Assess Writing so That Students Learn From the Experience

                                                              By Zarela Cruz

                                                                                                                                                    

As I pointed out in the workshop, first of all, we should ask ourselves: Why do we think our students should write?. Once we get our aim, the next question should be: What kinds of writings do our students usually do as a task? Why is that so?. Now we are ready to answer the following question: How do we correct our students’ writings?

I absolutely believe that giving our students the tools to write successfully is a must. Let’s start by knowing the names and uses of punctuation marks, then let’s give them functional phrases they can work with. Is that it? Not at all. Providing a model text would be very helpful as well as reviewing connectors. And last, but not least important, do share with them the correction rubric. That way, our students will be aware of what must be taken into account when performing the given task. The rubric must comprise a suitable assessment criteria for the level you are teaching.

Expanding sentences inserting extra information is a very useful way to teach students to write. It also helps when you provide a model text in your class to be corrected by everyone. Keep in mind that spotting somebody else’s mistakes is always simpler than spotting our own.

During the workshop at our congress, teachers were really cooperative and came up with interesting proposals; all of them were really valuable. One particular point they made was identifying all the mistakes, even the ones that were not penalized in that particular task. In their opinion, it works as an alarm clock, since students will be aware of them from then on.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Do you find these strategies useful?

Have you tried different ones?

Do let us know! Visit us on:

www.languageteachingbloggers.blogspot.pe

Biodata

Zarela Cruz graduated from Ricardo Palma University as a translator.  She also finished her master’s studies in Linguistics and took some specialization diplomas in English and Spanish. She has also completed a number of online certificates:  Teaching the Working Adult, Online, Hybrid and Blended Education, among other self-study courses. She has taught different courses, programs and levels and has been a teacher trainer, a lecturer and online instructor. This article aims to reflect on the Assessment of Writing.

A Handful of Contrast Linkers in a Nutshell

By Mayra Yaranga

In this new series of articles, we’d like to address some of the problems our students find in the process of learning English. Let us start with one apparently simple, but tricky point. In my experience, students have some problems when choosing some of the famous linking words, particularly those with similar meanings but different grammar.

What happens, for example, when our students want to express contrast between two ideas? The word they will most often use is but.

•  I was very eager to learn Japanese, but I gave up quickly after starting.        
• The team trained very little, but they won their matches easily.

Of course, this is not the only way to mark contrast, and, in order to show students’ English has gone beyond a basic level, they should be able to use some other linking words which essentially mean the same, but are grammatically quite different , such as however, although and in spite of.

1.      However is a sentence adverb. That means it should start a new sentence.

I was very eager to learn Japanese. However, I gave up quickly after starting.

2.      Although is a conjunction. That means it will join two clauses (two sentences within a sentence) creating a contrast relationship.

Although the team trained very little, they won their matches easily.

Students can also use the shorter though in exactly the same way. Only that it has an additional use at the end of a short sentence, very common in speech:

I was very eager to learn Japanese. I gave up quickly after starting, though.

3.      The most difficult phrase is in spite of. It is a phrase that works as a preposition. That means it doesn’t take sentences or clauses, but noun phrases (phrases with a noun or gerund as the most important word, not a verb)

In spite of my eagerness to learn Japanese, I gave up quickly after starting. (eagerness is the noun that replaces “I was eager”)

In spite of training very little, the team won their matches easily. (training is the gerund that replaces “the team trained”)

In more formal English, your students can use despite, which is a slightly more formal word:

Despite training very little, the team won their matches easily. (NOT despite of)

NOT Despite the team trained very little,

We sincerely hope you find our advice useful and helps you consolidate what your students have been doing in class. See you next time!

Now it’s YOUR turn:

Do your students show problems when using these linkers?

What do you do to address those problems?

Biodata

Mayra Yaranga (1985) has completed Doctorate studies in Education at UNIFÉ;Master’s Degree in Media, Culture and Identity from Roehampton University (London)  revalidated by PUCP, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education - UPCH and the Professional Title of Licenciada - IPNM. Currently she works as IELTS trainer, Cambridge Oral Examiner and Member of the Research Area for Universidad del Pacifico Language Centre. She is also ESP coordinator and Pre-University Centre Director at UNIFÉ. 

Are EFL Teachers in a Position to

Assess our students writing?

By Enrique Rojas R.

                              

Assessment is commonly defined as the act of making a judgment about something. In the case of educational assessment, it is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skill, attitudes, and beliefs. But when we come to defining assessing writing in a school setting, for students of English as a foreign language, we find that it means a lot of different things for most teachers.

Conception and association of ideas, creativity, imagination, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, usage of correct structures, conventions, presentation, spelling, coherence and cohesion are among the many things that teachers consider and grade when confronting a student’s piece of writing. The real problem is that the great majority of them have not provided much instruction to their learners about those aspects.

This evaluating activity does not respond to formative assessment since most frequently there is no real plan or follow up system to help improve students’ writing. It is rather usually considered another tool in grading the learners‘ work to provide the institution with records. The problem is that it could not be considered summative assessment either, since they are evaluating abilities that were not properly taught and capacities that were not enhanced during the lessons.

It happens that teachers evaluate fluency, elegance and cohesion from students that have never been instructed about what a simple sentence is, let alone complex sentences or have never heard about the different types of independent or depending clauses. Of course, instruction should go from the simple to the complex. The question is then how many students have a working knowledge of such basic things as punctuation or capitalization.

Textbooks face the issue simply presenting different types of written exchanges, e.g. an email to a friend, an application for a job or to a university, a letter of complaint to a store, etc. and prompting students to imitate its structure and vocabulary. But, come on, can this seriously be considered teaching how to write?

The fact is that the absolute great majority of learners have never heard of a topic sentence; don’t have a clear idea about what a paragraph is or which are the parts of a composition. And that is because we, teachers, don’t tell them about it. And neither do their Spanish teachers, for that matter.

Then we are admired when students that find their way into the university can’t write. Good readers produce good writers, but that is not the case of the majority. So it should not come as a surprise they are quite inept to express their thoughts effectively in writing.

So we should start by devising a good plan for teaching our students how to write going from the simple and basic to the more sophisticated concepts, and then improve it gradually with the help of formative evaluation.

Then we will be able to assess them as they go through the different steps of producing written communication mainly with the help of rubrics devised for every step of their learning.

Now your turn:

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with this viewpoint?

How do you usually teach and assess Writing in your classes?

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

Graduated in Journalism at the PUCP, Peru, Enrique Rojas R. holds a MA in Journalism and MA in Inter American History from Southern Illinois University, USA; an MA in Literature from University of the Americas, Puebla, Mexico, all the coursework for a MA in TEFL at Universidad de Piura, Peru and BA in Education from Universidad Federico Villarreal. He has also obtained Certificates of Proficiency in English both from Cambridge University and the University of Michigan and the Diploma for EFL Teachers from Universidad del Pacifico. He is an Oral Examiner for the Cambridge University exams and has been awarded the title Expert in E-Learning from Asociacion Educativa del Mediterraneo and Universidad Marcelino Champagnat. He has worked as a professor in universities in Peru, Mexico and the United States; as a newscaster and a producer in radio and television stations in the United States and Mexico, and as a writer and editor in daily newspapers of the same countries. He has been in the staff of CIDUP for 18 years teaching English and Spanish specializing in International Exams, English for Business, ESP and Teacher Training. He has been a speaker in every Congress of English for Special Purposes organized by Centro de Idiomas de la U.P. He is also a member of its Research Area.