The development of the global community as a result of advances in technology and transportation has rendered ability to speak and write in a second language increasingly important for educational, business, and personal purposes (Wiegle, 2002). Today, writing is considered a unique language skill with its own features and conventions. The difficulty of learning and teaching L2 writing is now appreciated by educators. Teaching L2 writing to second language learners, on the other hand, is important because mastering writing skill is especially difficult for second language learners, yet it is a vital skill for academic or occupational success. Moreover, writing has a positive effect on academic language proficiency, as it involves exploring …show more content…
172). Additionally, online collaborative writing was found to be an effective strategy to encourage multiple drafting, peer feedback, and revision (Aydin & Yildiz, 2014). The use of wikis in L2 writing instruction was also found to generally improve learners’ motivation (Özdemir & Aydın, 2015). Therefore, this learning design is expected to help student writers in several ways. First, they are exposed to various ideas about the same topic which may help them to think of their own ideas and discuss them to decide on the best ideas. Second, the members of each group become active participants in the writing process, and feel responsible for the works of the other members, as the essay will be written jointly. Third, students learn how to use mind maps to organize their ideas more effectively. Further, the constant peer feedback throughout the entire writing process enhances a sense of audience, raise learners’ awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, encourage collaborative learning, and foster the ownership of text (Tsui & Ng, 2000). Finally, the co-authoring of essay results in relatively equal contribution …show more content…
Therefore, it is intended to be used as a safe space for the students to discuss their ideas, organize them, write essays collaboratively, and provide their teammates with feedback and revisions. Although a typical period of a semester, or 16 weeks, is required for the intended effect of the design, it is hoped that students continue to use it for long term. To achieve such a space, I created a website consisting of six main sections, namely, Home Page, Get Inspired, Map Your Ideas, Write with Your Team, Rate Your Writing, and Submit your
English Language Learners (ELL) require thoughtful and careful instruction for both reading and writing education. Both of these skills are necessary for a bright future and to be a functioning citizen in Canada. Those that do not possess considerable literacy levels will be effectively 'locked out' from so much knowledge, information and ideas that are part of the culture of society (Christie 1990, 20). Having a low level of literacy usually means acquiring an unskilled job. The relationship between literacy levels and poverty is something that should not be ignored (Gibbons, 2002). Developing literacy skills in ELLs is a daunting task and especially with students that have not developed those skills in their first language originally. Through the Curriculum Cycle and proper scaffolding of writing strategies, this paper will provide a lesson plan that will help develop an ELL's writing skills. It will include many different tools that will help students gain an understanding and confidence of the narrative writing form.
This assignment is a testament of growth and contributed to my outlook on strategies towards improving my writing through the importance of understanding how crucial, each component of the writing process is and how in depth you should take each process. Lastly, this reflection advocated how editing is the principal task of every good writer. “To write is human, to edit is divine,” Stephen
This article, reporting on the research done by Margo Glew and Charlene Polio of Michigan State University, examines writing assessment in a different way than most research on the topic. The goal of this research was to look into how an ESL student chooses prompts for a writing exam when offered a choice. Polio and Glew not only investigate how they choose, but how long it takes each student to choose and if they should even be given a choice at all.
Anyone who is doing any type of writing piece has a process. They may not know it but it is there and it exists. It is one’s approach to their piece and how they go about accomplishing it. It has to do with how you write it, how many drafts you do, as well as your revision process if you even have one. My writing process however has room for improvement. A summation of my writing process consist of heavy planning, one draft, and little revisions. Anne Lamott, Shirley Rose, and Kathleen Yancey all drew attention to major points through their writing pieces that support and dispute my writing process. Through their pieces they have found a way to inspire, inform, and entertain me all at the same time while passing along great information that
In the course of this class, we have discussed the differences between spoken and written language. And it has been generally agreed upon that spoken language is easier than written language. Yet, we seem to have agreed that it is necessary to have a strong grasp of spoken language before learning to write. This is the natural progression for children. They learn to talk first and then we move on to teaching them how to write. Keep this idea in mind. And I agree that spoken language is easier, in a conversational manner. We speak to our ...
Encouraging writing, Methuen & Co. Ltd, London, U.K. Ferneaux, C. Process writing, http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/cl/slals/process.htm (26.11.01) Writing Development, http://www.english.uiuc.edu/405/Witt/Writing_Project/writing_development.htm (26.11.01)
Kate Kiefer, the author of “Do student lose more than they gain in online writing classes” argues specific points that writing courses may not work well online. Kiefer also presents the importance of traditional classroom communication. Kiefer argues whether student’s benefit from online writing courses and feel they can be trapped by their constrained understanding of writing and finish the course with less awareness of the contexts of writing than their counterparts in a traditional classroom. Kiefer also discuss classroom support software such as WebCT and Blackboard, which are not designed with writing teachers in mind, and the design of software is the new advancement of technology for teachers to post lecture materials.
During this semester, I experienced several ah-ha moments, but I experienced two that allowed me to refine my teaching strategies. My first ah-ha moment occurred after reading chapter three in Digital Writing. In chapter three Hicks states “using collaborative word processors as a tool for drafting, revising, and getting the response to their writing allows students a number of advantages that can move them quickly toward deep revision (p. 46). After reading this chapter, I began reflecting on my teaching practices to determine the level of effectiveness and engagement.
Few would argue with the statement that writing skills are in state of decline. It is readily apparent that something needs to be done to resolve the issues that are preventing students from grasping the fundamentals of composition. However, there is a divergence of opinion when it comes to determining the cause of the nation’s writing ails. Many blame technology, giving cell phones and television particular attention. Others give technology a more indirect blame, claiming that email, instant messaging, and cell phones have robbed students of a desire to learn proper writing skills. While these ideas may bear some truth, the root of the problem lies within the instruction of writing, which to a large extent is ineffective. The writing problems faced by students and adults alike are the direct result of ineffective methods of instruction in composition.
By discussing the advantages of multigenre writing and freewriting in relation to the context of teaching ESL/EFL composition in class, I believe that designing the writing activity which combines the features from these two writing pedagogies in teaching writing to ESL/EFL students could reduce their anxiety in writing in a second language, build their confidence in writing and enable to give their freedom to express the inner thoughts. Although the task “Message in a Bottle” may have some limitations in regards to the reality that the students may not be able to send their messages into the ocean, the task itself still involves many topics that may inspire ESL/EFL students in composition class to be more active in English writing practice.
Although adequate writing skills are indispensable for life, leisure, and employment, quite a few students do not learn how to write effectively. Since writing is an exercise in thinking, it is important to balance the process of writing with the mechanics of writing. The areas of the brain involved in the writing task are varied yet interrelated; therefore, a student’s individual needs will determine the method of instruction they receive. Many students who have low expectations for their own academic success will not make even minimal efforts to complete a...
The ability to write well is not a naturally acquired skill; it is usually learned or culturally transmitted as a set of practices in formal instructional settings or other environments. Writing skills must be practiced and learned through experience. Writing also involves composing, which implies the ability either to tell or retell pieces of information in the form of narratives or description, or to transform information into new texts, as in expository or argumentative writing. Perhaps it is best viewed as a continuum of activities that range from the more mechanical or formal aspects of “writing down” on the one end, to the more complex act of composing on the other end (Omaggio Hadley, 1993). It is undoubtedly the act of
Writing and Learning Disabilities International: Overcoming Learning Difficulties 6.3 (2006): 347-67. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
To conclude, when I was taught second language writing, the teacher used both product and process approaches. She usually combined approaches together to design a lesson plan; she would not rely solely on one. As we seen from the literature, writing classrooms consists of a combination of approaches, adopting them in ways which would be interesting and pedagogical. Even though the process approach is a more recent method than the product approach, many teachers and textbook writers combine components of product and process to teach writing. In this writing lesson the process approach was used in order to get students to brainstorm ideas, revise, edit and give peer feedback and the product approach was used to give model texts to the learners to help them with their writing.
However, Many L2 composition research indicated that proficient writing skills in L1 tended to transfer to L2 writing (McCarthey, Guo, & Cummin, 2005; Zamel, 1983). If the current learner already has developed writing strategies of planning, organizing, inferring, and editing in L1 writing, he/she is more likely to use these strategies for composing L2 text. Further, it can be inferred that as this learner has a regular contact with print in L1, he/she seems to have a sufficient background in reading for comprehension, decoding the written message, recognizing words and structures, and making meaning and inferences from the text. Such literacy skills in L1 might lay the foundation for developing L2 literacy skills. This prior L1 literate knowledge and processes would foster L2 learners’ tendency to use this knowledge for reading L2 text and improving L2 text production. In this sense, the connection between L2 reading and writing might be bidirectional in a way that familiarity with one of these skills can inform and transfer to the other. That is to say, if the learner can read and make meaning out of the text, he/she will be able to construct a written text that represents a meaningful content. Al...