2010 EDULEARNConference Paper
2010 EDULEARNConference Paper
2010 EDULEARNConference Paper
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Ali Merç
Anadolu University
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Abstract
The teaching of writing skills in a communicative and systematic way is inevitable considering the fact
that students should be aware of the subject matters they learn and operate on while studying a
foreign language. In this study, two classroom applications in which a consciousness raising task was
implemented are presented with teacher and student reflections. The classroom applications mainly
focused on writing in a collaborative manner with 23 Turkish EFL learners. The classroom procedure
was videotaped and transcribed in order to reflect further on the experience. The results of the
classroom applications were satisfying enough to discuss the importance of noticing and collaborative
work in writing. Certain implications for teaching writing are also discussed.
Keywords: teaching writing skills, task-based language teaching, academic writing, action research.
1 INTRODUCTION
Writing is defined as “a process of communication which uses a conventional graphic system to
convey a message to a reader” (Lindemann 1982, p. 11). Considering this definition, the implication
for writing skills in a communicative and systematic way seems inevitable. Another important point in
teaching a foreign language as what certain scholars put forward is that students should be aware of
the subject matters they learn and operate on (Fotos 1993, Thornbury 1997, Willis 1996).
Conducting consciousness-raising activities in advanced writing classrooms has also been the
research interest of some studies on teaching writing (Clark & Ivanic 1991, Dyer 1996, Horowitz 1986,
Reppen 1994), and the findings of these studies endorsed the view that those activities supported the
learners’ learning positively. From the very low level students who are only supposed to write the
colors of the objects they see to the ones writing academic research papers, awareness raising
activities are believed to be advantageous and essential.
The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it aims to give theoretical background about the process-
oriented approach to writing, academic writing courses, and consciousness raising tasks considering
the characteristics of the classrooms in which writing is taught at advance level. Second, two
classroom applications in which a consciousness raising task was implemented are presented with
teacher and student reflections. Certain implications for teaching writing will also be discussed.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
In response to the aim of this paper, a theoretical background on process approach to writing, nature
of the academic writing courses, and consciousness raising tasks to teaching writing will be given.
4.1 Reflection
In order to reflect on the classroom application of the task, the teacher’s ideas and the students’
written evaluations about the tasks were used.
First, I, as the classroom teacher, think that the task was quite beneficial for those first year students
who studied writing essays during the whole year since it gave them the chance to see all the essay
types in one task. Moreover, they were asked to work in two different groups in each of which they had
different roles to complete the group’s work. It gave them certain responsibilities and they experienced
the advantages of working in groups. They were also able to see how their group members could
benefit from the information they had to come to a group decision. Furthermore, they were able to
form conclusion paragraphs and had the opportunity to review the components of a good conclusion
paragraph. Finally, it was quite enjoyable for them to put titles for the essays they completed which
were not so demanding, and it was real fun for them to compare them with the original titles.
From the students’ points of view the task implemented was also beneficial as they stated. Most of the
students saw that activity as useful for getting prepared for their final exams in which they were
supposed to write an essay since the task gave them the opportunity to review all essay types. They
also stated the advantages of group work jigsaw principle in the formation of the groups which was an
application they weren’t accustomed to doing. The most important evaluation by the students was that
they indicated the necessity of conducting this kind of activities all over the term in order to review the
essay types they learned. One of the students’ evaluation about the task implemented was as follows
in his/her own words:
By the help of the exercises that we have done in the first lesson, I restated my lacks about
the details in writing and while evaluating a paragraph. That’s very useful type of exercise. I
will try it until the examination on different passages.
5.1 Reflection
For the secondary classroom application, videotaped and transcribed data for the lesson were used by
the teacher together with oral student evaluations about the task implemented. Student evaluations
based on the task evaluation sheet could not be taken into account because of time limitation that it
was the last time the teacher and the students met.
The videotaped data clearly showed that students engaged in the task actively. They also enjoyed the
group activities since they had to form two different groups and work with different people. Although
they had difficulty to identify the types of the essays in their first groups with only one paragraph, the
whole essay in their second group helped them to decide on the type of the essay. It was also
enjoyable for them to match the titles they created and the original ones. Also, as would-be teachers
they had the opportunity to see how to conduct a group writing activity in the classroom in terms of
design and control.
From the students’ points of view, the task was found to be useful since it gave them the opportunity to
see a task in operation different from the suggested ones in their course books. Moreover, they
admitted that they had forgotten the essay types they had learned in the first year, and it was the
chance for them to review them. Finally, although it was not checked by the teacher, the students
thought that it would be very beneficial for them to evaluate the task at home for both future
experiences and getting prepared for the exam in which they would be responsible for evaluating the
writing tasks given.
In summary, the consciousness-raising task implemented in two different classrooms was found to be
quite advantageous for attracting students’ attention and for preparing them for future experiences.
Although it was a task which was created by the classroom teacher in terms of the needs of certain
students, task-based activities or consciousness-raising tasks suggested by certain scholars (Clark &
Ivaniç 1991,Dyer 1996, Flower 1979, Horowitz 1986, Reppen 1994) can be adapted and used in L2
writing classrooms. The outcomes of those awareness-raising activities certainly indicate that students
will gain new insights for group activities and their attitudes towards academic writing will change
positively.
6 CONCLUSION
In this paper, two classroom applications of a consciousness raising task for advanced writing courses
were discussed and reflections on the implementations were presented. The theoretical background
on teaching writing, process-oriented approach and consciousness-raising tasks in writing classrooms
were related to task created by the classroom teacher. The results of the classroom applications were
satisfying enough to discuss the importance of noticing and collaborative work in writing.
What every writing teacher should know is that students frequently need certain amount of awareness
raising activities in which they can fill in the gaps about the subject they previously learned and review
the important points underlined. Moreover, not only for advanced writing courses but also for the lower
level students this sort of tasks would be encouraging, enjoyable and informative so as to reduce the
anxiety the students feel and to change their negative attitudes towards writing into positive.
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