Memorias del XI Encuentro Nacional de Estudios

Transcripción

Memorias del XI Encuentro Nacional de Estudios en Lenguas (2010)
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
Writing strategies to stimulate students’ writing: Magazine edition and dialogue journal
Gandy Griselda Zavala Quijano
Rafael Ferrer Méndez
Rosa Adriana May Meléndez
Leydi de la Cruz López
Universidad Autónoma del Carmen
Abstract
With the objective to stimulate students‘ writing, and to know students‘ most common
writing mistakes in English, two different writing strategies have been introduced to three
groups of students. Two groups of students from the lower intermediate level practiced
writing through the edition of magazines as a didactic strategy. A different group in their
class of Intermediate English developed a dialogue journal. Both of these strategies were
introduced by three English teachers as action research for a period of a semester.
Students‘ self-correction was highly encouraged since the teachers constantly pointed out
those salient writing problems during the revision of magazines and dialogue journals.
After lower-intermediate students turned in their final magazine editing, the teachers
analyzed their writing and recorded students‘ main writing problems. Similarly, after
intermediate students finished writing their dialogue journals, the teacher analyzed their
writing. Also, intermediate students answered a questionnaire to report their perceptions
towards writing a dialogue journal. These groups of students presented problems in their
writing at the word, sentence and paragraph level. Using the results of these writing
strategies, English teachers plan to design a writing workshop proposal that encourages
students to improve their writing in English.
1. Introduction
The written skill can many times turn monotonous in the classroom. Many teachers
demand formal writing tasks that mainly focus on ‗formal accuracy‘; therefore, ―privileging
linguistic features over ideas‖ (Silva and Matsuda, 2002 p.259.) If the objective is to have
students write while they are still learning the foreign language, then students need to write about
topics of their interest, appropriate to their age, needs, cultural backgrounds, or current problems
(Lightbown and Spada, 1999 p.163). It is important they experiment with writing in English.
As English teachers, we have become familiar with the writing difficulties teachersstudents experiment when writing in a foreign language. For that reason, four English teachers,
teaching in the English Language Bachelor Degree at the Universidad Autónoma del Carmen,
Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala –Facultad de Filosofía y Letras | 34
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decided that lower-intermediate (2 groups) and intermediate students (1 group) needed to find
the joy of writing by expressing what was on their minds, but without the pressure of writing with
the aim of being corrected. Therefore, we felt the need to implement some writing strategies with
these three groups in order to help them develop the writing skill. This paper describes the
process of implementing two writing strategies: Magazine edition carried out during a semester
with lower-intermediate and Dialogue journal with intermediate students.
1.1 Magazine Edition
This writing strategy was introduced to lower-intermediate students as a project work.
The guidelines of Stoller (2002) were followed in order to involve students in the edition of a
magazine. Learning was centered on students so that they integrated the knowledge of the
language they had been learning, and not only the content studied in class. Also, students would
have the freedom to choose their own topics which would lead them to motivation. In fact,
Eguchi & Eguchi (2006) state that project work has been widely used due to it leads to students‘
motivation and autonomy to learn the language. On the other hand, Zehni (2005-2009) suggests
teacher and students talk in class about the project, present examples of topics on the board and
organize the roles of students; for example, as the editors. She also mentions the importance of
the teacher correcting students‘ article drafts. Another advantage of a magazine project as Orlova
(2008) mentions consists of having students to read different material to get familiar with the
process of developing a magazine. In addition, students apply their knowledge of IT (information
technologies) while developing the project (Fowlie, 1999), which is one competency they should
develop as university students.
In general, a magazine project fosters a language environment to integrate skills with a
focus on writing articles using a dynamic and versatile format which allow self-correction and
collaboration or co-participation, but mainly, with a communicative intention, which implies
something more than the use and knowledge of the language, it also implies rhetoric elements,
organization and logic of content (Modak, 2007). By using a magazine edition project students
publish updated information, with a personalized and individualized approach, through a
dynamic presentation, lively and illustrated with different topics. This project also encourages
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and motivates work team, group revision and supervision, use and organization of information
(Icasatti, 2006).
1.2 Dialogue journal
The second writing strategy used with students was dialogue journal. By writing a journal
students basically analyze and examine their own learning. Many language learners have
probably experienced going through their notes and finding language mistakes they had made,
but had not noticed before. Students can always turn to their journals to read and analyze what
has been written previously. Then, writing a journal represents one natural way of learning.
This tool focuses on ‗creative expression‘ since students have the opportunity to express
their ideas. In fact, Harrison (1996) describes how journal writing helps explore personal
thoughts and ideas (lived experience). Therefore, a journal provides an opportunity to put on
paper all of those ideas students have in their heads but rarely write. In addition, they can record
their ideas and later use them for future writing tasks or assignments (Smalley, Ruetten, and
Kosirev, 2001). Thus, journal writing serves the purpose of stimulating the writing process as ―a
pre-task.‖ (Hyland, 2003, p. 9).
On the other hand, Peyton and Reed (1990) mention that students who might have
problems with their oral skill might be skillful writers. This justifies the use of dialogue journals
to motivate the use of a foreign language. Dialogue journals are dialogues between teacher and
student done during a course (Woodward, 2001). In this dialogue a student ‗talks‘ to her teacher
through a constant written conversation, where the teacher‘s role is as a participant, not as an
evaluator of the student‘s writing (Peyton, 1993). Worthington (1997) suggests that dialogue
journal serves as a means for the teacher to communicate with the learner. Therefore, dialogue
journals are particularly useful because they are ‗functional and interactive as well as informal‘
(Staton, 1987).
There is an important aspect to take into consideration for the use of a dialogue journal;
students should not worry about somebody else reading their journal (Leki, 1998). That is, only
the students can authorize their teacher to share their journals because the learner could share
personal content in their writing. For this reason, it is also important that the teacher tells the
learners that if they undergo a serious problem, they might want to talk to the right person.
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In short, dialogue journals seek to stimulate the writing process. First, students can
monitor their own learning by revising their journals, and at the same time they manifest their
creativity in the language through writing. Likewise, as students choose their own topics, they
can use those ideas for future writing tasks. An important aspect of using a dialogue journal in
class is that the teacher‘s main function is as a participant. Therefore, students feel more
confident to write and share their ideas and to make mistakes as they know their dialogue
journals would be kept private.
2. Background
The material used in the courses of English involved writing activities such as writing
small paragraphs and compositions; these were assigned by the professor or suggested by the
book. Through class and task observation, the three professors identified writing problems. For
instance, many students in both the lower-intermediate and intermediate level of English focused
on accomplishing the writing task word limit established by the professors. Also, the students
showed a lack of attitude and rejection to do the writing activities. Their writings had spelling
and grammatical errors. Regarding the organization of the information, this was presented in
series of isolated sentences, often with incomplete ideas and disorganized paragraphs, without
coherence or cohesion.
For the development of magazine edition, and dialogue journals, the principles of action
research were followed. This research allows the identification, comprehension and improvement
of the teaching practice. Also, action research allows cooperative participation of the subjects,
and the planning, observation and development of a didactic strategy, based on the analysis of a
problem identified in the classroom. The advantage of action research relies on taking action
through the implementation of a didactic strategy to tackle such problem (Maciel de Oliveira,
2003).
3. Process
The objectives to introduce dialogue journal and magazine edition as writing strategies to
the groups of low-intermediate students and intermediate students were to introduce a new way to
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teach writing, stimulate students‘ writing, identify students‘ common writing problems, and
obtain results to support a proposal for a student‘s writing workshop.
3.1 Subjects
All of the participants are students of the bachelor‘s degree in English language at the
Facultad de Ciencias Educativas in the Universidad Autónoma del Carmen. The student
participants of the magazine edition strategy were students from the fourth semester (lowerintermediate level). There were 27 students divided into two groups; each group had a different
professor. In regard to the organization or working activities, group ―A‖ was organized in two
teams of 4 members and one team of 5 members, and the group ―B‖ was organized in two teams
of 5 members and one of 4.
For the second strategy: Dialogue Journal, there were 18 students participating from the
sixth semester (intermediate) group.
3.2 Objects of study
3.2.1 Magazine editions
The magazine editions were analyzed under parameters and conventions using a checklist (see
appendix A).
3.2.2 Dialogue journals
Students turned in 14 journal entries during the semester. The entry topics and writing length
were students‘ decisions. Students turned in their journal once a week.
3.3 Instruments
For both writing strategies there was a writing checklist used to analyze students‘ writing
problems (see appendix A).
3.3.1 Writing check list
To analyze writing of both projects, teachers used a checklist (see appendix B).
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
3.3.2 Questionnaire
Students answered a questionnaire with the purpose to find out general writing practice
among students and to what extent they felt comfortable writing their journals. Students answered
on a 3 point Likert scale, I agree, I don‟t agree, I‟m not sure.
4. Planning and organization
4.1 The magazine edition
Students had to fulfill the elements a magazine should include (see appendix A) such as a
cover, an undercover, a general index, and bibliographical references as well as a hard cover.
Regarding the writing requirements, the elements to be considered were categorized at the word,
sentence and paragraph level.
The teams were instructed to organize themselves bearing the role of an editor, a style
reviewer, a designer, an editor and a reporter. However, each team member was responsible for
all the magazine aspects. On the other hand, the organization, illustration and style were students‘
choice, as well as their creativity, the type of magazine and the public to whom it was addressed.
Professors monitored students‘ progress and tasks; however, self–revision and correction was
encouraged at all times.
4.2 Dialogue Journals
The teacher informed students they would not see many corrections in their journals, but
they would always see a response from their teacher. They could share personal content in their
journals if they wished because the only person reading their journal would be their teacher. They
could ask any questions through writing or directly to their teacher.
5. Results
Here are presented the results from the implementation of the two writing strategies.
Later, salient writing problems from students‘ writing are presented.
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5.1 Magazine
Altogether six magazines were received, three from each of the lower-intermediate
groups, five magazines were printed and one was digital. In each magazine, it was possible to
identify that the students used their creativity, and presented the information in accordance to
their personalities.
First, the students presented their outlines in which they established the title of the article,
number of paragraphs, the main ideas in each paragraph and the ideas to support them. In the first
draft revision, the professors suggested to write an outline for each article. For the subsequent
revisions professors revised that the articles were structured, contained no offensive language,
and that the ideas were logical.
In the draft revisions, the professors highlighted errors or misspelled words. As a norm,
the identified error was only pointed out with the purpose that in their teams, the highlighted
element was analyzed and corrected with the help of the team members. At this point, the
students were required to use all the possible resources to correct the indicated errors. Among the
many errors identified in this first draft, there were spelling, agreement, cohesion and coherence
problems. The professors indicated the type of error to the students instead of directly correcting
it, so that the students could make the proper correction with the help of the team members.
In the final checking of the article, the word suitability and the register, and the level of
formality were reviewed. When all the articles were complete and reviewed, the students
delivered their magazine draft, that is, the compendium of the articles organized and ordered as
they would appear in their final magazine draft. In this revision, they added the complementary
parts of the magazine and the format that the magazine would have as well as its structure and
organization.
5.2 Dialogue Journal
At first, students were unenthusiastic about writing their journals. Therefore, it was not
surprising to see most of them had written a few lines in their journals. Each entry was read and a
response was written rather than a direct correction of their writing. For instance, one student
wrote „I hope to get good grades and don‟t fail any asignature‟. This student got an answer such
as ‗I‟m sure you won‟t fail any of your courses if you study hard‟. Each entry included a
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
comment from the teacher, and a question directed to the student. It was rewarding to see most
students responded the questions and kept the conversation going.
From the professor‘s list it was recorded half the students always turned in their journals
(see figure 1). It is important to mention students would get a small percentage of their grade by
only turning in their journal. In case they decided not to collaborate with this part of their
learning, their overall course grade was not affected significantly.
Frequency of journal writing
80
61.1
60
40
20
0
Always
33.3
Often
5.56
Never
Figure 1. Percentage and frequency of journal writing
Students writing length varied as well as the writing topics. Some of them actually wrote
in their journals when they were sad, or upset. A few students asked what they could do to
improve their English, or for specific grammar explanations. These were considered as signs they
were getting involved in their own learning. This was also a sign that shy students would not ask
in class, but it did not mean they were not concerned about learning. On the other hand, a couple
of students actually wrote in their journals phrases such as ‗this is not interesting, but…‘ or ‗I
know you will laugh, but…‘ which showed students‘ fear to be laughed at. On the contrary, some
other students wrote poems or wrote very private issues. Some asked for the teacher‘s opinion on
some academic matters they were planning to do such as getting scholarships for studying
abroad. Thus, students got involved in the whole dialogue journal process.
The questionnaire also intended to know if students had been engaged in the dialogue
journal process (see table 1). Although most students expected at first their teacher to correct all
their mistakes, they took action for their own learning since many admitted to have looked up
words in the dictionary. The majority of students agreed on the journal serving the purpose of
organizing their ideas although they were not sure if they were doing a good job since their
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
mistakes were not always highlighted. As seen in chart 1, most students are used to the teacher
correcting all mistakes. However, all students said they read and revised their journals and most
of them agreed on recommending other students to write a journal.
QUESTION
I agree
student
I don‘t
s
agree
students
I‘m not
students
sure
I like writing.
76.5%
13
23.5%
4
I wanted my teacher to correct all my mistakes.
82.4%
14
5.9
1
11.8
2
I looked up words when writing my journal.
70.6%
12
29.4%
5
I enjoyed writing in English.
88.2
15
11.8
2
I read my teacher‘s comments.
94.1
16
5.9
1
I enjoyed writing my dialogue journal.
94.1
16
5.9
1
I revised and reread my journal.
100
17
I recommend other people too write a journal
94.1
16
5.9
1
Table 1. Questionnaire results
From the above results, we can see most students got involved in writing their dialogue
journals and actually learned to engage in their own learning through writing.
6. Identifying students’ common writing problems: Magazine editions and journals
The three professors and an invited professor evaluated the writing skill in the magazines
and dialogue journals. First, the articles were written down in simple form and in agreement to
the students‘ English level. The writing mistakes were classified under 3 categories.
At the word level, it was pretty obvious their lexicon had some limitations. For instance,
they would make use of false cognates or mix English words with those they thought to be
similar in their native language. They borrowed some local and regional expressions that had an
equivalent in English. Many words were misspelled. They also translated expressions literally.
Incorrect use of vocabulary, use of false cognates, and use of inexistent words were also
presented in students‘ writing.
At the sentence level, mistakes consisted mostly in incorrect use of structures. However,
some of those structures had not yet been covered during their English class, or they were more
complex structures for other advanced levels. There was also use of irrelevant sentences.
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At the paragraph level, the ideas in the paragraphs were mostly clear; however, they still
had problems in organization, incorrect use or lack of punctuation and disorganization of ideas.
Because of this, most of their writing was not cohesive.
A major problem in students‘ magazine articles was plagiarism. Despite the fact that
students had turned in their journals for revision during the semester, and that professors had
explained about plagiarism, some students plagiarized articles by changing the layout of the
original article or changing words or mixing the original article with their words.
In short, although the three groups of students wrote their articles and dialogue journals in
accordance to their personality, and choice, their writing skills still need practice at the three
levels mentioned above.
Conclusión
The results obtained in the application of these didactic strategies can be summarized in
three main points. The objectives of the didactic strategies were fulfilled. First, students had not
been introduced to these writing strategies before. By using these strategies students learned
writing does not have to be difficult. They learned to self-monitor their learning by reading and
revising their writing. In the case of articles reviewed, they fulfilled the evaluation items, such as
organization, coherence, and writing mechanicals. Second, we identified students‘ common
writing problems at the word, sentence and paragraph level. Professors addressed these writing
problems through the magazine or journals or in the classroom. Therefore, we obtained results to
support our proposal to offer a specific writing workshop. As Eguchi & Eguchi (2006) and
Icassatti (2006) mentioned students showed enthusiasm while using these strategies, they even
showed an improvement in their writing, but they would still need formal instruction and practice
to develop the writing skill since their writing still lacks organization. Organization in language is
important as Modak (2006) states.
Finally, as this was the first time that the magazine edition was used as a writing strategy,
some organization and supervision problems were identified. Such problems were evident in
some plagiarized sections which must be taken into account in order to avoid them in future
implementations.
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
APPENDIX A: Magazine checklist
Magazine checklist
Cover
1.
title
2.
logo
3.
Regular occurrence
4.
Magazine number
5.
Number of register
6.
Hard cover
Undercover
1.
Contributors names
2.
Date of Edition
3.
Reviewer‘s note
General index
1.
Content of each section
2.
Article number
3.
Article title
APPENDIX B: Writing checklist
Writing checklist
Word level
1. Spelling
2. False cognates
3. Made up words
4. Wrong use of word
5.
Sentence Organization
1. Grammar
2. punctuation
3. cohesion
4. coherence
5. Word order
Paragraph
1. introduction
2. development
3. conclusion
References
1. citations
2. paraphrase
3. Bibliographical references
4.
4. Article‘s author
5. Article‘s page
Bibliographical references
1. alphabetical order
2. correct format (writing
style)
Creativity
1. laminated cover
2. background color
3. drawings
4. neatness
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
References
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Fowlie, J. (August 1999). Doing the news in the EFL classroom: A practical project.
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February 20 from http://www.unav.es/espSig/fowlie14.htm
Harrison, B. T. (1996). Using personal diaries and working journals in reflective learning. In
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learning of writing: Current trends in research, (pp.70-88). The Netherlands: Amsterdam
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Hyland, K. (2003). Second language writing. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK.
Icasatti, M. (2006). Revistas: Definición y características. Resumen. Retrieved February 3, 2008
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The authors
Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala holds an M.A. in Linguistics (TESOL). She has taught several English
courses. She has also taught linguistic, culture and writing courses.
Rosa Adriana May Melendez holds a B.A. in English Language Teaching. She has taught English courses
at basic and intermediate level, culture and civilization. She has taken an accelerated learning course. She
is currently studying a Master‘s degree in TEFL.
Rafael Ferrer Méndez holds s a Master‘s degree in Metodología de la Investigación and he is a full time
profesor at Universidad Autónoma del Carmen. He has taught translation courses.
ISBN: 978-607-7698-32-6
Leydi Angélica de la Cruz López holds a B.A. in English Language Teaching. She has taught courses on
Language teaching methodology. She is currently studying a Master‘s degree in TEFL.

Memorias del XI Encuentro Nacional de Estudios

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