USING DIARIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH WRITING SKILL FOR THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF SMPN 1 LAMONGAN

English is an International language that has important role in the world of knowledge and it is used for communication. In Indonesia, English belongs to a foreign language and it is taught from elementary school to university. In language teaching process, writing is a subject which gets least attention from the teacher and the learner. Whereas, writing, especially in English, is an important subject to master. To solve that problem, one of the efforts which can be done is through writing diaries. This study investigated can diaries be used to improve the students’ writing skill for the third year students of SMPN 1 Lamongan and how effective can the diaries improve the students’ writing skill for the third year students of SMPN 1 Lamongan. The purpose of this study was to find the answer whether the use of diaries can improve the students’ skill or not and to describe how effective the diaries can improve the students’ writing skills for the third year students of SMPN 1 Lamongan. In conducting the study, the writer employed a quasi-experimental design. The subject of this study was one class which consists of 44 students. The instruments used to collect the data were pretest and posttest, then the scores were calculated by using t-test formula. The result of this study showed that there was a significant different between the scores of pretest and posttest. Besides, the result of the calculation of t-test showed that the pretest and posttest already make a significant progress. It means that the end of the study the both tests were significantly different. So, it can be concluded that the diaries can be used to improve the students’ skills in writing and effective to be used to improve the students’ skills in writing

Responding to the message: Responsive written feedback in a Maori to English transition context

This paper reports on the writing component of a community and school Maori to English literacy transition programme implemented in a kura kaupapa Maori (Maori language immersion school. 21 Year 6, 7 and 8 students received responsive written feedback for their writing in English, over a ten-week period, during their weekly independent writing time. Students’ stories were mailed to a young Maori woman (the third author) in a provincial city 100 kilometres from the kura . She was not known to any of the students prior to the study, but she acted as an interested audience, and responded in writing by focussing on the content or messages in students’ stories. She did not provide any corrective feedback on students’ writing. The study employed an intra-subject multiple-baseline research design across four school terms, with the responsive written feedback being introduced sequentially to each of three student Year groups. Measures were taken of total words written, adventurous words written, as well as holistic ratings of audience impact and language quality. Data demonstrate positive gains in both the quantity and quality of students’ writing, as well as maintenance of high levels of writing accuracy for all Year groups

Some technical writing skills industry needs

It is suggested that engineers and other technical students be taught three classes of skills in technical writing. First, "Big Picture Things", which includes: the importance of clear writing, the wide scope of writing, the wide scope of writing tasks that will be faced in industry, and the principles of organization of technical materials such as; how to analyze, classify, partition, and interpret. Second, "Writing Procedures", which encompasses: how to get words on paper efficiently and team-write. Third, "Writing Details", in which two considerations are important: how to achieve precision in the use of language and the aspects of style. Three problems in style are cited: the problem of sentence transition, overuse of attributive adjectives, and verbosity in paragraph structure. The most important thing in technical writing is considered to be functionality, economy and clarity

Electronic Collaboration Across Cultures in a Web-based Project for English Writing Instruction

The paper highlights the importance of experimentation and an innovative approach to English language writing instruction with the help of information communication technology (ICT or IT). First, it describes the local situation of English language teaching at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Then, it summarizes the development of IT proficiency and student-led collaborative learning groups at CUHK. Third, it reports on an International Web-based writing project involving six collaborating schools in different parts of the world including China, the United States, Indonesia, and Hong Kong in the year 1999-2000. In the report, the author-presenter will share with the audience a new ELT course development titled "English Online: Writing on the Web." He will explain the course objectives, the background of participating classes, the Web Course Tools (WebCT), the design of the project, the evaluation of course effectiveness and the outcome of the new curricular initiative. Finally, the paper presents a summary of a practical guide to electronic collaboration and some of the lessons the writer has learnt in five years\u27 experience of participant-observation in English teaching practice using the Web

Psychodynamics of language

This work examines the origins of our existing principles of communication to observe patterns of language and their causes. The study surveys twenty-five hundred-years of Western language and writing and its evolution through cultural interaction. The nature of this evolution is the topic of this thesis. There are four periods of time that are studied for their influence on language and writing: the Late Classical Period, the Early and Late Medieval Period, the Early Renaissance, and the Twentieth Century. The study revealed that language and writing have always had a significant metacognitive function within Western culture. Language and writing have been elemental in the progressive evolution of humankind because they are the most universal means of communication. There have been two great shifts in the use of language and writing and we are on the threshold of a third

Characteristics of Deaf Emergent Writers Who Experienced Language Deprivation

This study explores the intertwined phenomena of language deprivation, emergent writing, and translanguaging in deaf students without additional disabilities in grades 3–6. A case study was conducted using deductive and inductive approaches to analyze 42 writing samples. There were four areas of focus: (1) stages of emergent writing development, (2) writing change over time, (3) emerging writing and translanguaging features, and (4) writing features unique to the context of language deprivation. First, pre-writing samples add to evidence that older deaf students undergo similar developmental processes with their emergent writing patterns. Second, an analysis of pre- and post-writing samples indicated that movement between stages occurred for most students. Third, students incorporated emergent writing and translanguaging features that reflected the application of their linguistic resources in writing. Finally, existing theories were extended by uncovering writing characteristics unique to the context of language deprivation. Incomplete ideation and restricted translanguaging practices were identified as attributions of language deprivation impacting cognitive and linguistic resources. This study provides evidence that deaf students as old as thirteen years old are developing emergent writing skills not because of their deafness but likely because they were in environments that produced chronic inadequate language access

The effects of teacher feedback on multiple-draft compositions in ESL classrooms

Teacher feedback plays a significant role in helping ESL learners acquire the writing skills. However, many research findings indicated that feedback on single draft essays does not help ESL learners much in improving the essays because these learners do not have the opportunity to revise, rewrite, and resubmit their work. Therefore, this study aims at examining the effects of teacher feedback on ESL learners’ compositions in terms of content, language and organization by instituting the multiple draft procedure. The participants of this study wrote a first draft; revised it after getting the feedback on content and further revised it after receiving feedback on language. The findings showed that there were significant mean differences in the content, language, organization and the total marks when the second and the third drafts were compared to the first draft

The Investigation of Language Teacher Candidates' Self-Efficacy and Writing Anxiety in Processual Context

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the self-efficacy perceptions and writing anxiety of the Turkish language teacher candidates that receive training for learning and teaching language in a processual context. The research has been carried out with a total of 113 teacher candidates that study at the Department of Turkish Language in the first (n= 56) and third (n= 57) grades. The reason is that the first graders are beginner and they receive Written Expression classes; and the third graders receive Writing Education classes. The data from both grades have been collected by using the Writing Self-efficacy Perception Scale (WSPS) and the Writing Anxiety Scale (WAS) at the beginning and at the end of the term. The collected data have been analyzed both in respective class levels and by comparing to the other class level. The result of the research shows that the writing anxiety has decreased and the writing self-efficacy perception has increased in the first grader candidates. Whereas in the third grader candidates, the writing anxiety has increased and the writing self-efficacy perception has decreased. This has been interpreted as the professional awareness of the candidates increases depending on the grade level. Another result of the research is that the revision and editing (RE) factor in the writing process is higher in the female candidates than the male candidates. The findings obtained in the research bear a resemblance to the literature in some aspects, and differ from the literature in some aspects

Crosslinguistic influence and morphological awareness in English (third language) writing

Aims: The aim of the present paper is twofold. Firstly, we look into the effects of a number of factors on crosslinguistic influence (study 1). Secondly, we analyse the role played by morphological awareness in the production of crosslinguistic instances (study 2). In this way, we contribute to the understanding of how crosslinguistic and metalinguistic dimensions of third language acquisition are intertwined. Methodology: We investigate lexical adaptations of the first language and second language in third language English (i.e. adapted loan words) and combine quantitative and qualitative research methods. A quantitative analysis explores the impact of the first language, the L2 factor, typology and proficiency in the target and the source languages (study 1). A qualitative analysis then proposes a categorization of the strategies used by participants to adapt their first language and second language to the target language (study 2). Data and Analysis: Language proficiency was evaluated in 222 compositions, 74 written in each language (Basque, Spanish and English). The adapted loan words found in English compositions were classified according to their source language, word category, word class and type/token categories (study 1). In addition, the strategies used by participants were identified and analysed (study 2). Findings: The results indicate that language typology is the main predictor of the source language of crosslinguistic influence, and a variety of strategies point at morphological awareness as a key factor in the strategic use of participants’ first language and second language. Originality: By mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, this paper provides additional support to the claim that crosslinguistic influence and morphological awareness are intertwined in third language writing. Significance: The overall results show that students who are morphologically aware make crosslinguistic and morphological associations and use them strategically in their third language