idea generating activities in teaching writing

Part A: Introduction 1. Rationale Due to the fast development of the society, the increasing living standard and the unceasing demand for broader international cooperation, the communication among different nations is necessary day after day. Communicative competence has become the major goal of the curricula innovation which has been a burning issue in education in recent years. For a long time, the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam has rotated around teaching grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation with little concern about communicative competence. Such emphasis on linguistic materials has been the reason for many communication breakdowns between Vietnamese and foreigners, especially English-used communication. Consequently, the new English textbook series were compiled following the communicative approach which focuses on four skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing. Among these four skills, writing seems to be the most challenging skill to both teachers and learners. Students often find it difficult to start to write, which means that they lack of necessary ideas for their writing. Therefore, a study on idea- generating activities in teaching writing to high school students is conducted. 2. Purposes of the study The main purposes of the author when conducting the study are: - To raise teachers’ awareness of the importance of ideas in teaching writing - To find out the challenge that 11 th form students face with in getting ideas in writing - To work out common activities used by teachers in helping their students generate ideas in writing lessons - To help teachers find out effective activities to provide necessary ideas for their students in writing 3. Scope of the study Because of the limitation of a minor study, the author only carries out research on teachers and students at Duong Xa high school in Gia Lam district. The study also mainly focuses on students’ difficulties in getting ideas for their writing, the teachers’ perspectives about ideas and the activities used in helping students generate ideas in writing lessons. 1 4. Methodology The theoretical background of the study mainly relies on many published books written by different authors on language teaching and language acquisition. The major method used in the study is the quantitative one. That is all comments, consideration and suggestions given in the research are based on the analysis of the statistics from the survey questionnaires conducted with 11 th form students and teachers of Duong Xa high school in Gia Lam district. The survey questionnaires are used in order to find out the answers for the following research questions: 1. What are teachers and students’ perception of the importance of ideas and idea- generation in writing lessons? 2. What are students’ difficulties in learning writing? 3. What are common activities used by teachers to help students generate ideas in writing lessons? Besides, the study is also the combination of quantitative and qualitative research together with author’s own experiences and observation in teaching. 5. Design of the study Part A: Introduction Part B: Development - Chapter 1: Literature review - Chapter 2: Practical research - Chapter 3: Recommendations Part C: Conclusion 2 part B: development Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1. Overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Together with education innovation, new series of textbook for secondary education are compiled following Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach which has been known as the “new” or “innovative” approach to teach English as a second or foreign language within the last quarter century. So what is CLT? 1.1.1. Concept of CLT CLT is an approach to language teaching in which the goal of language teaching is “communicative competence”, the ability to use language to communicate. CLT appeared from 1960s, its scope, however, has expanded since the mid- 1970s. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or simply the “Communicative Approach”. On the website of Wikipedia.org, CLT is defined as “an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language.” CLT places great emphasis on helping students use the target language in a variety of contexts and places great emphasis on learning language functions. In other words, its primary focus is on helping learners create meaning rather than helping them develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like pronunciation. This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how well learners have developed their communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as their ability to apply knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a language with adequate proficiency to communicate. Both American and British proponents now see it as an approach (not a method) that aims to (a) make communicative competence the goal of language teaching (b) develop procedures for the teaching of four language skills that acknowledge the independence of language and communication. 1.1.2. Features of CLT CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices. As such, it is most often 3 defined as a list of general principles or features. One of the most recognized of these lists is David Nunan’s (1991: 279) five features of CLT: (i) An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language (ii) The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation (iii) The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself (iv) An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning (v) An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom. Under this broad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction. Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities. Language is used for communication. For this reason, CLT makes use of communication to teach languages. Whereas traditional language teaching places a lot of emphasis on grammar rules and verb conjugations, CLT emphasizes real-life situations and communication in context. While grammar is still important in the CLT classroom, the emphasis is on communicating a message. Richards and Rodgers present some of the characteristics of CLT as follow: 1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning 2. The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication 3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses 4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse. (1986:161) 4 In summary, Littlewood (1981:1) states “one of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language” 1.2. Teaching writing in ESL/EFL classes 1.2.1. Writing and the roles of writing Halliday (1985b) suggests that writing has evolved in societies as a result of cultural changes creating communicative needs which can be readily met by the spoken language. He speculates that with the emergence of cultures based on agricultural rather than hunting and gathering, there developed a need for permanent records which could be referred to over and over again. This was the initial stimulus for the emergence of new form of language: writing. (Nunan, 1991:84) In the past, writing was considered as “talk written down”, “the act of forming graphic symbol”. Fortunately, no one holds this view today because it is found out that writing is not just speaking in written form as Byrne in Teaching Writing Skills says that “writing is clearly much more than the production of graphic symbols, just as speech is more than the production of sounds.” (1988:1). In fact, “writing is far from being a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols: it is a thinking process in its own right. It demands conscious intellectual effort, which usually has to be sustained over a considerable period of time.” (White & Arndt, 1991:3). This is totally true in the sense that all physically and mentally normal people learn to speak a language and can master it naturally, but all people have to be taught how to write and it takes much time to acquire. Yet writing emerges with its own functions and brings along communicative code of the writers. When making a piece of writing, the writer implies a message or a certain purpose. In the modern world, writing (written language) serves a range of functions in everyday life including: 1. Primarily for action: public signs, e.g. on roads and stations; product labels and instructions, e.g. on food, tools or toy purchased; recipes; maps; television and radio guides; bills; menus; telephone directories, etc. For social contact: personal correspondence; letters, postcards; greeting cards. 5 2. Primarily for information: newspapers and magazines, non-fiction books including textbooks; public notices; advertisement; guidebooks and travel literature, etc. 3. Primarily for entertainment: light magazines, comic strips; fiction books; poetry and drama; film subtitles; games including computer games. (Numan, 1991:84) In classroom, the teaching and learning of writing also plays an important role. Through writing we are able to share ideas, arouse feelings, persuade and convince other people. We are able to discover and articulate ideas in the ways that only writing makes possible. Therefore, writing has always occupied a place in the language syllabus. Discussing about this issue, White points out a number of reasons why writing merits a place in the language syllabus: - Writing remains the commonest way of examining student performance in English (all public examinations include a composition). Consequently, ability to write remains a key to examination success. - In the eyes of both parents and students, ability to write may be associated with evidence of having learnt the language. Writing is tangible- parents and students can see what has been done and what has been achieved. So it has high ‘face validity’. - In the classrooms, writing may be used as one of a number of techniques to help add variety and interest to lesson. - The teacher may use writing as a testing device to provide feedback on what the students have learnt. Student writing can provide useful evidence of successes or failures in learning, of confusions, and errors. - Writing requires thought, discipline and concentration. It is relatively a permanent form and readers judge us by our style, content and logic. So writing demands care and thought. (White, 1981: 1) In CLT, the teaching of writing also aims at communication. However, beside used to communicate, writing helps our students learn. According to Raimes’ opinion, “first writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students. Second, when our students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, to take 6 risks. Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved in the new language; the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eyes, hand and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning” (1983:3) With all the roles mentioned above, writing really becomes an integral part in almost every language syllabus from elementary to tertiary level. 1.2.2. Writing and Speaking Due to the fact that writing is not simply speech written down on paper, learning to write is not just a “natural” extension of learning to speak a language. We learn to speak our first language at home without systematic instruction, whereas most of us had to be taught in school how to write that same language. The two processes, speaking and writing, are not identical. When developing appropriate classroom activities and procedures for teaching written language, it is significant to be aware of the differences between spoken and written language. Spoken and written language exist to fulfill different functions, so they exhibit different characteristics. Harris differentiates speaking and writing in three aspects: situation, grammatical choices and lexical density. In terms of situation, speakers and listeners are in a shared environment; therefore they can easily understand each other with the assistant of gestures and facial expressions. In contrast, writers and readers do not share an immediate environment, so writers have to describe the situation and make explicit the people or objects they refer to. Grammatically, “Speech, typically, consists of chains of coordinated, weakly subordinated and adjoined clauses; writing, by contrast, is marked by full subordination and embedding.” (Harris, 1993:4). By lexical density, writing displays a greater degree of lexical density. This means writing has a higher ratio of content to structure words than speech. As a result, information is more densely packed into writing than into speech. When making comparison between speech and writing, Byrne highlights the main differences in the table below: Speech Writing 1. Takes place in a context, which often makes references clear (e.g. ‘that thing over there’ 1. Creates its own context and therefore has to be fully explicit 2. Speaker and listener(s) in contact. Interact and exchange roles 2. Readers not present and no interaction possible 7 3. Usually person addressed is specific 3. Reader not necessary known to writer 4. Immediate feedback given and expected (a) verbal: questions, comments murmurs, grunts (b) non-verbal: facial expressions 4. No immediate feedback possible. Writer may try to anticipate reader’s reactions and incorporate them into text 5. Speech is transitory. Intended to be understood immediately. If not listener expected to interact 5. Writing is permanent. Can be reread as often as necessary and at own speed 6. Sentences of ten incomplete and sometimes ungrammatical. Hesitations and pauses are common and usually some redundancy and repetition 6. Sentences expected to be carefully constructed, and linked and organized to form a text 7. Range of devices (stress, intonation, pitch, speed) to help convey meaning. Facial expressions, body movements and gestures also used for this purpose 7. Devices to help convey meaning are punctuation, capitals and underlining (for emphasis). Sentences boundaries clearly indicated Table 1: The differences between speech and writing (Bynre, 1988:3) Briefly compared with speech, effective writing requires a number of things: high degree of organization in the development of ideas and information; high degree of accuracy to avoid ambiguity of meaning; the use of accurate and complex grammatical devices for emphasis; a careful choice of vocabulary, grammatical patterns and sentence structures to create a style which is suitable to the subject matter and to attract readers. From the distinction presented above, it can be inferred that writing seems to be more complex and causes more challenges for foreign writers of English. That leads to the essentiality of teaching writing carefully and ways of teaching writing; therefore need to be taken into account. 1.2.3. Approaches to teaching writing Writing seems to be a difficult skill and a challenge to both teachers and students. Identifying approaches adapted in teaching writing can help teachers find out effective techniques to overcome difficulty and attain the objectives in teaching, therefore help students improve writing skill. The ways of teaching writing are really diversified due to various teaching and learning styles and references. 8 Ann Raimes (1983: pp5-10) presents six approaches to teaching writing: The Control-to- Free Approach, The Free-Writing Approach, The Paragraph-Pattern Approach, The Grammar-Syntax- Organization Approach, The Communicative Approach and The Process Approach. 1.2.3.1. The Control-to-Free Approach The Control-to-Free approach in writing is sequential. In this approach, writing is considered as a reinforcement means of speech and is used to master grammatical or syntactic rules. In lower level, students are often given sentence-level exercises or controlled compositions to imitate, copy or manipulate. Students, therefore, make few mistakes. Only at high or advanced level are students allowed to try some free composition, in which they can express their own ideas. In short, this approach emphasizes accuracy rather than fluency and grammar, syntax and mechanics are main stresses of the approach. 1.2.3.2. The Free-Writing Approach Contrast to the control-to free approach, the free-writing approach focuses more on fluency; quantity of writing is more concerned than quality. Students are assigned a vast amount of free writing on given topics with only minimal correction of errors. They are allowed to write freely without worrying about grammar and spelling. Content and fluency are taken into account first. 1.2.3.3. The Paragraph-Pattern Approach Different from the two approaches mentioned above, the paragraph-pattern approach stresses on paragraph organization. Students copy a model paragraph, analyze its form and then write a parallel one. In this approach, students are provided such kinds of exercises as sentence ordering, sentence inserting or sentence deleting, etc. 1.2.3.4. The Grammar-Syntax- Organization Approach The name of the approach, the grammar-syntax- organization approach, fully reveals the characteristics of the approach. Writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned one by one. Students need to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax. For example, to write a clear set of instructions on how to use a phone card, the writer needs more than the appropriate vocabulary. He needs the simple forms of verbs, an organizational plan based on chronology; sequence words like first, then, next, etc. In the preparatory stage, these 9 vocabulary and structures are reviewed and taught. In general, this approach is the combination of the purpose and the form of the writing. 1.2.3.5. The Communicative Approach The communicative approach aims at communicative competence, so it stresses the purpose of the writing and the audience for it. Students are regarded as writers in real life and they are encouraged to ask themselves the key questions: Why am I writing this? (purpose) and Who will read it? (audience). Conventionally, the teacher acts as the audience for students’ writing. However, to make it more real- life- closed communication, students become readers for each other. They read each other’s writings, respond, rewrite in another form or make comments, but not correct. Sometimes the teacher creates a context in which students are real readers by making them role play, exchange letters, reply, ask questions and comment. 1.2.3.6. The Process Approach The teaching of writing has recently moved away from a concentration on the written product to an emphasis on the process of writing, which lead to the emergence of process approach. Process approach to writing came into play in the 1970s. This approach encourages students’ communication of ideas, feelings and experiences. It is more global and focuses on purpose, theme, text type, i.e. the reader is emphasized. Thus, writers not only concern about purpose and audience but also have to make decisions on how to begin and how to organize a piece of writing. Writing is a process, so students are given time to set out ideas, make plan, write a first draft, revise what has been written after a peer feedback, then they can edit their writing or write other drafts before the final version is produced. Shih points out some features of process approach as follow: a. focus on the process of writing that leads to the final written product b. help student writers understand their own composing process c. help them to build repertoires of strategies for prewriting, drafting, and rewriting d. give students time to write and rewrite e. place central importance on the process of revision f. let students discover what they want to say as they write g. give students feedback throughout the composing process (not just the final product) as they attempt to bring their expression closer and closer to attention 10 [...]... their students?” Teachers’ opinion on idea generating will be presented in the next part 2.3.1.3 Teachers’ viewpoint of idea generating in writing Question 4: In your viewpoint, helping students generate ideas in writing lessons is: 25% 50% 25% Figure 3: Teachers’ viewpoint of idea generating in writing The question made in the preceding part is answered through the data shown in the chart above A quarter... advice (Stanley) Since writing is primarily about organizing information and communicating meaning, generating ideas is clearly a crucial part of the writing process Because actually getting started is one of the most difficult and inhibiting steps in writing, idea- generating is particularly important as an initiating process Even in later stages, however, ideagenerating continues to take place, so that... about idea generation in teaching writing To study about the position of idea generation in writing, it is necessary to have a look at a model of writing (following process approach) given by White and Arndt: Drafting Re-viewing Structuring Generating ideas Focusing Evaluating Figure 1: Model of process approach More specifically, process writing can be broken down into three stages: • Pre -writing The... discussed more in the following part Question 2: In a writing lesson, how important are the following stages? 19 12.5% 37.5% 50% Pre -writing While -writing Post -writing Figure 2: Teachers’ viewpoint of the importance of different stages in writing When being asked about the importance of three stages in a writing lesson, 50% of the teachers chose ‘Pre -writing stage the most important of all Pre -writing is... students’ writings 2.3.2.3 Students’ difficulties in writing lessons Question 4: In a writing lesson, which stage do you find the most difficult? 4.6% 20.7% 74.7% Figure 8: Students’ viewpoint of writing stages 25 The majority of students meet difficulty in getting started, in other words in pre -writing stage Before writing, students need to be fully equipped with necessities of the writing such as ideas,... with the ideas for the writing? 27 4.7% 15.3% 18% 20.7% 41.3% Figure 10: Frequency of being helped with the ideas for the writing Being aware of the importance if idea generating in writing lessons, all the teachers seem to help the students with the ideas for the writing more often, accounting for 41.3%, 20.7% others always do this in their writing periods It is inferred that the teachers are trying to... 50% find idea- generating very necessary 2.3.1.4 Teachers’ activities to help students generate ideas in writing lessons Question 6: How often do you use the following activities to help your students generate ideas in writing lessons? In this question, nine activities are listed; the frequency is from always to never and marked as follow: - Always : 4 points - Often : 3 points - Sometimes: 2 points... you find the writing tasks in the textbook?” Options Interesting Suitable All right Boring Unsuitable N0 of students 16 24 64 39 42 Table 8: Students’ view of writing tasks % 10.7 16 42.7 26 28 Among 150 students addressed, only 16 students are interested in writings tasks, other 24 have a positive attitude towards these writing tasks Surprisingly, the number of students finding the writing tasks in. .. designed in an attempt to: - explore teachers’ opinion about ideas and the importance of helping students to generate ideas when teaching writing - find out common activities used by teachers to assist students to generate ideas in writing 17 The other survey questionnaire for students is carried out in order to: - learn about the students’ perception of the importance of ideas in a writing - find out... the survey focuses on teachers’ opinion and methods in teaching writing as well as in idea generating in writing lessons 2.3.1.2 Teachers’ opinion on writing Question 1: In your opinion, writing: Options helps students revise the vocabulary they have learnt helps students practice grammatical structures they have learnt provides students with chances of communicating with each other N0 of teachers . opinion and methods in teaching writing as well as in idea generating in writing lessons. 2.3.1.2. Teachers’ opinion on writing Question 1: In your opinion,. essentiality of teaching writing carefully and ways of teaching writing; therefore need to be taken into account. 1.2.3. Approaches to teaching writing Writing seems