Key Principles in Development of Writing Skills - Case Study Example

Key Principles in Development of Writing Skills Introduction: With Richards and Rodgers (2001) estimating 60% of the world as multilingual, learning foreign language has been and will remain critical. Since the twentieth century when language teaching became a profession, there has been a lot of development of principles and procedures to be applied in teaching with reliance on linguistics and psychology. The belief in systematic teaching practices based on theories on language learning and language has been a preoccupation of many teachers because they were believed to be more effective than the preceding approaches. Learning refers to a conscious process of formally studying language rules. Since language could be learnt through formal instructions, teachers should learn how to impact various skills that enhance language learning among students. Among these skills include listening, communication, grammar, pronunciation and writing. In this paper, key principles in acquisition of writing skills will be reviewed with reference to varied literature sources and personal experience as a teacher and supervisor of English language at Najran Commercial Institute then later at Najran College of Technology in Saudi Arabia. This study is important in helping teachers of language acquire appropriate skills in teaching writing skills. It provides a recap of my experience as a language teacher and gives insight on theoretical perspective that I need to incorporate in my practice to be even better in teaching writing in languages. The roles of a learner in an instructional system would depend on the function and status of the teacher. While some methods of approach would depend on teachers for direction and knowledge, others would involve the teacher’s role as a catalyst for learning. Richards and Rodgers claim that “teacher and learner roles define the type of interaction characteristic of classrooms in which a particular method is being used” (2001, p.28). In the same way, teaching writing skills would require certain principles to be followed so as to ensure successful learning among the students. While conducting a study on ESL students in Saudi Arabia, Alsamadani (2010) further noted a relationship between competence in English learning and self regulation. According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), writing skills refers to the last of language skills to be learnt after listening, speaking and reading. In the modern world, writing experts would ask for a sample of piece of writing when written assessment is required. Even though researchers agree on best practices of eliciting writing skills, there has been minimal agreement on processes involved. In fact, the definition of writing would range from spelling or handwriting measure to thesis statement requirement as indicated by Gennaro (2006). It encompasses both communicative and productive skills and would be used for various purposes. Writing as a means propagates engagement with other aspects of language such as listening, speaking and reading to enable students practice language. Writing being the objective defines the end where students practice typing or handwriting at the micro-level and define the purpose for engaging in writing at the macro-level (Ur, 1999). There has been extensive research on writing skills and how to assess such skills, with theory and practice developing simultaneously to meet the demands for efficient and effective practices. According to Ur (1999), teachers of writing experience the challenge of repetition and boredom involved. There are limited options on the number of exciting essays to be assigned, discussed then graded just as there are limited procedures for the same purpose. From my experience in Saudi Arabia, I agree with Tsiplakides and Keramida (2010) that motivation to learn English would require the teacher to give the students tasks that appear interesting to them and further allowing them to choose how to approach such tasks. This affirms the argument by Ozarska (2008) on the need for teachers to come up with motivating materials that would help students engage in the writing process towards the final product hence inspiring hard work among the learners. It is through such creativity that I motivated graduates of Najran Commercial Institute, who had minimal information on importance of English as a common language in trading, to learn English language. My institute allowed me to devise creative teaching methods that enhanced understanding and progress among the group of adults I taught. Among the creative activities from which teachers could choose from include copying, gap-filling, substitution, correcting facts, dictation, caption writing, sentence completion and reordering sentences or words. My even higher role as a supervisor at Najran College of Technology provided the opportunity for me to come up with more creative ideas when giving feedback to help both the learners and teachers. This boosted my performance as a language teacher. However, being limited to specific textbooks in my college inhibited creativity and incorporation of various creative tactics drawn from varied sources. There are scholars in learning who propose focus on writing process such as creative writing, journals and successive drafts as opposed to the product. I second the proposition by Brown (2007) who noted that writing basically reinforces the vocabularies, idioms and grammatical structures already acquired through listening, speaking and reading because at Najran Technical College, I had to engage the learners in a two-way communication and then get them to apply what they have learnt from listening in writing. The process followed to achieve this includes prewriting activity, writing the initial draft, revising, editing and then publishing (Currie & Cray, 2004). Thus, writing exercises would be used by teachers to consolidate the language already presented otherwise. But Ozarska (2008) argues the need to come up with tasks that would enable students impersonally and objectively express themselves through writing in academic tasks. After all, there would be a final draft that would need attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar. The product approach reduces the time spent when process approach is used. The skills that learners acquire helps them in their future professional, social or academic lives when filling in forms, writing letters or taking down notes among other writing activities. Though process and product could be considered as inseparable, different writing exercises would have different purposes and would emphasize on an aspect more than the other. For instance, while working with adults at Najran Commercial Institute, I was to impart them with the English skills that would enable them work effectively in their engagement with commercial institutions such as private companies and banks as they would have to communicate with their co-workers drawn from various countries. From my experience in Saudi Arabia, I found that giving assignments involving studies and research works to be more effective in improving writing skills in students than use of short written tests. Correcting mistakes of such tasks forms a critical part of writing as it enables students get the principles of writing right which include organisation, content and language. Learners should correct each other as my experience at Najran College of Technology showed that this is more beneficial than if left exclusively to teachers; an observation affirmed by Ur (1999). The experience with Polish students however causes Ozarska (2008) to disregard wholesome correction as effective. According to the researcher, teachers would use red ink to correct and due to their trainings focussing on accuracy, they would identify all errors including punctuation and spelling, some of which could be less important than content and organisation. Correcting everything could discourage students and in turn inhibit their writing skills; hence most methodologists would encourage selective error correction. Just as planning of activities is important, assessing the written works of students would also be important. Assessment of writing would look at discourse, syntax, vocabulary, organisation, mechanics and content. Controlled writing tasks like gap-filing and open dialogues could be corrected orally in class where students correct the works of one another and then going through it together as a class. This reduces the workload on the teacher and makes the students actively involved in editing their pieces of writing, thus enabling them to learn from the errors they make (Brown, 2007). Another way to improve the writing skills of students would be through encouraging self assessment where the students edit, revise and correct their works. However, some situations would call for teachers to mark individual tasks of the students. Conclusion: Much of the theoretical views have been confirmed practically from my experience as a language teacher and supervisor. I found out that there is no method that could be considered as best in teaching writing skills. Therefore, in my classroom it will be my responsibility as the teacher to provide adequate motivation for learners to appreciate learning languages and acquiring writing skills as an interesting activity. I will engage them with creative activities aligned to their interests. This implies that understanding the learners would be paramount with regard to their background and individual interests. I will group the learners where they will plan, brainstorm and share drafts thus promoting the effective acquisition of writing skills and relieving the teacher of time pressure. For effectiveness, I would ensure that each group focuses on a particular aspect, be it vocabulary, grammar, organisation or logic. Furthermore, daily writing, portfolios and personal journals would develop fluency in writing among the learners. References: 1. Alsamadani, H. A. (2010). The Relationship between Saudi EFL Students’ Writing Competence, L1 Writing Proficiency and Self-Regulation. European Journal of Social Sciences. 16(1). 2. Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Longman. 3. Currie, P., & Cray, E. (2004). ESL Literacy: Language Practice or Social Practice? Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(2), 111 – 132. 4. Gennaro, K. (2006). Second Language Writing Ability: Towards a Complete Construct Definition. Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 6(2). 5. Ozarska, M. (2008). Some Suggestions for Academic Writing Instruction at English Teacher Training Colleges. English Teaching Forum, 1. Retrieved 28 April 2012 from http://exchanges.state.gov 6. Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 7. Tsiplakides, I, & Keramida, A. (2010). Implementing Interventions to Increase Motivation in the English Language Classroom: From Theory to Practice. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(3), 222 – 226. 8. Ur, P. (1999). A Course in Language Teaching: Trainee Book. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Read More