NOTE Unit 14 Teaching Writing and Grammar
NOTE Unit 14 Teaching Writing and Grammar
NOTE Unit 14 Teaching Writing and Grammar
Teachers will be able to identify and recognize how culture and worldview
affect students’ understanding and approach to writing.
Teachers will be able to help students to engage in the process of writing in
creative, interesting and authentic ways.
Teachers will be able to identify ways to teach writing and include grammar
instruction.
Teachers will be able to identify ways to assess writing and grammar,
including the use of rubrics.
Teachers will be able to manage a writing class in a Chinese context.
Teachers will be able to plan activities that engage students with a wide range
of abilities.
Writing is involved in every type of course you will teach. You may
want students to write answers on a worksheet in sentences,
practice using tenses in paragraphs or write a full essay. Beyond
your class, students will be required to write for
national/international exams and possibly their future jobs. For your
students in China who write using Chinese characters, writing may
begin with learning how to form the English letters of the Roman
alphabet! Have you ever tried to write something in a foreign
language?
Whether or not this is true for you, grammar is not something that
can be ignored in a language classroom. Although grammar should
be taught in all classroom contexts, it is included in this unit
because writing is a class where the teacher and students will
encounter and review a lot of grammatical issues. Earlier in “The
English Language System” unit an overview of the English
grammatical system was covered, but in this unit, we will focus
more on strategies for teaching and assessing grammar.
Journal Reflection
Research History
Research the past couple
decades has confirmed the numerous benefits and positive impact
writing has on students’ learning and development. Although that is
probably not very surprising, research has also shown that it is just
as important in how writing is taught and presented. Some research
has shown that students have greater improvement in classes that
feature some writing even though their classes aren’t “writing
classes.” Later in Section 3, we will discuss the question “What is a
writing class?” but for now here are several key points that research
has emphasized and how that may play out in your classroom.
Introduction
Most EFL classes today have an integrated approach, meaning that
the classes you end up teaching will most likely have a combined
focus on listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, there
are some universities that will focus more on one area, like a writing
class. When teaching a writing class, you may have to consider your
school’s requirements, goals and objectives for that class as well
your students’ cultural expectations related to their “writing class.”
Sorting through all this information can be overwhelming as you try
to figure out how to simply write a thesis statement. It can be hard
to find a starting point as you begin planning your class.
Compositional Structure
Every culture (and therefore every language) presents information
in different ways. However, second language writers will often utilize
the rhetorical or writing strategies of their first language. In the
future, when one of your Chinese students presents you with an
essay that seems to ramble and lack a main point, please keep this
in mind! The rhetorical structure of oriental cultures is vastly
different from the Western system. Kaplan’s “Doodles” is a well-
known contrast of these different cultural systems and can help us
understand how meaning is presented differently:
There are several take-aways from this. The first is that in English
writing we state the thesis in the beginning, but the thesis
statement in Chinese writing is placed later in the essay, usually in
the ending. Secondly, in English writing the conclusion is used to
reassert the thesis. However, in Chinese writing the ending is used
to state the thesis which usually opposes the beginning assertion or
ideas.
Values
Another difference between Chinese and English writing is shown in
their cultural values. In writing this plays out in different ways. First,
Chinese culture is a high context society whereas English societies
tend to be low context. This means that in writing, an English
composition should be explicit and direct in their explanation
Cultural values also play out in the tone of writing and the writing
style. In Chinese society where being reserved and humility are
valued, it may be hard for your students to write in the concise and
straight-forward style that is considered “good writing” in English
writing. “From a Chinese reader’s point of view, being reserved is
seen as humility, which a good writer should possess. When a
Chinese tries to voice her or his own opinions, she or he is not
expected to express opinions directly. Instead, it is necessary to
keep distance from the readers with a soft tone.” (Cheng, 2005)
Teacher’s Response
So, what can you do to use models and formulas in your writing
class? Here are a few practical suggestions:
Have students study samples of English writing, pointing out commonalities of
structure and rhetoric.
Do a contrastive analysis between an English writing sample and a Chinese
writing sample.
Have your students consider their worldviews and discuss the worldviews of
native English speakers. The process of writing to another audience must first
start with being aware of your own worldviews and how they are different in
different cultures.
Some other things to look for in models could include the following: layout;
overall message and how it’s expressed; organization; specific
phrases/sentences; distinctive grammatical features, style, tone, and effect on
the reader.
Use formulas for things like topic sentences, thesis statements, and
conclusion sentences in a model will likely result in your students copying
those things in their own work, especially if you draw their attention to the
patterns during your lesson.
Teacher’s Response
Audience and Intent
Audience
For any piece of writing, the writer must ask who is being
addressed: “Who am I writing for?” The writer’s audience may be
real or intended readers, or it may be an audience that the writer
has created based on implied response or attitude. Writing an essay
for a TOEFL test will be different in tone and structure than writing a
text message to your friends! Knowing for whom something is
written helps any reader clarify what is being said and helps any
writer focus on how to communicate what they want to
communicate. A clear recognition of the author’s intended audience
goes a long way in helping the reader to understand the meaning
and determine the effectiveness of the writing under consideration.
Intent
Introduction
Writing Process
Imagine that you sit at your desk, pencil in hand, and a blank piece
of paper before you. The writing task has begun but you struggle to
get the ideas onto paper. The clock is ticking, you feel a drop of
sweat on your forehead, but all you’ve got is one sentence. Have
you ever felt that way? Some people may find writing tasks a
breeze, but many students can relate with the struggle to express
their ideas clearly in written form. If you’re writing in a second
language, you can imagine the task is even more daunting!
The process of writing is meant to help productivity by breaking
up the writing task into manageable steps.
As mentioned in earlier sections of this unit, your students’ writing
instruction was most likely based on a rigid set of rules and
principles that were transmitted from the teacher to the class. Your
students often wrote a response from selected written texts. They
probably spent more time copying models of good writing rather
than expressing their own ideas creatively. Correct spelling,
grammar, and organization were the most important aspects of
writing in a second language.
Step 1: Pre-Writing
Step 3: Post-Writing
When the first draft is finished, it’s time to improve the writing. At
this point the teacher can use several methods for revising
students’ draft. The teachers can review the drafts themselves or
use peer feedback. Regardless of the method used the focus should
first be on meaning. Sentences can be reorganized, added in, or
taken out to clarify meaning and intention. The text should be
revised so it flows logically and coherently. Once the writing is
revised, it’s time to look at the smaller details and language.
Grammatical mistakes or vocabulary errors can be corrected.
Finally, once the final draft is achieved, the writing tasks should be
shared to give the writer a sense of achievement. In addition, the
work should be assessed. There are several ways of assessing
writing (which we’ll talk about in a later section of this unit), but this
can be done by the teacher, peers, or through self-assessment.
Many students might struggle with writing or believe they are not
good writers, but focusing on the process will help them be more
productive and effective in their second-language writing
task.
You may have to repeat this to your students a couple times before
they start believing it!
Writing Skills–Teaching Writing by Focusing on
Writing Skills–1
Skills:
Skills–2
Academic Writing
This essay asks students to write out the steps for completing a
task, such as cooking a cultural dish. A sample prompt would be,
“How to cook Beijing duck.” This writing task is great for reinforcing
organizational writing skills such as outlining, using discourse
connectors (first, second, third) and practicing description
skills. (Make sure you get a chance to eat 北京烤鸭 běijīng kǎoyā.)
This task is probably where a teacher will have the most problems
with plagiarism. One key to successfully teaching this task in a class
is to make sure that you have enough time for your students to
really learn and master all the skills required to complete this task.
A lot of time needs to be spent emphasizing the process of writing
and on the pre-writing stage for students to do this well. More time
will need to be spent on finding good research, developing a thesis,
referencing a paper, and even teaching students how to paraphrase.
Classroom Contexts
Not all writing tasks need to be centered around writing a large text
or essays. There are a lot of different writing activities that can be
used in and out of a writing classroom that are just as effective in
teaching/reinforcing language skills.
Here are some writing tasks that are very adaptable and flexible.
They can be adapted to be completed in the beginning of class as a
warm-up or used to reinforce a certain writing skill. It is up to the
teacher’s ability and creativity. This is not a comprehensive or
extensive list. There are a large number of resources and ideas
available on the internet, but this can be a starting point for any
teacher looking for simple activities to fill out 10-30 minutes of class
time.
The teacher plays a song in class. You can play it once or as many
times as your students would tolerate the song. After listening to
the song, the students write a response to the song and its lyrics
and describe how it makes them feel. This activity could also be
tweaked to include certain requirements such as “Listen for this
grammar pattern” or “write your own lyrics.”
For this writing activity the teacher will need to organize students
into groups or rows. The students will each have a piece of paper
and they begin by writing the first sentence of a story. The teacher
can give students freedom to write what they like, or requirements,
like vocabulary or sentence structure. After the first sentence is
written the students will pass their paper down the row to the next
person in their group. Their classmate will then continue the story
by writing however they see fit. Then the paper is passed on to the
third person for the third sentence. This continues until either it
rotates back to the original person or until the teacher decides to
end the activity. The students will then read their stories out loud.
Hilarity will ensue.
Introduction
Meaning
Use
Even if students can recite the rules and state the meaning, that
does not necessarily indicate that a student is prepared to apply this
knowledge in a real-world scenario. Students have a lot of choices to
make when using a foreign language: what words to use, what level
of formality is required, what tense to use, etc. It can be difficult to
correctly identify the structure that will best convey one’s meaning.
Teachers need to guide students in such a way that they become
skilled at navigating these decisions in the midst of having
conversations.
Section 14.6: Strategies for Teaching Grammar –
Deductive Teaching
Deductive Teaching–1
Practice
This does not mean that a teacher needs to structure a whole class
period around a grammar structure. Instead, the teacher should
ensure the students can practice the grammar structure in enough
contexts and with enough repetitions for them to feel confident
using it in their speaking or writing.
Deductive Teaching–2
Deductive Teaching–4
(3) Independent Practice
Teaching
Inductive Teaching–1
One of the most effective ways to teach grammar and its rules is to
let the students figure out the rules on their own. This is a student-
centered approach that allows the students the opportunity to
notice what is happening in language before receiving instruction
from the teacher. By giving students examples or noticing
activities of the target grammar structure, students can identify
the structures they see in different sentences. They can then
attempt to formulate hypotheses regarding the rules of this
particular structure. The teacher can elicit discussion about what the
students saw, what they thought about the rules, and together the
class can piece together some rules about when and how to use a
form.
After the students have underlined the verbs, the teacher can then
instruct the students to circle all of the names (subjects). Once the
students have identified the subjects and verbs in the paragraph,
the teacher can ask some leading questions to prompt the students
to discover the rules. Some questions to ask might include:
Exceptions
Anyone who has studied English has at some point realized that for
every grammar rule, there is an exception. For students who feel
confident in their use of a particular structure, it can be incredibly
discouraging to say something only to be met with correction or
confusion. It may be tempting for teachers to brush aside these
issues by informing the student that it is an exception and
exceptions must be memorized, but this ultimately does not prepare
the student to use the language accurately without the guidance of
the teacher. Teachers must help students see beyond the list of
rules that they may cling to so tightly, so that students can see
broader concepts. Again, reinforcing the concept that grammar
exists in order to convey meaning will help students to see grammar
as part of a bigger context. Remember that by using the term
“rules”, we indicate that there are consequences for breaking the
rules. This can become complicated when using a language.
However, teachers need not be afraid of exceptions, but rather they
should view these as opportunities for further language research.
Feedback
Introduction
Giving Feedback–1
The teacher has a very pivotal role in the writing process, as they
will not only facilitate and assess the task, but also give key input
and feedback into how the writing should be revised. Feedback is
any input from the teacher to the student (writer) that provides
information useful for revision.
Teacher Roles
Feedback is not only important for the student; it also allows the
teacher to take on different roles in class. There are different roles
the teacher can take, and they must decide which one they will take
when giving feedback.
For example, the teacher can give feedback from the point of view
of the:
“This paragraph needs more detail; try a pre-writing strategy to collect more
information.”
“Write another introduction and then show both to your review group in class
tomorrow.”
“The last paragraph of your essay focuses on your third point; now you need
to write a concluding paragraph.”
“Your thesis statement indicates that you will discuss [X], but in the second
paragraph you talk about [Y]–why?”
“You have five short sentences in a row here. Try combining several of the
sentences in this paragraph.”
As for the grammar, avoid the temptation to edit and make the
paragraph correct. Getting into the routine of correcting student
writing is a time waster. First, students likely learn nothing (they
may or may not even read your corrections) because you did it for
them. Second, they have no incentive to pay attention to their
grammar in the future, because they know that you will fix it for
them. Third, you will slowly lose your mind!
Journals/Reflection Questions
Journals are a great tool for teachers to make on-going assessments
and to check for comprehension. Teachers can get students to write
a response about how they feel about their writing, or if they have
any questions about the class. Journals are also a great way for
teachers to give students encouragement and feedback.
Portfolios
Rubrics
The two most important things when creating a rubric are making
sure you carefully think through what you are assessing and
verifying that the categories do not overlap. Students should not
typically lose points in two areas for the same mistake.
Methods for Assessing Writing–2
Using the “Example Rubric 1” below, you can see if a student does
not have topic sentences or thesis statements, they would also have
points deducted from the “General Structure” category since there
are things missing from the general structure. “General Structure”
on this rubric, then, must reflect other elements, such as: visually
separated paragraphs, having an introduction, body, and conclusion
as well as including a title at the top, and a bibliography at the end
(since sources are used).
Unfortunately, predicting exactly what mistakes students will and
will not make in their writing is impossible. Allow yourself to make
changes to the rubric after receiving student work. For example,
when using the following rubric, if a student writes an essay that has
the correct general structure, but is incoherent in that it cannot be
followed and understood, where would it fit in the rubric? Perhaps
another student did not include any information from resources.
There is no place to indicate that on the rubric. It is ok to add things
to appropriate point values as you discover unexpected mistakes in
student work. Simply make a note at the bottom of the rubric to
support why they have received the score you have given. Then,
before using the rubric again, update it to better reflect what you
expect to find in student work.
You can create your own rubrics, or use a website that creates them
for you, like Rubistar.
Peer Feedback
students are using the wrong punctuation, verb tense, etc., it could
mean that they do not have the correct understanding of the rules
or grammar structure. A teacher can assess that for each student by
using a variety of deductive activities to find out students’
understanding.
Introduction
Imagine you spent an hour preparing a writing activity that you are
excited about and you’ve spent 10 minutes of class time explaining
the activity to your students. “They’re going to be so excited!” you
think. After your instructions you ask, “Are you ready to begin?”
Instead of excited and eager looks, you get blank stares and sleepy
eyelids. They are not ready.
If this happens to you your first few class periods in writing, don’t be
discouraged. It will take some time for your students to get used to
you and for you to get used to them. In the meantime, there are
some things you can do to smooth the adjustment process.
Imagine that your friend was giving you instructions to bake a cake.
Now imagine that your friend told you all the steps at once and then
said, “Ok, that’s how you bake a cake! Are you ready?” Now,
imagine your friend did it in a foreign language. Would you be able
to bake that cake?
That’s probably how your students feel if you give them all the
instructions for a writing task at once. No matter how easy you think
the instructions or task may be, don’t forget that students are also
doing this in their L2. Much like how we would follow a recipe step-
by-step it is important to chunk your instructions and break it down
into parts or steps. Once you feel students are confident in following
those steps, move on to the next step.
This goes with using visual aids, but as it was mentioned in Section
3 that students love samples and models. Modelling your
instructions means that as you give instructions, perform the steps
in front of them as you go. Chalkboards and whiteboards are
standard equipment across China, and you can use them to model
for your students your expectations and instructions.
Giving Instructions–2
Response
Section 14.12: Classroom Management Issues
China places high emphasis on education and highly values the role
of teachers in education. A teacher garners respect from their
students and parents. Therefore, students in a Chinese classroom
are usually going to be respectful, motivated and well-behaved.
That being said, teaching in a Chinese writing class does pose
unique challenges. Here are a couple of issues a teacher may face
during the year, and some suggestions for addressing them:
. What are your students’ majors? Students that were forced to take
your class as part of their major will most likely have lower
motivation.
. What do they want to do after they graduate?
. Why do they want to learn English?
. What is their experience with writing classes? Did they enjoy their
previous writing classes? What was the reason?
On the opposite side of the coin, some of you may have a classroom
where the most hi-tech teaching tool is a chalkboard. Or if you do
have a projector, it is not always reliable. Be prepared to face a wide
scenario of possibilities and be flexible to each environment.
Classroom Management Issues–2
Part of the reason for the wide range in abilities is due to the fact
that class sizes can be pretty large, especially in a university
classroom. It is not uncommon for a teacher to teach 30-40 students
in a writing class. We discussed the challenges in assessing this
many students’ writing texts, but it also poses problems in
managing the classroom. Some suggestions for teachers are to use
activities that use group, or pair work. This includes peer feedback,
pass the story (see Section 4), or even group discussions.
There are many cultural reasons your students will not see
plagiarism as severely as you do. Your students have grown up in a
collectivist culture where the boundaries of “yours and mine” may
not be as clear as in an individualistic society. Not only that, but the
differences between Chinese and English writing also blur the line of
plagiarism for your students. For a teacher to address plagiarism in
a writing class, you will have to understand how these cultural
differences affect students’ attitudes towards plagiarism.
This does not mean that you should allow students to plagiarize. It is
a serious offense and if your students take any English writing test,
their ability to pass the test will be jeopardized if they do not know
how serious plagiarism is or if they are unable to recognize the
distinction between referencing and plagiarism. However, knowing
some of the cultural attitudes toward plagiarism will help you to
discern how to address plagiarism when it comes up in class.
Avoiding Plagiarism
The following list makes some suggestions for ways to avoid
plagiarism in your classroom:
Clearly explain the consequences if you find a student plagiarizing in your
writing class. Allow some leeway for students to get used to your rules but
follow through.
Give students opportunities to practice paraphrasing and explain how that will
help them avoid plagiarizing.
Take time to teach students to reference sources. Don’t make it complicated,
the goal is to get students to find legitimate sources and share how to find
them.
Make assignments so specific that you can ensure that there are no pre-
existing pieces of writing on the internet that match your requirements.
Example: “Write about a special memory you have with your father. Include
all the vocabulary words and phrases we learned yesterday in your writing.”
Give an explicit structure for each section of the assignment and for the
assignment as a whole so that you can ensure that your students have a
framework to follow.
Teach students the writing process including pre-writing (possibly an outline in
Chinese), drafting, and editing before the final assignment is handed in.
Avoiding Plagiarism – The Reflective Teacher’s
Response
Section 14.13: Conclusion
Conclusion
Teachers will be able to break instructions into chunks for students to digest
easier.
Teachers will be able to model instructions and use ICQs and CCQs when
giving instructions.
Teachers will be able to use group activities to manage large writing classes.
Teachers will be able to recognize some of the cultural challenges in teaching
a Chinese writing class and be able to address them, including plagiarism.
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