Improving writing skills through scaffolding and collaborative writing activities
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Authors
Perca, Roxana
Issue Date
2017
Educational Level
Curriculum Area
Geographical Setting
Peru
Abstract
Context: At a university in Tacna, Peru, a language instructor observed that students struggled with cohesion, organization, and specificity in their essay writing. Many essays lacked discourse markers, coherence, and logical flow, often incorporating text copied from the internet. Recognizing the need to strengthen students' foundational writing skills, the teacher designed a project to support improved essay-writing through scaffolded and collaborative approaches.
Aims: The project aimed to explore the teacher's instructional goals for essay writing, identify how students felt about these activities, and evaluate the effectiveness of support activities for students' writing skills. The teacher focused on enhancing students' ability to develop cohesive arguments, organize ideas logically, and participate actively in the writing process.
Methods: The teacher used a rubric to clarify instructional objectives, noting key elements like logical organization, appropriate use of discourse markers, and supporting details. Data collection involved analysing lesson plans, conducting student surveys on writing activities, and reviewing journal notes to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative writing strategies, such as group mind mapping, peer feedback, and role-based writing assignments.
Findings: The analysis revealed that students found group writing activities and vocabulary mind maps particularly useful, with many students feeling less anxious and more supported when working collaboratively. Students reported difficulty, however, in drafting and revising essays independently, often feeling stressed and expressing a need for clearer instructions and additional support. Group writing, especially using roles and structured templates, enabled students to collaborate effectively, helping them to organize ideas and communicate arguments more clearly.
Implications: The study suggests that structured, collaborative writing activities like mind mapping and role-based group work may ease student stress and foster more confident participation in writing tasks. Scaffolding techniques and roles within group writing activities offered students a supportive framework for learning to write cohesively and cohesively, and this may be useful for teachers aiming to enhance writing skills through collaboration and structured guidance.
Aims: The project aimed to explore the teacher's instructional goals for essay writing, identify how students felt about these activities, and evaluate the effectiveness of support activities for students' writing skills. The teacher focused on enhancing students' ability to develop cohesive arguments, organize ideas logically, and participate actively in the writing process.
Methods: The teacher used a rubric to clarify instructional objectives, noting key elements like logical organization, appropriate use of discourse markers, and supporting details. Data collection involved analysing lesson plans, conducting student surveys on writing activities, and reviewing journal notes to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative writing strategies, such as group mind mapping, peer feedback, and role-based writing assignments.
Findings: The analysis revealed that students found group writing activities and vocabulary mind maps particularly useful, with many students feeling less anxious and more supported when working collaboratively. Students reported difficulty, however, in drafting and revising essays independently, often feeling stressed and expressing a need for clearer instructions and additional support. Group writing, especially using roles and structured templates, enabled students to collaborate effectively, helping them to organize ideas and communicate arguments more clearly.
Implications: The study suggests that structured, collaborative writing activities like mind mapping and role-based group work may ease student stress and foster more confident participation in writing tasks. Scaffolding techniques and roles within group writing activities offered students a supportive framework for learning to write cohesively and cohesively, and this may be useful for teachers aiming to enhance writing skills through collaboration and structured guidance.
Description
Keywords (free text)
english as a foreign language , essay writing , collaborative learning , scaffolding , writing processes , peer feedback , exploratory action research