocabulary, lessons that may inform other contexts in teaching writing.
Description
Keywords (free text)
english as a foreign language , writing skills , classroom strategies , student feedback , peer observation , exploratory action research