english writing skills and critical thinking skills of freshman college students in the university of transport technology system in three provinces of vietnam basic for functional writing activity

87 Respondents as Lexical and Syntactic Competencies the Frequency of Use by Freshman Students as to Their Importance as Perceived by the Teacher the Level of Writing of Students Versus

FRESHMAN COLLEGE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF

TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM IN THREE PROVINCES OF VIETNAM: BASIS FOR FUNCTIONAL WRITING ACTIVITY

A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School

Batangas State University

Batangas City, Philippines

Page

TITLE PAGE……… i

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… ii

LIST OF TABLES……… v

LIST OF FIGURES……… vii

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction 1

Statement of the Problem……… 7

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation……… 8

Significance of the Study……….……… 9

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature……… 11

Research Literature……… 45

Synthesis……… 52

Theoretical Framework……… 55

Conceptual Framework……… 59

Hypothesis……… 61

Definition of Terms……… 61

Research Design……… 64

Research Enviroment……… 64

Subject of Study……… 65

Data Gathering Instrument……… 66

Data Gathering Procedure……… 66

Statistical Treatment of Data……… 68

IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, INTERPRETATION OF DATA……… 70

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings……… 117

Conclusions……… 129

Recommendations……… 130

BIBLIOGRAPHY……… 131

APPENDICES A Quetionaire for Student 138

B Questionaire for Teacher 148

C Validation Letter of Questionaires 157

D Sample Letter 160

E Photographs of UTT 163

G Documents for Administration of Questionaires 168

CURRICULUM VITAE

Table Title Page

Respondents……… 74

Test……… 77

Grammatical Component of the Writing Skills

Test…… 80

Test…… 83

Component of the Writing Skills Test 87

Respondents as Lexical and Syntactic Competencies

the Frequency of Use by Freshman Students as

to Their Importance as Perceived by the Teacher

the Level of Writing of Students Versus Teachers Assessment of the Critical Writing Skills Shown as p-

Topics for the Design of Functional Activities and the

Figure

Page

60

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

The study of the English language has taken a multifaceted dimension and has span from the knowledge-based format to the skill- based format It has also moved from theory to practice and much more

as the business world has taken an aggressive position to demand the criteria for hiring their personnel to include certified demonstrable English language skill

While it is true that the skill components of the English language include macro and micro skills, it becomes a challenge to the various investigators, evaluators, learners and teachers where the focus of the skills acquisition should be Other linguistic experts advocate that the focus should be in speaking or oral communication and this should be developed to an advance level like a functional speaking skill If this direction is pursued, it will carry with it the necessary pedagogical components from the theory to practice, that would best and effectively achieve the objective of becoming a functional speaker In the same way that others would focus on writing or written communication as a skill requiring advanced level of competency, there are bandwagon of

concepts and pedagogical practices gearing towards the effective development of writing skills Surprisingly, in the literatures and in practice, these two linguistic skills are biasedly given the priority focus, seldom can be heard of for functional listening or functional reading as if these skills are not equally important Apparently these skills are considered to be assumed skills at the back of speaking and writing skills Moreover, the business sector, the sector that creates the demand for the commercial value of human skills would put a high tag price for highly competent speakers and writers rather than the highly competent listeners and readers Thus, the speaking and writing skills especially in the English language are valuable items, hot assets that can make or break one’s career

Between speaking and writing however, linguistic experts would consider writing as the more advanced skill for a number of reasons Speaking is a skill that is easily learned first and one need not be an expert in grammar to be able to speak English fluently A fluent speaker like a TV host or news commentator may be very eloquent but could be

in fact, a lousy writer A good writer however, implies an expertise and skill in speaking One cannot be a good writer and yet become a poor speaker as the tools in writing are at the writer’s disposal and

conveniently captured in concept and use during a speaking activity Thus writing is the most advance form of skill in the English language

Writing as an act is encoding an idea, a thought, a reflection; a process of putting one’s thought into words And this would require that the words are organized to convey the idea, the way the writer would want the reader to receive the message and experience the writer’s concept Thus the demand for writing is more rigorous than speaking In writing, one must have an extensive vocabulary at once disposal to be able to use the right words corresponding to the idea or message Thus the writer, must have a full grasp of the common meaning and special meaning and use of those words The writer must also know how sentences are constructed in the English language so that these sentences become coherent and cohesive Then comes the other fine details of grammar, syntax, morphology to further create a linguistic impact

Writing can be easy if the topic is of the interest to the writer and the writer has a choice of what to write about The writing becomes more difficult when it becomes purposive and the sentence construction would demand complex sentences, and ideas have to be captured in a very precise and few words Thus, both simple and purposive writing demand a strong cognitive skill to the writer The cognitive skills entail

an implicit ability to the writer to shift through facts that are relevant to the topic of concern and be able to weigh them accordingly if they have substance that are relevant and can be incorporated in the developing concept

The educational system with its language curricula considers this gradating degree of writing skills development where at the elementary levels, students are required to write formal themes compositions with a freedom of topic choice at the beginning and later a specific chosen topic given by the teacher as the basis In the secondary level, writing skills are developed through essays and reaction papers In the tertiary level, it is a blend of the secondary level materials as well as the writing

of a thesis, a more extensive type of writing piece that would cover an analytical step where an idea is expounded, from the information of previous literatures and moving forward to a proposed idea or concept and providing evidence for the new proposal The process goes on and

on in the tertiary and higher levels of education Hence, cognitive skill is vital in each step of the writing skills development

Critical thinking on the other hand as stated by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul in the Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform is the intellectually disciplined process

synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated

by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as

a guide to belief and action In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness It entails the examination of those structures of elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue: assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference

Motivation plays an important role in critical thinking It is often manifested in the skilful manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own or one’s groups’ vested interest when grounded in selfish motives It becomes a higher order intellectually when grounded in fair-mindedness and intellectual integrity Critical thinkers live rationally, reasonably and analyse, assess, and improve thinking In developing the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, humility, civility, empathy, sense of justice and confidence in reason critical thinkers work diligently

As in the case of students, critical thinking can be manifested on different levels They need first to recall by retrieving information from

long term memory like recognizing differences or understanding meaning Students may also engage in summarizing the differences for them to understand meaning They may also analyse concept into its logical parts They can also make comparison and contrast and analyse similarities and differences Students then may engage in evaluation using set of criteria and may identify references and construct their own meaning Rational thinking and finding solutions are clearly the focus of critical thinking Students must focus on the quality of their thinking and explore whether or not their thinking is good to their lives They must also think about their choices, engage in fair-minded questions formulation, avoiding simplistic thoughts, and show relationship

As college teacher teaching Basic English, I observed students have difficulty in writing longer composition They tend to commit errors

in the construction of sentences, failed to observed correct punctuations, and other aspects in mechanics of writing Their levels of critical thinking in terms of cognitive, affective, and their disposition are needed to determine as they also play significant role to their learning With these contentions, this prompted the researcher to conduct the study

Statement of the Problem

This study will address the following research questions:

1 What is the demographic profile of students in terms of

1.1 gender;

1.2 parent's educational attainment;

1.3 student's place of origin 1.4 type of school attended (high school); and

1.5 exposure to English media

2 What is the level of writing skills of students relative to:

2.3 mechanics;

2.4 morphology; and

2.5 syntax?

3 How do teachers assess the critical thinking skills of students?

4 How do students level of writing skills and teacher assessment of students’ critical thinking skills compare?

5 What functional writing activities may be proposed to enhance

student's writing and critical thinking skills?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

This study is focused on determining the level of students’ writing skills in terms of discourse components, grammatical components, mechanics, morphology and syntax as well as the level of students’ critical thinking skills Responses of 306 first year English language students from tertiary schools in Vietnam and the respective English teachers of these students using the stratified random technique were analysed The students were made to answer to a validated teacher made questionnaire designed to assess their level of writing skills while the teachers were asked to answer a survey cognitive skill assessment questionnaire where they rated, based on their perception, the critical thinking skill level of their students

These two questionnaires were the source of quantitative data that were analysed statistically The study site were the tertiary schools

in an urbanized area and the study covered a period of six months from July to December 2013 Demographic information was gathered from the students and teachers through the questionnaires but their names were not revealed The respondents were those currently enrolled in an English course The teacher respondents were the respective teachers

of the evaluated students as they were the ones assessed their students’ cognitive skills The students’ respondents were limited only to

those who were enrolled in their Basic English course in the stated covered period and teachers who were teaching other English courses were not included in the study

Descriptive method of research was used in the study to determine the levels of writing and critical thinking skills of students The study made used of teacher made test for student respondents and survey questionnaire for teacher respondents

Significance of the Study

This study is important to different individuals, organizations and policy makers

Students This will be significant to the students as they will have

a chance to participate in a writing skills assessment study The results

of this work will benefit the students in general because a remedial strategy in this case a functional writing activity will be designed catering to their specific needs

Teachers This will benefit the teachers not only because the will

be involved in the study but they will also gain insights from the results and will have a chance to utilize the developed remedial activities for their future students

Administrators Results of the study will benefit them as they will

be guided by the findings on what decisions they will make regarding

the adequacy of the students’ writing skills and implement remedial measures that will improve students’ English writing skills of their schools

Parents Findings of the study give them information as to the

level of writing skills of their children and may find ways of helping them improve these skills through active participation in the learning process

Policy-makers The policymakers will be benefited from the

insight that will be gathered in this study They will be able to formulate specific and relevant laws that could influence the current educational

system as they will have a concrete basis for doing so

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the relevant conceptual and research literature which have bearing to the present study The literatures included are found substantial to the study and gives the necessary background to understand the present research It also presents the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the study, synthesis, and hypothesis, and definition of terms

Conceptual Literature

The following concepts which focused on English language skills, writing skills, critical thinking skills, functional English writing activities were reviewed to substantiate the study

English Language Skills The ability to comprehend receptive

language and use expressive language to communicate is referred to

as language skills An individual who possesses good spoken language skills is presumed to easily master reading and writing skills The concept of skill presupposes the possession of specific knowledge and characteristics as well as the capability to utilize the knowledge with a certain level of proficiency In the context of the English language skills, there are macro and micro skills that comprise the entire language skill

spectrum (www.englishclub.com/learn-english/language-skills.htm), thus proficiency in the English language requires a demonstrable proficiency

in the macro and the micro skills as well and these can be probed with a variety of tools or test instruments

The four component skills of language also referred to as the macro skills have been recognized as an established concept by language educators, these being the cornerstones for language learning

to achieve complete communication In learning the native language, these macro skills develops in a sequential manner where learning begins with listening followed by speaking, then by reading, and finally writing Thus, the four language skills referred to are: listening,

(www.englishclub.com/learn-english/language-skills.htm)

It is understood that these four language skills are related to each other in two ways: the direction of communication whether in or out and the method of communication that is whether spoken or written In the communication paradigm, the input process is sometimes called reception and output process is called production The term spoken is referred to as oral and the term written is sometimes referred to as textual While these four language skills are called the macro-skills, the term micro-skills is used to refer to the linguistic components such as

grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling (www.englishclub.com/learn-english/language-skills.htm)

Considered receptive skill in the oral mode is listening or listening comprehension This means that listening pertains to listening and understanding what is heared and not mere hearing of sounds without understanding When the first language is learned, the process was spontaneous and all the skills and background knowledge needed to understand what is heard, was complex but outside of one’s awareness The process becomes clear when what is involved in learning to understand what is heard in a second language is examined Listening situations can either be interactive or non-interactive In interactive listening situations, a face-to-face encounter occurs like conversations and telephone calls, in which parties are alternately listening and speaking, and in which they have a chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech from each other Non-interactive listening situations would include listening to the radio, TV, films, lectures, or sermons In these situations the person usually don't have the opportunity to ask for clarification, slower speech or repetition

According to Richards (1983, cited in Omaggio, 1986) there are micro-skills involved in understanding what someone is saying in an interactive listening situation These micro-skills involve the following:

retention of chunks of language in short-term memory; ability to discriminate among the distinctive sounds in the new language; ability

to recognize stress and rhythm patterns, tone patterns, intonational contours; ability to recognize reduced forms of words; ability to distinguish word boundaries; ability to recognize typical word-order patterns; ability to recognize vocabulary; ability to detect key words, such as those identifying topics and ideas; ability to guess meaning from context; ability to recognize grammatical word classes; ability to recognize basic syntactic patterns; ability to recognize cohesive devices; ability to detect sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object, prepositions, and the like

Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode Like the other skills, it is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more

three kinds of speaking situations identified These include: interactive, partially interactive, and non-interactive Interactive speaking situations include face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, in which one alternately listens and speaks, as well as having a chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech from the conversation partner Some speaking situations are partially interactive, such as when giving

a speech to a live audience, where the convention is that the audience does not interrupt the speech The speaker nevertheless can see the audience and judge from the expressions on their faces and body language whether the speaker is being understood Some few speaking situations may be totally non-interactive, such as when recording a speech for a radio broadcast

The following are the micro-skills involved in speaking The speaker has to pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can distinguish them This includes making tonal distinctions, use of stress and rhythmic patterns, and intonation patterns

of the language clearly enough so that people can understand what is being said using the correct forms of words This may mean changes in the tense, case, or gender; put words together in correct word order; use vocabulary appropriately; use the register or language variety that

is appropriate to the situation and the relationship to the conversation partner, making clear to the listener the main sentence constituents; such as subject, verb, object, by whatever means the language uses; making the main ideas stand out from supporting ideas or information; making the discourse hang together so that people can follow what one

is saying

Reading on the other hand, is the receptive skill in the written mode It can develop independently of listening and speaking skills, but often develops along with them, especially in societies with a highly-developed literary tradition Reading can help build vocabulary that helps listening comprehension at the later stages The micro-skills involved in reading includes the reader has to decipher the script like in

an alphabetic system or a syllabary which means establishing a relationship between sounds and symbols

In a pictograph system, it means associating the meaning of the words with written symbols, recognizing vocabulary, picking out key words, such as those identifying topics and main ideas, figuring out the meaning of the words, including unfamiliar vocabulary, from the written context, recognizing grammatical word classes such as noun or adjective, detect sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object, prepositions; recognizing basic syntactic patterns and reconstructing and inferring situations, goals and participants

Other reading micro skills use both knowledge of the world and lexical and grammatical cohesive devices to make the foregoing inferences, predict outcomes, and infer links and connections among the parts of the text including getting the main point or the most important information, distinguishing the main idea from supporting

details, adjusting reading strategies to different reading purposes such

as skimming for main ideas or studying in-depth

Writing is the productive skill in the written mode It is more complicated than it seems at first, and often seems to be the hardest of the skills, even for native speakers of a language, since it involves not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way Here are some of the micro-skills involved in writing The writer needs to use the orthography correctly, including the script, spelling, punctuation conventions and the use of the correct forms of words

This may mean using forms that express the right tense, or case

or gender; putting words together in correct word order; using vocabulary correctly; using the style appropriate to the genre and audience; making the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, and object, clear to the reader; making the main ideas distinct from supporting ideas or information, making the text coherent so that other people can follow the development of the ideas, judging how much background knowledge the audience has on the subject and making clear what it is assumed they don't know

The English Language Skills Assessment (ELSA) is a group of tests designed to assess the English language proficiency of testers

ELSA is intended for non-native speakers, and consists of different tests for different levels from beginners to advanced (Schmitt, 2000).These tests have been used for tracking the progress of learners studying English or to determine the English language proficiency for employment or education where English language skills are required These tests are targeted to international audience and are available in British English or American English

To cater to different age groups focused mainly on speakers belonging to the level A1 or A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, a modification of the ELSA, the Foundational English Language Skills Assessment (FELSA), was developed and characterized by slight conversational English language familiarity but are likely not able to succeed in school, business or travel in English

Apart from these skills assessment, language skill standards have been established Different organizations and state institutions have established their own language skill standards to be used as guide for their first language educational programs such as the compact Language Skills: Self Assessment Grid developed by the Council of Europe (See Appendix 1) In this model, the learner is empowered to identify the classification level of his skills and in so doing decide how

he would pursue his language skills development program In the UK,

the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has developed an line English Language Skills Assessment to cater to the needs of the various industries that used English language skills as a requisite for

The features of their English proficiency tests include reading, writing, speaking and listening tests that are quick and user-friendly and incorporating a single scale scoring system; four skills assessments that are available online; available paper based version aligned to the Council of Europe framework; recognised by universities and employers worldwide; instant results; on-demand availability; online registration; available practice tests; and certificates available on successful completion They also provide evaluation for specific industry needs like: English for Business (EFB); Spoken English for Industry and Commerce (SEFIC); Written English for Tourism (WEFT); Further Certificate for Teachers of Business English (FTBE)

In the US, the language council of Washington formulated the Map of Skills and Concepts which shows what students should know and be able to do when they exit Washington’s K12 system and claims that it is the destination for their literacy learning (See Appendix 2) This state standard also called the Common Core State Standards provide all students with an integrated approach to literacy, as opposed to

discrete separations among the skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the current standards This model, while beneficial in providing the link between skills, the concepts and how the concepts are to be treated in the different grade levels (K1-12), is not as comprehensive as the one formulated by the California State Board of Education (CDE, 2002) or the one adopted by the Colorado State Board

of Education which is based on the World-Class Instruction Design and

The Colorado English Language Proficiency Standards (CELP Standards)/ (WIDA) is organized in five grade level clusters and covers each of the five English language proficiency standards encompassing four language domains such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing The CELP/WIDA has six English language acquisition proficiency levels namely entering, beginning, developing, expanding, bridging and reaching

Meanwhile, the proficiency levels identification includes looking at linguistic complexity, the amount and quality of speech or writing for a given situation; forms and conventions, the types and variety of grammatical structures, conventions, mechanics and fluency; and vocabulary usage; the specificity of words or phrases for a given context

Another feature of CELP/WIDA is the inclusion of CAN DO descriptors These descriptors are examples of expectations of English language learners for each of the four language domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing and six levels of English language proficiency which include entering, beginning, developing, expanding, bridging and reaching There are CAN DO descriptors for each grade level clusters as well as the general PreK-12 spectrum The CAN DO Descriptors provide a starting point for working with English Language Learners (ELLs) and a collaborative tool for planning

The CELP Standards (WIDA) English language proficiency standards document includes some examples of formative and summative model performance indicators (MPIs) The MPIs are assessable tasks which students can be expected to do as they approach the transition to the next level of English language proficiency

In addition Model Performance Indicators can be developed to differentiate instruction for ELLs

Writing Skills Critical writing skills are defined by the following

characteristics which include using the writing process to practice the habits and processes of successful writers; writing in various modes or genres, including some that are primarily imaginative and some that are

communicating the central idea and related supporting, details with clear use of elaboration and organizational structures; writing purposefully and for specific audiences; writing in response to higher level questions about the content they encounter in textbooks, articles and literature in every discipline; applying standard English conventions

of spelling, grammar, and usage; and producing presentable handwritten and word processed documents

Writing skills are necessary and important especially in the area

of literacy that supports comprehension, critical and creative thinking across content areas Students’ writers would require a structured and supportive environment to be able to practice and develop the habits and processes of successful writers They have to develop in themselves writer’s habits and processes, apprenticing themselves to writers’ routines and rituals Teachers of writing can provide assistance

to this process through establishment of workshop-styled classroom where learning how to write would be modelled and taught in the context of ongoing and purposeful student work (Harvey & Lamb, 2002)

In an organized writing classroom, students would be able to read and study a variety of genres, examine the work of published authors, and would be guided on use of the elements of the various genres in

their own writing Students will be encouraged to create authentic products that reflect academic rigor for authentic purposes

The writing instructional strategies could be multifarious and provide all support to a quality-writing program Several teachers demonstrate, guide and teach using these strategies in order to provide varying amounts of support based on the instructional purpose and student needs The writing instructional strategies are classified into five levels of support and instruction and moves from the highest level of support or modelled writing to the lowest level of support or independent writing as students assume more and more of the responsibility for themselves (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996) as writers

The students are accepted as apprentice writers where they begin to build the necessary knowledge, beliefs, skills and dispositions needed to write effectively in a variety of genres and modes Using this approach, they become socialized as writers and able to manage their own learning Modelled writing is a high-level support instructional strategy that allows the students to hear the thinking that accompanies the process of writing, such as topic choice, planning the piece, looking for a better word, revising and editing The act of writing is purposefully made visible for students to enable them to see how writers think about their writing The teacher’s role in this situation is to demonstrate the

habits of a writer through modelling and thinks aloud Different topics will be included like content choices, voice, conventions, structures, and language features of written text The students’ role would be to listen to the language used to describe the thinking processes involved in writing, observes and uses metacognitive strategies specific to the types of writing taught (Key Components of Writing Instruction – Minneapolis Elementary Literacy Framework)

The students are made to contribute ideas while the teacher acts

as scribes in the shared writing instructional strategy The teachers demonstrate how expert writers write while the students observe during the writing session A written text is created for the classroom that students normally could not write independently through the shared writing process One type of shared writing approach is the language experience approach (LEA) Finished text is used for additional shared and independent reading in this setting

Discussion around a shared topic or concept and eliciting information from students is part of teacher roles as well as discussing the topic or concepts, sharing ideas with partners and in large group; serving as a scribe to record the text for students; contributing ideas to construct the content of the text; and demonstrating how to read the text aloud with appropriate intonation Joining in the reading of the text after

the teacher demonstrates and students rereading the text with partners

or individually are considered student roles

As regard to interactive writing as an instructional strategy where the teacher and children share the pen to write and create text used to provide instruction and assistance to children as they engage in writing Stimulating activity or setting the purpose prior to engaging students in the process of interactive writing is spearheaded by the teacher Sharing the pen with students while guiding and focusing their attention

on concepts of print and sounds in words; taking turns writing the text word-by-word on chart paper and/or white boards; providing the stimulus or opportunity for students to work in small groups to write together for a variety of purposes; writing in small groups after they can write words fluently on chart paper as part of literature, social studies, math and science content instruction and for other purposes are considered roles of both teacher and student Included also as part of their roles are utilization of post completed charts to support students shared and independent reading and writing, and while rereading completed charts words and sentences from chart for other writing activities may be used

Another type of writing instructional strategy that provides an opportunity for teachers to work with groups of students or an individual

student on effective writing strategies that are determined to be important through observation of student behaviours and work is guided writing Conferring with student groups or individuals on effective writing strategies and providing specific coaching based on student work and standards based rubrics Further, conferring with teacher and peers about the writing process and products; guiding the process of writing and editing, providing instruction when needed, planning actively and constructing the text, including editing for a correct finished product are also included in teachers’ and students’ roles are considered teachers’ and students’ roles

In addition, a writing instructional strategy that provides an opportunity for students to practice using the writing skills and strategies supported through modelled, shared, interactive, and guided writing instruction pertains to independent writing Providing opportunities for students to practice writing in a variety of genre; writing for authentic purposes and in a variety of genres; conferring with students about their writing throughout the writing process; conferring with teacher and peers throughout the writing process towards publication of work, are included in both teacher and student roles Independent writing which include using model of standards based rubrics to self-monitor writing process and products; self-monitoring of own learning of writing

strategies and skills and producing authentic writing products using standards based criteria are other teachers’ and students’ roles

In the writing process there are five stages involved The students are apprenticed and socialized in the knowledge, beliefs, skills and dispositions of published writers during the writing process The students are made to advance steadily through each of the stages when trained in this manner The time to write is considered a gift by the students as writing is a purposeful activity In writing, the five stages covers the planning and pre-writing stage where the students choose a topic and recognize a purpose and an audience and will be asked to produce, choose and arrange ideas and details to develop their topic Maintaining a writer’s notebook will be required to them where they can express their ideas, write words and respond to what they have read or heard

Supporting to this process through introduction and modelling of strategies using a variety of graphic organizers and strategies such as listing, note taking, outlining and webbing is considered the teacher’s role During this first stage where students will be trained as writers, they are taught by learning how published authors generate ideas for writing, by reading and identifying elements of a variety of genre,

brainstorming, role playing, drawing, taking notes, interviewing, visualizing, listening, and viewing

utilized by students in the drafting stage Students assume responsibility of writing their ideas down and to write knowing that they will rework the initial draft again as they are trained to write a particular genre and for a specific authentic purpose Allowing students the freedom to express their ideas knowing that they will be supported by peers and the teacher in moving their writing towards expected standards pertains to medium term objective

During the individual conferences, the students’ task is to seek responses to what they have written from the teacher in revising as a writing stage Feedback were consolidated from peers in response groups and during presentation of their work from the author’s chair The basis of student in revising their own work and self-management of the development of the select pieces of writing as well as themselves as writers are the feedback coming from different sources Considered the most beneficial part in the writing workshop to enable instruction and assessment to be personalized according to the individual student’s needs at this point is the individual conferences

The focused of the first part of the process will be on improving the elements of the first draft, its clarity, organization, coherence and fluency Raising questions, asking for help with specific writing problems and setting goals for improving their writing are the expectations to the students They will be making an active use of their prior knowledge and learning, adding transitional words, concrete language and sensory details, delete extraneous and repetitive details and make new word choices Students will be given the opportunity by the response group to meet with a small group or a partner to revise a draft, socializing intelligence for all the students

Using the language of standards and criteria in writing rubrics students will be engaged in accountable talk as a basis for providing responses The revision will be a continuous process until both the writer and the response partners are satisfied The writer and others will

be aided through self –management approach with ideas and ways to enhance and improve their drafts with the goal of moving to the final draft For further revision of students’ work-in-progress, the Author’s chair is a formal event where the students will schedule their turn at taking the chair to gain feedback Recognizing students’ efforts is done through connection with the thinking process and product at all levels of development

Mechanics such as grammar, spelling and punctuation are the focus at the editing stage of the process During a writing conference the writer at this point, works with peers and confers with the teacher

To enable the student to see their progress toward expected standards rubrics that are based on examples that meet the standards will be made clear and visible To emphasize that all published pieces would require this final step a number of pieces will be subjected to final editing Under Elements of Composition and in the NCEE standards under Language Use and Conventions the grade level standards for editing will appear in the MN standards

The students will produce an appropriately formatted document and present it to their intended audience in the Publishing stage Throughout the writing process, the format of the published document and its manner of presentation will depend mainly on the student’s purpose and based on the absolute standards that have been clear audience and will be graded During the Author’s Chair sessions as a culminating recognition of accomplishment and to other public audiences, the students will be presenting their completed piece of writing to the class

Grading writing on the other hand is a process that involves a formal evaluation of a written output Its main purpose of in the schools

is to gather information about what the student knows or can do or what

he does not know and cannot do It will be on this basis that the teacher will be able to coordinate and organize his or her work better (Harris and Hodges, 1995; Dahl and Farnan, 2000) The consolidated information will also be shared to the students to let them know of their progress (Trice 2000; Montgomery 2001) Good grading is not as much interested with numerical grades and a good grader focuses more on the things that are right, not on the things that are wrong according to Burkhardt (2002) Thus, good grading must first specify which information about writing skills is needed, about the outcome or text, writing process or social context (Myers, 1985).The text assessment will follow later

The assessment of the student’s texts can be done in a number

of ways One general approach is either through direct or indirect assessment (Dahl & Farnan 2000) For the indirect assessment, various tests are available, which are easy to compose, conduct and assess with a certain number, but this would mostly assess transcriptional skills

of the writer Writer’s knowledge of spelling, grammar and sentence structure will be shown by tests of this nature and in addition to that vocabulary, but not creating text as complex skill This indicates that indirect assessment measures different components of writing

The direct assessment evaluates the text and gives information about what should be improved on and what should be focused on There are three ways of direct assessment often used These are main characteristics, holistic and analytical assessment (Uusen, 2006)

In the assessment of the main characteristics, the evaluator wants to assess certain aspects of the written piece In this case, the teacher who is often the evaluator, would want some feedback whether the main goal of the writer is achieved or not In the holistic assessment,

a general assessment is made which means that the student gets one certain grade and for each grade there is a description: what level should the outcome be on Thus, the teacher will give the highest grade for the writing that is excellent and the lowest grade for those that is of lower quality The one grade however, does not give the student any information concerning what was done well or what should be improved

on The assessment with only one grade will only be useful when it is needed to give an overall opinion of the student’s work

In the assessment of the writing skill, it is clear that giving just one grade is not very useful for the teacher and as well as the student The analytical assessment takes this concern into consideration, and in contrast with the holistic approach, several characteristics or components of effective writing are graded Of the three mentioned

methods, a more thorough overview of the student’s writing skills is given by analytical assessment

Critical Thinking Skills Critical thinking is defined as an

intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action (Scriven, 1996) Although there are other more formal definitions of critical thinking, Angelo (1995) defined critical thinking as the intentional application of rational, higher order thinking skills, which involves analysis, synthesis, problem recognition and problem solving, inference, and evaluation

For the Center for Critical Thinking (1996b), critical thinking is thinking that assesses itself It is also defined as the ability to think about one's thinking in such a way as to recognize its strengths and weaknesses and, as a result, to recast the thinking in improved form (Center for Critical Thinking, 1996c) The simplest definition of critical thinking is the one given by Beyer (1995) which states that critical thinking means making reasoned judgments and the ability to utilize criteria to judge the quality of something, from cooking to a conclusion

of a research paper Thus, critical thinking can be viewed as a