Some methods help class 8d students at nhu ba sy secondary school improve their writing skills

But this good advice will be lost on you if you do not believe writing skills are important and can help students achieve academic mastery.. Therefore, I have decided to choose “ Some me

A INTRODUCTION

Writing skills can be the ticket to better school grades and greater academic achievement This research introduces a few techniques for applying writing skills to school success But this good advice will be lost on you if you do not believe writing skills are important and can help students achieve academic mastery My job is to convince you To begin with, the overwhelming majority of instructors we surveyed said that writing skills are critical to academic success

And if you see yourself as one of those secondary school students who will say "Phew" when the syllabus reveals only exams and no papers, what happens when those exams turn out to be essay tests? This article suggests a few ways to raise students’ grade on those exams simply by employing the principles of good writing even if students study no harder and know the material no better than you do now

Perhaps you've heard that no one cares about your grades once you leave the halls of academia While that notion holds some truth, it is equally true that most potential employers do care about writing skills They care so much that they bemoan the poor preparation of the entry-level pool of grads In a labor force full of mediocre writers, someone who writes well is bound to stand out and succeed

Academicians and business people view writing skills as crucial, yet increasing numbers of these professionals note a steady erosion in the writing abilities of graduates The summary of a study published in Personnel Update states: "Writing skills of executives are shockingly low, indicating that schools and colleges dismally fail with at least two-thirds of the people who pass through the education pipeline coming out unable to write a simple letter."

In 1988, Lin Grensing reported that 79 percent of surveyed executives cited writing as one of the most neglected skills in the business world, yet one of the most important to productivity A 1992 survey of 402 companies reported

by the Associated Press noted that executives identified writing as the most valued skill but said 80 percent of their employees at all levels need to improve The number of workers needing improvement in writing skills was

up 20 percent from results of the same survey in 1991 Results of a 1993 study by Olsten Corp., a placement agency, were almost identical: 80 percent

of 443 employers surveyed said their workers needed training in writing skills

Writing skills are an important part of communication Good writing skills allow people to communicate their message with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversations

They might be called upon to write a report, plan or strategy at work; write a grant application or press release within a volunteering role; or they may fancy communicating their ideas online via a blog And, of course, a well written C.V or résumé with no spelling or grammatical mistakes is essential

if they want a new job

Today, when anyone can be their own publisher, we see more and more examples of poor writing skills both in print and on the web Poor writing skills create poor first impressions and many readers will have an immediate negative reaction if they spot a spelling or grammatical mistake As just one example, a spelling mistake on a commercial web page may cause potential customers to doubt the credibility of the website and the organisation

We use language, both in its written and spoken form, in an attempt to better communicate with those around us The better a person is able to speak, read and write this language, then the better they will be able to communicate with others who use the same language to communicate “Good writing skills can make our material easier to understand, more respected, and actually paid attention to If you can't engage someone in what you are trying

to say, why do you think they would listen to you?” “Good persuasive skills are also writing skills, and with this past election, we've seen how important

it is to get people to your side of thinking.” Without good writing skills, grades could totally be affected Term papers would not be written well People would more than likely be bored and not to listen to a word you said

“More and more companies today are looking for Job applicants that have good writing skills The Instructors that were surveyed said that writing skills are critical to academic success.” with good writing skills, come good communication skills It is important for people to understand your thoughts and ideas in a clear way I have found that reading helps your writing skills a

great deal Therefore, I have decided to choose “ Some methods help class 8D students at Nhu Ba Sy Secondary School improve their writing skills”

B THE REASONS FOR THIS RESEARCH.

Anyone - whether they are an English teacher or student – will tell themselves the four main skills they need to develop when learning a second language are speaking, listening, reading and…writing Naturally, learning

to speak the second language is often the priority Listening is essential for speaking, and students easily practice listening skills through movies and songs Reading is also a skill they may develop easily with the vast amount of material available on the Internet But writing is usually the skill that is most poorly developed, nowadays only practiced in short emails, abbreviated chat messages or some simple forms

It is very easy to work on the first three skills in the English classroom, but improving writing takes a real conscious effort both on our part and our students’ This is the reason why I choose this top pic for my research

C THE CONTENTS.

I.Justification:

1 Teaching purposes :

The purpose of foreign language teaching is not only to provide students with the knowledge of that language , but the ultimate goal of teaching foreign languages in general and English in particular is helping students gain the ability to communicate in English The ability of students to communicate through skills : Listening, Speaking , Reading and Writing English writing skills of students are formed through a process of academic training in English environment In addition to learning in the classroom , students have to study with different methods

Writing is the ability to use language knowledge for the purposes of writing in English

2 The basic factors directly impact the effectiveness of the writing lesson

a Teacher:

- With the new teaching method , teacher plays a positive role in directing and controlling students in most classroom activities

- To carry out an effective writing lesson, teachers should implement the following basic elements :

1.View the improvement of students’ writing as our responsibility.

Teaching writing is not only the job of the English department alone Writing

is an essential tool for learning a discipline and helping students improve their writing skills is a responsibility for all faculty

2 Let students know that we value good writing.

Stress the importance of clear, thoughtful writing Faculty who tell students that good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized receive better essays than instructors who don't make such demands In the syllabus,

on the first day, and throughout the term, remind students that they must make their best effort in expressing themselves on paper Back up your

statements with comments on early assignments that show you really mean it, and your students will respond

3 Regularly assign brief writing exercises in our classes

To vary the pace of a lecture course, ask students to write a few minutes during class Some mixture of in-class writing, outside writing assignments, and exams with open-ended questions will give students the practice they need to improve their skills

4 Provide guidance throughout the writing process

After you 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

5 Don't feel as though we have to read and grade every piece of your students' writing

Ask students to analyze each other's work during class, or ask them to

critique their work in small groups Students will learn that they are writing

in order to think more clearly, not obtain a grade Keep in mind, you can collect students' papers and skim their work

6.Find other faculty members who are trying to use writing more

effectively in their courses

Pool ideas about ways in which writing can help students learn more about the subject matter See if there is sufficient interest in your discipline to

warrant drawing up guidelines Students welcome handouts that give them specific instructions on how to write papers for a particular course or in a particular subject area

7.Remind students that writing is a process that helps us clarify ideas

Tell students that writing is a way of learning, not an end in itself Also let them know that writing is a complicated, messy, nonlinear process filled with false starts Help them to identify the writer's key activities:

Developing ideas

Finding a focus and a thesis

Composing a draft

Getting feedback and comments from others

Revising the draft by expanding ideas, clarifying meaning, reorganizing

Editing

Presenting the finished work to readers

8.Explain that writing is hard work

Share with your class your own struggles in grappling with difficult topics If they know that writing takes effort, they won't be discouraged by their own pace or progress One faculty member shared with students their notebook that contained the chronology of one of his published articles: first ideas, successive drafts, submitted manuscript, reviewers' suggested changes,

revised version, galley proofs, and published article

9.Give students opportunities to talk about their writing

Students need to talk about papers in progress so that they can formulate their thoughts, generate ideas, and focus their topics Take five or ten minutes of class time for students to read their writing to each other in small groups or pairs It's important for students to hear what their peers have written

10.Encourage students to revise their work

Provide formal steps for revision by asking students to submit first drafts of papers for your review or for peer critique You can also give your students the option of revising and rewriting one assignment during the semester for a higher grade Faculty report that 10 to 40 percent of the students take

advantage of this option

11.Explain thesis statements

A thesis statement makes an assertion about some issue A common student problem is to write papers that present overviews of facts with no thesis statement or that have a diffuse thesis statement

12.Stress clarity and specificity

The more the abstract and difficult the topic, the more concrete the student's language should be Inflated language and academic jargon camouflage rather than clarify their point

13.Explain the importance of grammar and sentence structure, as well as content

Students shouldn't think that English teachers are the only judges of grammar and style Tell your students that you will be looking at both quality of their writing and the content

13.Ask a composition instructor to give a presentation to the students

Invite a guest speaker from the composition department or student learning center to talk to your students about effective writing and common writing problems Faculty who have invited these experts report that such presentations reinforce the values of the importance of writing

14.Let students know about available tutoring services

Individual or group tutoring in writing is available on most campuses Ask someone from the tutoring center to give a demonstration in your class

15.Use computers to help students write better

Locally developed and commercially available software are now being used

by faculty to help students plan, write, and revise their written work Some software available allows instructors to monitor students' work in progress and lets students collaborate with their classmates

16.Ask students to write what they know about a topic before you discuss

it

Ask your students to write a brief summary of what they already know or what opinions they hold regarding the subject you are about to discuss The purpose of this is to focus the students' attention, there is no need to collect the summaries

17.Ask students to respond in writing to questions you pose during class

Prior to class starting, list two or three short-answer questions on the board and ask your students to write down their responses Your questions might call for a review of material you have already discussed or recalling information from assigned readings

18.Ask students to write from a pro or con position

When presenting an argument, stop and ask your students to write down all the reasons and evidence they can think of that supports one side or the other These statements can be used as the basis for discussion

19.During class, pause for a three-minute write

Periodically ask students to write freely for three minutes on a specific

question or topic They should write whatever pops into their mind without worrying about grammar, spelling, phrasing, or organization This kind of free writing, according to writing experts, helps students synthesize diverse ideas and identify points they may not understand There is no need to collect these exercises

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

At the end of the class period, give your students index cards to jot down the key themes, major points, or general principles of the day's discussion You can easily collect the index cards and review them to see whether the class understood the discussion

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

By taking minutes, students get a chance to develop their listening, synthesizing, and writing skills Boris (1983) suggests the following:

Prepare your students by having everyone take careful notes for the class period, go home and rework them into minutes, and hand them in for comments It can be the students' discretion whether the minutes are in outline or narrative form

Decide on one to two good models to read or distribute to the class

At the beginning of each of the following classes, assign one student to take minutes for the period

Give a piece of carbon paper to the student who is taking minutes so that you can have a rough copy The student then takes the original home and revises it

in time to read it aloud at the next class meeting

After the student has read their minutes, ask other students to comment on their accuracy and quality If necessary, the student will revise the minutes and turn in two copies, one for grading and one for your files

22 Structure small group discussion around a writing task

For example, have your students pick three words that are of major

importance to the day's session Ask your class to write freely for two to three minutes on just one of the words Next, give the students five to ten minutes

to meet in groups to share what they have written and generate questions to ask in class

23 Use peer response groups

Divide your class into groups of three or four, no larger Ask your students to bring to class enough copies of a rough draft of a paper for each person in their group Give your students guidelines for critiquing the drafts In any response task, the most important step is for the reader to note the part of the paper that is the strongest and describe to the writer why it worked so well The following instructions can also be given to the reader:

State the main point of the paper in a single sentence

List the major subtopics

Identify confusing sections of the paper

Decide whether each section of the paper has enough detail, evidence, and information

Indicate whether the paper's points follow one another in sequence

Judge the appropriateness of the opening and concluding paragraphs

Identify the strengths of the paper

Written critiques done as homework are likely to be more thoughtful, but critiques may also be done during the class period

24.Use read-around groups

Read-around groups are a technique used with short assignments which allows everyone to read everyone else's paper Divide the class into groups no larger than four students and divide the papers (coded for anonymity) into as many sets as there are groups Give each group a set and ask the students to read each paper silently and decide on the best paper in the set Each group should discuss their choices and come to a consensus on the best paper The paper's code number is recorded by the group, and the same process is

repeated with a new set of papers After all the groups have read all the sets

of papers, someone from each group writes on the board the code number from the best paper in each set The recurring numbers are circled Generally, one to three papers stand out

25.Ask students to identify the characteristics of effective writing.

After completing the read-around activity, ask your students to reconsider those papers which were voted as excellent by the entire class and to write down features that made each paper outstanding Write their comments on the board, asking for elaboration and probing vague generalities In pairs, the students discuss the comments on the board and try to put them into

categories such as organization, awareness of audience, thoroughness of detail, etc You might need to help your students arrange the characteristics into meaningful categories

b Students:

In the relationship between teaching and learning : Teachers who organize, control students to actively gain the knowledge to dominate the actions of their own intellectual role

To have good writing skill , students should have the following necessary tragedies in English writing lesson

1.Understand the task.

Say the words “writing assignment”, and we will most likely hear students

groan Writing is a chore It’s hard work And we shouldn’t deceive them by saying it will be fun Writing is a skill that must be honed through practice But why would they put in the hard work? What’s their motivation?

It’s easy to find it in Business English students Most need to write business emails and texts But what about teens and young learners? In these cases, you’ll need to convey the importance of good writing skills It is essential for them to know how to communicate, not only in speaking, but in writing And

we must make it clear that sending a text message in English does not

constitute good writing Writing is a skill that will prove to be tremendously helpful in the future and they must understand that.

2.Schedule regular writing assignments

Teachers often also prioritize the other skills above writing It is harder to teach and more time-consuming to correct Make sure to give students schedule regular writing assignments every month - we may choose to make

it once a week, once a month, or at the end of a unit