Luận văn thạc sĩ difficulties in teaching english writing skills to ethnic minority grade 9th students at đồng lương secondary school, lang chánh, thanh hóa province

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHẠM THỊ THÚY DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS TO[.]

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

PHẠM THỊ THÚY

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS TO ETHNIC MINORITY GRADE 9 TH STUDENTS AT ĐỒNG LƯƠNG

SECONDARY SCHOOL , LANG CHÁNH, THANH HÓA PROVINCE

(Những khó khăn trong việc dạy kĩ năng viết cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số lớp 9

trường Trung học cơ sở Đồng Lương, Lang Chánh, Thanh Hoá)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

HA NOI – 2013

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

PHẠM THỊ THÚY

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS TO ETHNIC MINORITY GRADE 9 TH STUDENTS AT ĐỒNG LƯƠNG

SECONDARY SCHOOL , LANG CHÁNH, THANH HÓA PROVINCE

(Những khó khăn trong việc dạy kĩ năng viết cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số lớp 9

trường Trung học cơ sở Đồng Lương, Lang Chánh, Thanh Hoá)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Lê Văn Canh, PhD

HA NOI – 2013

ABBREVIATIONS

1 CLT= Communicative Language Teaching

2 ESL= English as a Second Language

LISTS OF CHARTS

1 Chart 1: Students’ preferences for learning writing skills

2 Chart 2: Students’ opinions on frequency of teachers’ feedback in each writing lesson

3 Chart 3: Students’ opinions on difficulties of learning writing skills

4 Char 4: Students’ strategies to solve their difficulties in writing

5 Chart 5: Students’ opinion on forms of writing

6 Chart 6: Students’ preferences for teachers’ methods in teaching writing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECRALATION……….….i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……….ii

ABSTRACT……… ……….iii

ABBREVIATIONS……… iv

LISTS OF CHARTS……… …………v

TABLE OF CONTENTS………vi

PART ONE – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study……… … 1

1.2 Aims of the study………2

1.3 Research questions……… 2

1.4 Methods of the study……… 2

1.5 Scope of the study……….……….….3

1.6 Significance of the study……… 3

1.7 Organization of the study……….… 3

PART TWO - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Difficulties of Writing English as foreign languages………,, …4

1.1.1 Content……… …… 5

1.1.2 Form……….……… … 5

1.1.3 Spelling ……….………… 5

1.1.4 Punctuation ……….……7

1.1.4.1 Use commas when appropriate ……….… 8

1.1.4.2 Use a hyphen when using two words to act as one adjective (unless the first word ends in -ly) ……… ……….…… 9

1.1.5 Grammar ……….………9

1.1.5.1 Avoid using sexist wording, such as "he" or "his" when you are trying to

refer to both boys and girls or to both women and men ………11

1.1.5.2 Do not combine singular and plural forms of words in the same sentence ……….…11

1.1.5.3 Do not write fragmented sentences Every sentence needs a subject and a predicate ……….…11

1.1.5.4 Do not confuse "its" and "it's." "Its" is the possessive form of "it," whereas "it's" is a contraction for "it is." ……….……….…12

1.1.5.5 Do not confuse "effect" and "affect." ………… ……….…12

1.1.5.6 Use apostrophes in the appropriate place to indicate possession……… ………… …12

1.1.7.7 Do not use an apostrophe to indicate a plural form of a word Only use it to indicate possession ……….……….……… 13

1.1.6 Usage ……….……… 13

1.2 Causes of the difficulties……… ……….… 14

1.2.1 Teachers’ teaching methods……….……….… 14

1.2.2 Difficulties related to the students’ variables……….… 16

1.3 Teaching Strategies to reduce the students' difficulties……… 16

1.3.1 Encouragement to students……… ….16

1.3.2 Provide guidance throughout the writing process ……… ………18

1.3.3.Remind students that writing is a process that helps them clarify ideas ……….…… 19

1.3.4 Give students opportunities to talk about their writing.……… 19

1.3.5 Use computers to help students write better ………19

1.3.6 During class pause for a three-minute write ……… …….19

1.3.7 Have students write a brief summary at the end of class ………20

1.3.8 Have one student keep minutes to be read at the next class meeting

……….20

1.3.9 Use peer response groups……… ………20

CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1 Overview of the textbooks……… ……… 22

2.2 Context of the study……… 23

2.3 Methodology……… ……… 24

2.4 The participants………24

2.5 Data analysis of student’s survey questionnaire ……… …25

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS……… 31

PART THREE - CONCLUSION 3.1 Summary ……… 34

3.2 Limitations of the study……… ………… 34

3.3 Suggestions of the study……….…… 35

REFERENCES……….…… 37 APPENDICES……… I Appendix 1……… ……… ……… I Appendix 2……… III Appendix 3……… IV

PART ONE – INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the rationale, the aims of the study, the research questions and the methods used to achieve the aim The scope and the significance of the study are also presented Finally, the chapter introduces the organization of the study

1.1 Rationale of the study

Today English is considered one of the most important factors to the trend

of globalization in all fields of life over the world Thus, English as Second Language has been taught in many countries and the demand to use English fluently as well as to acquire four basic skills is becoming essential among all students As a result, methodology has been studied for years to find out the most effective ways of teaching and learning English In Vietnam, secondary school students have to acquire four skills of English as reading, speaking, listening and writing when they study English Among them, writing is considered the most difficult skill and at grade 9th students need to write fluently In order to do this, students should be provided with opportunities to practice writing skill a lot

In fact, each writing lesson is often boring because of some following reasons First of all, almost of the teachers and students do not like to teach and learn this skill very much It is quite difficult for the teacher to design an interesting lesson and to make students easy to understand Students find it difficult to express their ideas, emotion, attitudes and not confident in using grammar structures and vocabulary Another reason is that writing lessons do not have interesting activities to learn like other skills Most lessons only require students to sit down and write This does not attract to students and makes them bored

Although the researcher of this study were aware of the difficulties the students of Muong ethnics encountered frequently in their writing through

marking their writings, the data had never been collected and analyzed systematically This fact encouraged the researcher to carry out this study in the hope that data-based sources of the students can be identified This information

is believed to help the researcher find more practically effective ways to reduce these students’ writing difficulties

1.2 Aims of the study

This research is designed to explore the difficulties in teaching writing skills to ethnic minority 9th students These difficulties are explored indirectly through students’ self-reported difficulties they encountered in learning to write English It is expected to achieve the following aims:

(i) to investigate the difficulties in teaching writing English via the students’ self-reported difficulties they are faced with;

(ii) to gain understanding of why the students have those difficulties in writing English;

(iii) to find ways to help students reduce the difficulties they have in learning to write English in the context of a secondary school in a mountainous area

2 Why do they have those difficulties?

1.4 Methods of the study

This is a survey study, and the major method used for the study is quantitative Data were collected by the questionnaire which was developed and administered to the students by the researcher herself In addition, the information from friendly chats with the teachers was also used Data were then analyzed quantitatively in terms of the percentage

Questionnaires for students will help the researcher understand why they do not want to learn this skill and why the teacher often ignores it From that, the researcher will give some suggestions to improve both teachers’ methods in teaching and in learning Moreover, she also provides some ways to increase the students’ preference in learning it

1.5 Scope of the study

This study focuses on the investigation of the difficulties of the ethnic minority grade 9 students in one school located in a mountainous area of Thanh Hoa province only There is no intention to generalize the results In other words, what is true to the group of students participating in this study may not

be true to other groups of students

1.6 Significance of the study

The research is carried out with the hope that the results of the study will provide significant insights into difficulties both teachers and students in teaching and learning this skill This may lead to suggestions for improving teachers’ difficulties and helping the students more successfully in their writing revision

1.7 Organization of the study

This study has three main parts: introduction, development, and conclusion The introduction briefly states the rationale of the study, the aims, research questions, scope, methods, the significance and the design of the study The development consists of three chapters: Chapter 1 provides a review of literature

on writing in general Chapter 2 contains the core part of the study including the context of the study, the methodology, the collection and analysis of the data for the research, the findings and implications Chapter 3 mentions the findings and discussions for improving difficulties in teaching and in learning The conclusion at the end gives a summary of the main issues that have been discussed so far in the study and suggestions for further research

PART TWO - DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter focuses on some of the most important issues in the theories of difficulties in teaching writing skills in general and in Dong Luong secondary school in particular

1.1 Difficulties of Writing English as foreign languages

Writing is “frequently accepted as being the last language skill to be acquired” (Nunan 1991: 91) and it is true in Dong Luong secondary School, as

in other EFL contexts, that mastering written skills is a major challenge for students In order to identify ways in which students in this school might be supported in the development of their writing, this thesis presents the writing difficulties those secondary school learners of English face Each student should

know that effective writing “…requires a number of things: a high degree of organization in the development of ideas and information; a high degree of accuracy so that there is no ambiguity of meaning; the use of complex grammatical devices for focus and emphasis; and a careful choice of vocabulary, grammatical patterns, and sentence structures” (Hedge 1988: 5)

Additionally, effective writing is also focused on the topic and does not contain extraneous or loosely related information To gain the good level in writing English, students should know the difficulties in learning this skill

1.1.1 Content

ESL students may lack the ability to express clear main ideas The way students form phrases often influences the audiences' understanding of the written content English compositions usually require conciseness and clear main ideas, while Eastern languages, for example, use circular thinking and digressions, according to the Dartmouth Writing Program Writing in English might be difficult for ESL students because they are not used to stating their

point clearly, so their audience may not be able to follow their intricate writing style and understand the main ideas of the text

Vietnamese students apply the way of writing Vietnamese literature to

writing English According to Vietnamese writing styles student do not present directly ideas that they want to express They often use other ways to start their written works instead of writing directly This makes them more difficult in learning English although they have learnt it for a long time When learn how to write in English they are not easy to follow new methods As the result they are bored and give up learning early Teachers in school waste a lot of time to

rebuild their motivation and patients with the hope that students will like to learn English writing

1.1.2 Form

English writers usually compose distinctive paragraphs of four or five sentences each; the first sentence is the main idea of the paragraph, and the other sentences support it with examples or further explanations In other cultures, especially in non-English speaking European countries, the main idea is at the end of the paragraph and stands as the conclusion the whole paragraph comes to, the Dartmouth Writing Program notes Moreover, ESL students need to know the elements of the different English composition forms and the writing conventions that go with them For example, a letter to a friend is informal and simple while a letter of complaint needs specific details, like an address and phone number at the top of the letter as well as certain salutation formulas

1.1.3 Spelling

English spelling is irregular and even many native-speaker adults have difficulties with it Spelling mistakes do not usually prevent the reader from understanding what the writer is trying to say, but they can create a negative impression For this reason it is advisable to try to remove them from important

pieces of writing Probably, the best way is to write on the computer and use a

spell-check Diligent use of a dictionary is a good alternative For high stakes

writing, e.g job applications, the piece should be given to a teacher to check over Extensive reading in English is a very good way in the longer term to learn English spelling patterns, so that mistakes are less likely

Here’s a quick-reference guide to the top misspellings according to the Oxford English Corpus – an electronic collection of over 2 billion words of real English that helps us to see how students are using the language and also shows

us the mistakes that are most often made The table gives the correct spelling of the word, handy tips on getting it right, and also the most common misspellings that we’ve found in our research, so you can check to see if any of the same mistakes have been tripping you up

accommodate,

accommodation

two cs, two ms accomodate,

accomodation achieve i before e acheive

aggressive, aggression two gs agressive, agression apparently -ent not -ant apparantly

appearance ends with -ance appearence

argument no e after the u arguement

assassination two double s’s assasination

basically ends with -ally basicly

beginning double n before the –

ing

begining

believe i before e beleive, belive

bizarre one z, double -r bizzare

business begins with busi- buisness

calendar -ar not -er calender

Caribbean one r, two bs Carribean

cemetery ends with -ery cemetary

chauffeur ends with -eur chauffer

colleague -ea- in the middle collegue

committee double m, double t,

double e

commitee

completely ends with -ely completly

conscious -sc- in the middle concious

curiosity -os- in the middle curiousity

definitely -ite- not –ate- definately

dilemma -mm- not -mn- dilemna

Disappear one s, two ps dissapear

Disappoint one s, two ps dissapoint

Ecstasy ends with –sy ecstacy

Embarrass two rs, two s’s embarass

environment n before the m enviroment

Existence ends with -ence existance

Fahrenheit begins with Fahr- Farenheit

Familiar ends with -iar familar

Fluorescent begins with fluor- florescent

1.1.4 Punctuation

ESL students need to learn certain aspects of the English punctuation system, such as the way to punctuate direct speech In general, however, the

most serious of punctuation mistakes are made not only by ESL students, but by

native speakers too These mistakes are due to the lack of a clear understanding

of what a sentence is, and they result in fragments (incomplete sentences) or run-ons ('sentences' that do not end when they should)

Punctuation mistakes can often be spotted if the student reads the writing aloud If a natural pause in the reading does not correspond with, say, a comma

or a full-stop in the written text, then it is likely that the punctuation is faulty Important writing should be given to a competent native-speaker to check Extensive reading, especially of non-fiction, both in English and the mother tongue, will help students understand the concept of the sentence as the basis of good writing These are common difficulties in writing when learning English:

1.1.4.1 Use commas when appropriate Sometimes a comma should be

omitted, whereas other times including a comma may help to improve your writing

Use a comma when separating main clauses:

Wrong: We are here on this planet once and we might as well get a feel for the place

Right: We are here on this planet once, and we might as well get a feel for the place

Set off parenthetical material within commas

Wrong: Sometimes people gossip as Barbara Walters has observed because they want to be interesting

Right: Sometimes people gossip, as Barbara Walters has observed, because they want to be interesting

Avoid unnecessary commas

Wrong: The facts were selected, and organized with care

Right: The facts were selected and organized with care

Wrong: The Air Force debunked UFO sightings, but, millions of Americans didn't listen

Right: The Air Force debunked UFO sightings, but millions of Americans didn't listen

1.1.4.2 Use a hyphen when using two words to act as one adjective (unless

the first word ends in -ly)

Wrong: The college student sample was smarter than the high school sample Right: The college-student sample was smarter than the high-school sample Wrong: A completely-new product was put on the market today

Right: A completely new product was put on the market today

1.1.5 Grammar

The use of articles is a frequent morphology problem for ESL students because, even if students learn the rules of using "the," "a" or "an," they have difficulties with situations when they should omit them according to the context Prepositions are also difficult to use correctly; structures like "on time" and "in time" may seem similar or identical in meaning to a non-native speaker Choosing the right verb tense form is also a common problem for ESL students, especially when the tense is not marked with a time adverb, as in "I have seen this movie."Following are examples of authentic writing mistakes which students often have when writing :

He had loose clothes so nobody can see his body

He didn’t talked so clearly When he lay down his neck breaked

Many people was afraid of him

But Dr Treves helped him having an easier life

GRAMMAR: NOUNS AND PRONOUNS

- singular/plural

-

articles/determiners

- agreement

He had 2 operation to take out the lumps of skin

His left hand was normal and right hand was size of elephant’s trunk

He took off his glasses and put it on the table

GRAMMAR: SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Learners often do not choose the correct English verb tense for expressing

an idea or do not use it in its correct form They may fail to use the articles (a/the) correctly, or place words in the wrong order in a sentence Some grammar mistakes are easy for learners to correct themselves, particularly if they read their writing aloud Other grammar mistakes are not easy to find, however,

because the learner simply does not yet know the correct way to express an idea

in English Looking in a grammar book will not often help in such circumstances - the best thing to do is to ask a native speaker to check the writing In the long term most grammar mistakes will disappear by themselves, particularly if the learner does extensive reading in English Those are some common mistakes that students often have when writing

1.1.5.1 Avoid using sexist wording, such as "he" or "his" when you are trying to refer to both boys and girls or to both women and men

Wrong: When the subject reported being finished, the experimenter asked him to complete a second questionnaire

Right: When the subject reported being finished, the experimenter administered

a second questionnaire

1.1.5.2 Do not combine singular and plural forms of words in the same sentence

Wrong: Each subject rated their own mood on the questionnaire

Right: Each subject rated his or her own mood on the questionnaire

Right: All subjects rated their own moods on the questionnaire

Wrong: A variety of issues were presented at the meeting

Right: A variety of issues was presented at the meeting

1.1.5.3 Do not write fragmented sentences Every sentence needs a subject and a predicate

Wrong: And for days tried to change my mind (no subject)

Right: For days he/she/it tried to change my mind

1.1.5.4 Do not confuse "its" and "it's." "Its" is the possessive form of "it," whereas "it's" is a contraction for "it is."

Wrong: Its time for a change

Right: It's time for a change

Wrong: What is it's purpose?

Right: What is its purpose?

1.1.5.5 Do not confuse "effect" and "affect." "Effect" is typically a noun, meaning some consequence or result "Affect" is typically a verb, meaning

to bring about an effect (But note that "affect" also can be a noun meaning emotional expression, and "effect" can be used as a verb to mean to cause something to come into being.)

Wrong: The experimental manipulation caused an interesting affect

Right: The experimental manipulation caused an interesting effect

Wrong: The intervention did not effect the behavior of the therapy group

Right: The intervention did not affect the behavior of the therapy group

1.1.5.6 Use apostrophes in the appropriate place to indicate possession A word ending in "s" has an apostrophe at the end of the word; otherwise, place an apostrophe followed by "s" to indicate possession

Wrong: The student's faculty advisor was very committed to their learning

Right: The students' faculty advisor was very committed to their learning (if

more than one student)

Right: The student's faculty advisor was very committed to her learning (if only

one female student)

1.1.7.7 Do not use an apostrophe to indicate a plural form of a word Only use it to indicate possession

Wrong: The student's all have busy schedules

Right: The students all have busy schedules

1.1.6 Usage

These are the final type of error often seen in ESL students' writing A usage mistake does not break a grammar "rule", but is a word or string of words that a native speaker would never use to express the particular meaning that the ESL student is trying to convey

A usage mistake is a word or a string of words in a sentence that is grammatically possible*, but not usual in standard English Hence native speakers rarely make usage mistakes, but ESL students very often do Such mistakes frequently occur in ESL students' work when they look up a word in their own language and select the wrong English equivalent for the meaning they wish to express Conversely, failure to use the dictionary can result in the

false friends usage mistake For example, kontollieren in German means to check (over), so the following problem in the German student's writing is not surprising: "It is important to control (i.e check) the results carefully." Faulty

usage in larger passages of writing is often the consequence of the attempt to

render word-for-word into English the mental or written version that the ESL

student has in the native tongue It is such mistakes in an ESL student's work

that can make it difficult to understand what meaning is being conveyed Usage mistakes, like grammar mistakes, are not particularly susceptible to eradication

by direct correction And like grammar mistakes they will eventually disappear, particularly if the student reads extensively in English However, the mainstream teacher is advised to alert an ESL student to usage mistakes in the way he or she

conveys a meaning that is common or integral to the subject For example: "The dictator was thrown over (overthrown) in a people's revolt or

Usage mistakes can often be more of a problem to the reader than

grammar mistakes The ESL student who writes My mother don't speak English

or Then I putted beaker on tripod will be understood On the other hand, the student who writes in a journal My mother has an arrangement with her operator today will not be understood to mean that his mother has an

appointment with her surgeon It is usage problems rather than grammar problems in extended pieces of writing that immediately identify even the most proficient of ESL students as non-native speakers Once again, the short-term solution to usage problems is to ask a native speaker to check the work; and the long term solution is to do lots of reading in English

These are some difficulties in learning and teaching writing English skills Difficulties in content, forms, spelling and punctuation are the most common that make students are confused and complicated

1.2 Causes of the difficulties

There are a lot of reasons that make English writing skill difficult and boring In this thesis, I present about two main ones They are teachers’ teaching methods and difficulties related to the students’ variable

1.2.1 Teachers’ teaching methods

Problems are from the inadequate training and skills of the teachers The problem comes from the teachers themselves because they are also second language learners of English and have faced similar conditions toward writing as students do As Vietnamese teachers, they often use their knowledge, culture and life styles of Vietnamese people to impose on each English lesson That why students translate, speak as well as write word by word As the result, students learn in wrong ways and they are becoming bored and unexcited about English

For teachers, there are not many interesting activities in designing English writing lesson They often make their lesson simpler and more boring by giving students suggested words and asking them to match or completing sentences Sometimes teachers give students outlines or guidance This makes students lazier because they do not need to think much or use their brain Teachers often

do that to make each lesson easier for students but this brings disadvantages They only sit down and write without thinking That is reason why students’ English writing is never better

In only 45 minutes for each period teachers can not explain and check all students’ written works Although there are common errors like “a” “an” and

“the”, teachers do not have enough time for all class They only focus on some good students’ writings if they have any questions Other students can not be checked and this becomes a learning habit in both teaching and learning Even if teachers give students too many new words and it is difficult to remember and use correctly Students can not learn by heart in the same time and reduce the ability of learning English in general and in writing in particular May be teachers ask students to write many paragraphs instead of writing short ones Students feel too difficult and give up writing With this method teachers do not waste much time explaining fro students but the result of learning and teaching

is not high

1.2.2 Difficulties related to the students’ variables

Writing is hard work for all of the students The blank page threatens them The writer's main resource is himself, and lies in their fear that we can't write because we haven't anything worth saying Students sometimes feel that they not only have nothing to say, but couldn't say it if they did Students are plagued by problems in spelling or grammar, difficulties in organizing their thoughts on paper or explaining themselves clearly Anger, defensiveness, and embarrassment are typical reactions to these fears

One reason for students' fear is that they feel uncertain about their use of grammar and spelling Their concerns for creating a "perfect" essay get in the way of their ideas Grammar and spelling are like the directions to baking a cake

or making a pizza necessary, but hardly satisfying The only way to learn how

to write is by writing Too often, students focus on grammar and spelling early because they view writing as a chore to finish as quickly as possible The poet

William Stafford once wrote that "A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them"

(Stafford 17) The real pleasure in writing doesn't come from knowing what to

say but from the joy of discovering what we don't know, didn't guess, until we

discovered it on the page before us Once we know what we want to say, then

we can concentrate on how to say it clearly, concisely, convincingly, and correctly

1.3 Teaching Strategies to reduce the students' difficulties

1.3.1 Encouragement to students

Writing skill offers a way of communicating one’s thought and feelings on paper So the message must be loud and clear between the

teacher and the students First of all, encouragement to students is considered

as the best strategy to reduce students’ difficulties in writing English According

to (Clifford, 1991, p.42), “The teacher has to encourage learners to write for communication They should focus on the ideas and meanings they wish to convey rather than on mechanics of writing, such as spelling, and handwriting.”

The teachers play an important role in teaching writing and they are the only ones who could help prevent problems of writing that could slow the process of learning English, specifically writing It can be done by encouraging students to write to communicate student to student, student to teacher, or student to foreigner I hope that this thesis will benefit many English teachers to identify the problems that should be avoided while teaching This may give teachers the chance to help and lead the students to be better writers in the future using the foreign language with the least possible obstacles and to develop a deepened understanding of the delightful skill of writing

According to (Shouman, 2002), “the teacher’s role is to persuade the students to think how best to convey what he or she wants to say and to feel responsible” Encouragement gives students the feeling that they could be

trusted for what they put on papers Also encouragement gives students the confidence that they can learn to monitor and self-correct own errors to improve

their overall accuracy “Teachers feel unsure of themselves when confronted with giving suggestion on students’ writing” (Digest, 1996, p.3) This supports the idea that “teachers who do not get enough practice for writing approaches will not be able to give any advice to students to improve the styles of writing” Pinsent (1992, p.99) asks that we “Encourage students

to write and look at what they produce.” This will help students to talk about

what they have written since speaking precedes writing

The role of the teacher is to encourage the students’ work and let

them keep on writing, no matter how the output is “What the student needs is

to be able to write correctly so that he or she is not afraid to put words on paper because of apprehension that the text may be couched in non-literary language,” (Neville, 1988, p.43) The teachers should backup students for whatever is not afraid to put words on paper because of apprehension that the text may be couched in non-literary language,” (Neville, 1988, p.43) The

teachers should backup students for whatever is presented But this does not always work when students present unacceptable English What teachers can do is to politely not accept the work with some comments on the weakness They should not express 100% total dissatisfaction but, in an indirect way, point to the problems to be prevented in the future so that no hard feelings toward students expressed, making them depressed

A knowledgeable teacher always finds ways to keep the students eager to write by providing topics of interest and yet related to the school

curriculum “Topics to be given to the students to write about are pre-selected

by the teacher and should have some relationship to their English curriculum Students will be able to write more, and more effectively, on topics that relate to their linguistic and social background and are within their semantic repertoire,” (Smadi, 1986, p.35) The topics that are brought

lives to students will always give results that have never been expected Teachers need to allow students to take a different role each time composing a

written form “The role that is practiced by students will give them a chance of creativity and countless more ideas for writing” (Runkle, 1988, p.55)

1.3.2 Provide guidance throughout the writing process

After teachers have made the assignment, discuss the value of outlines and

notes, explain how to select and narrow a topic, and critique the first draft,

define plagiarism as well