research report 'using the activity in pairs and in groups to teach writing in english'

§¹i häc Vinh T¹p chÝ khoa häc, tËp XXXVI, sè 2b-2007 89 USING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN TEACHING ENGLISH WRITING NguyÔn ThÞ T−êng (a) Abstract. The techniques that we covered in our writing class were centered on using pair and group work to increase active student participation. By using this method for teaching the first year students, we have got many benefits in teaching and learning English writing. Therefore, we would like to introduce some writing games for using pair work and group work in order to help the teachers teach English writing more effectively. I. A COMMUNICATIVE ON WRITING SKILLS Writing is an instrument of both communication and self-expression. Most people, however, especially when writing in a foreign or second language, use it primarily to communicate with other members of their own community or the wider world. Our main task is therefore to teach effective functional writing rather than creative self- expression. Andrew Little (1991) suggested a few initial guiding principles to note: • Writing should be as close as possible to genuine functional use of language, as opposed to the traditional set-piece classroom composition for the eyes of the teacher only. • Since people’s ways of communicating information are very varied, there is no single way of writing correct English. It is therefore important for students to read as widely as possible in order to become familiar with different varieties of written English. They cannot be expected to write in a style which they have never seen or read. • Good writing depends on a set of specific writing skills. It does not follow automatically from good grammar and adequate vocabulary. II. BENEFITS OF USING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN TEACHING WRITING A writing game is one type of language games in which students work together, in pair or small groups. Most language games are to reinforce the language already taught or acquired and to allow students to practise the language they are learning in a more interesting way. The use of group work (which includes writing games) might at first sight appear inappropriate for the teaching of writing. In general, however, group work means that there is some kind of cooperation between the members of the class, who are divided into conveniently-sized groups for the purpose. They might be discussing something in pairs before starting to write; they might play involving two teams; they might split responsibility among different students so that one student collects information, another organises it and a third actually writes whatever has to be written. NhËn bµi ngµy 30/3/2007. Söa ch÷a xong 09/8/2007. §¹i häc Vinh T¹p chÝ khoa häc, tËp XXXVII, sè 2b-2007 90 Even when group work is not explicitly mentioned in the exercises, teachers should encourage it whenever possible. Moreover, group work can go beyond preparation for writing. The members of a pair, or larger group, can actually do the writing together. They can discuss the exact words and sentences to be used, and then either each student writes down what was said, or else they appoint one member of the group to be the writer for all of them. It is always important for the teacher to move fairly around the room, helping each group with vocabulary, making sure everyone is involved, but not staying too long with any group since the main initiative for writing should rest with students. Group activity has two practical benefits in the teaching of writing. Firstly, it overcomes the boredom and frequent frustration of traditional methods where each student is sitting silently at his desk, racking his brains for something to write. Secondly, it provides a situation in which students have to communicate with each other, both in speech and writing. Students are then writing for a real reader, not just for the critical eyes of the teacher. Having a real reader will help them to see their writing from the point of view of the person who receives it – they will be forced to consider whether it is clear enough and will soon discover whether it was successful or not for the purpose of the activity. As for games, needless to say they should be lively and enjoyable. This means that students should not be too much inhibited by the fear of making mistakes. Teachers will find adults quickly adapt to games as long as their purpose in the writing lesson is clear and they do not overshadow what the students feel to be their main objectives. III. SOME WRITING GAMES EMPLOYED IN THE WRITING LESSON In this paper, we will introduce some writing games which we have selected from different sources and have given to our students during the last few years. Most of the games below are typical ones to meet the target of teaching writing to the first year students with an intermediate knowledge of English who study in Vinh university. The writing games can be classified into group according to the teaching aims and situations: 3.1. Writing telephone messages Procedure: - The teacher asks the students work in pairs. - Sit back if possible. - Telephone your partner’s with a message for another student in your class. - Listen to your partner’s message. - Write his/ her message on a piece of paper for the student he/she wanted to contact. - Give him/her the message. 3.2. Writing notes and messages Preparation: Find two message or postcard texts. Make enough copies for half of the class to work in pairs on one text, and half to work in pair on the other text. Procedure: - Ask the students to get into pairs. Give out copies of one text to half of the class and the other text to the half. - Ask them to list all the words in their text alphabetically. - Ask the students to exchange their lists, but not their texts, with a pair from the other half of the class. §¹i häc Vinh T¹p chÝ khoa häc, tËp XXXVII, sè 2b-2007 91 - Explain that they must try to reconstruct the orginal text from the alphabetical list, but they can first ask the other pair six questions about the text. - Give the pairs a few minutes to prepare their questions. - In turn, each pair asks their questions and the other pair answers. - Tell each pair to try and reconstruct the text from the word list. They should then check their version against the original text. 3.3. Writing narratives, film reviews Procedure: - Ask the students to get into groups of eight or ten. - Teacher reads aloud to provide the students with the following instructions: 1. Write a boy’s name with a brief description of him. 2. Write a girl’s name with a brief description of her. 3. Tell where and how the two first met. 4. What was his first words to her? 5. What was her reply? 6. What happened next? 7. What was the reaction of the people who know them? 8. What was the result of all this? - After each command the student writes down the information that he has been asked to provide, folds the paper over to hide what he has written and passes it to the person on his right. The next command is given and the procedure is repeated. - When the work has finished, the students open them and, in writing, join the fragments of information together to make it more interesting and logical. - The students read the story aloud. 3.4. Writing stories Procedure: - This game is used in groups of ten. - The teacher chooses a story that is interesting enough to stimulate the students to start writing immediately and dictate the beginning of the story to them. - After the dictation, each student adds up the story within two minutes. - When the first student has finished his part, he must fold the paper to hide what he has written, except the last line. - Then he passes the paper to the second student, this student starts with the visible line. - The procedure is repeated until the last student. - Then students read the story aloud. 3.5. Writing clues for crosswords In this activity, students get the opportunity to express themselves imaginatively. They learn to express an idea in various ways. Procedure: - Students, working in pairs or groups, are given a crossword puzzle. They have to write the clues. The clues can be literal or amusing. - The clues for “school” in the following crossword may be … you can go there to study/ It is a very unpleasant place where they try to teach you things. Đại học Vinh Tạp chí khoa học, tập XXXVII, số 2b-2007 92 S C H O O L Z O O C I R C U S P A R K L I B R A R Y F A C T O R Y G A R A G E H O T E L IV. CONCLUSION The teaching of writing is a vast, complex task and is often considered the last language skill to be acquired. Moreover, a writing lesson can often become a rather tedious book-bound activity. No matter what sorts of books are used, no matter how good and useful the books are, the basic teaching techniques and supplementary activities are of significant importance to a writing lesson. Depending on various teaching aims and situations teachers can create suitable activities to make the writing lesson more effective and interesting. Therefore, we can say that teachers of English should devise a number of communicative activities such as pair functional discussion and simple role play, so that a lesson can easily be phased to hold the students attention and interest. References [1] A. Littlejohn, Writing 1, 2, Cambridge University Press, 1991. [2] A. Pincas, Teaching Writing, The MacMillan Press, 1982. [3] A. Wright, Games For Language Leanring, Cambridge University Press, 1979. [4] C. Hadfield & J. Hadfield, Writing Games, Nelson (HongKong) Ltd, 1983. [5] D. Byrne, Teaching Writing Skills, Longman Group UK Ltd., 1988. [6] M. Stphens, Practise Writing, Longman Group Ltd, 1986. [7] S. Greenall, Language Games and Activities, Hulton Educational Publicationa Ltd, 1984. Tóm tắt Sử dụng hoạt động theo từng cặp và theo nhóm trong việc dạy môn viết tiếng anh Để tăng thêm tính tích cực tham gia của sinh viên khi học môn viết ở trên lớp, chúng tôi đã áp dụng phơng pháp dạy học theo đờng hớng giao tiếp với cách thức là thực hành theo từng cặp hoặc theo nhóm. Sử dụng phơng pháp này để dạy sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngữ ở trờng Đại học Vinh đã đạt đợc hiệu quả cao trong việc dạy và học môn viết tiếng Anh. Với mong muốn cùng bạn đọc chia sẻ và tham khảo, chúng tôi đã đa ra một vài hoạt động tiêu biểu. (a) KHOA NGOạI NGữ, trờng đại học VINH. . - When the work has finished, the students open them and, in writing, join the fragments of information together to make it more interesting and logical. - The students read the story aloud in teaching and learning English writing. Therefore, we would like to introduce some writing games for using pair work and group work in order to help the teachers teach English writing more. Ask the students to get into pairs. Give out copies of one text to half of the class and the other text to the half. - Ask them to list all the words in their text alphabetically. - Ask the