1,305,395 research outputs found

    Developing & improving EFL writing skills

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    Learning a foreign language is a process that entails the development of four basic skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. According to the Common European Framework, such skills can be grouped into productive and receptive. Reading and Listening are categorized as receptive skills, while speaking and writing are productive skills. Experience and research findings suggest that most learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) find productive skills more difficult to develop than receptive skill, and writing skills the hardest to improve. Learning to write is a complex process that calls for a wide range of cognitive and linguistic strategies to be used, most of which EFL students are not fully aware of. Difficulties in crafting a text often arise from students’ unawareness of how to organize ideas logically in English so as to make the information in the text flow smoothly, and of the linguistic features that cause the discourse to sound foreign. All claims in a written text should be relevant and related to the topic (unity). All sentences must also be arranged in a logical order and connected to each other to create a smooth transition (coherence) throughout the text. The second level of challenge is the use of linguistic features (suitable vocabulary, appropriate collocations and patterns, and correct structures); these are frequent sources of mistakes that make a text sound foreign and often hard to understand. Gass and Selinker (1994) claim that many EFL learners “find themselves without the linguistic resources” to express their ideas. The purpose of this talk is to help EFL college majors become aware of the relevance of how to organize ideas according to the logical patterns of development in English. Different short texts will be analyzed to identify the strengths and weaknesses in each case. In addition, specific linguistic features that often cause difficulties to native speakers of Spanish will be examined and discussed.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

    What is the impact of blogging used with self-monitoring strategies for adolescents who struggle with writing?

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    Plan B Paper. 2012. Master of Science in Education- Reading--University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Teacher Education Department. 28 leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 25-26).Writing is an onerous task for those who struggle with the skill. The basic prerequisites of organizing thoughts, transcribing thoughts into words, and writing down those words is fundamental to the more advanced skills of developing a sense of audience, writing with voice and applying conventions. Without proficient skills, students who cannot write, do not write. Positive attitude toward the process of writing suffers. Time spent on actual writing is limited. As a consequence, writing skill does not develop. Students who struggle with writing can be supported in their skill development through self-monitoring strategies. Self-monitoring strategies for writing give students a systematic process to know how to approach a writing task. The clear step-by-step process breaks down difficult skills and allows students to build proficiency through guided practice and eventually, independence. This action research project explored the impact of using self-monitoring strategies with the 21st century skill of blogging within a Writer's Workshop instructional model. Sixteen students (eleven males, five females) in grades 6-8th participated in a twelve week study. Target writing skills of fluency, stamina, motivation, awareness of audience and participation in peer review were measured for changes over the course of the study. Students were instructed in the use of self-monitoring strategies focusing on increasing word counts in correct word sequence timings, on-command prompt passages, and formal writing process pieces. Blogging was introduced and used to apply target skills to a digital writing setting. Each student learned self monitoring strategies to compose posts in personal blogs and to read and comment on other students' blogs. Pre-and post-writing attitude survey, correct word sequence timings and writing samples were taken throughout the study to assess each students' skill level and attitude toward writing. The group showed average gains of 34% in correct word sequence and 66% in word counts of process writing pieces. Qualitative data and quantitative data demonstrate that writing skills and attitudes toward writing also showed positive development when self-monitoring strategies were used to support the writing tasks of blogging in a Writer's Workshop model

    Developing and Improving EFL Writing Skills

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    Learning a foreign language is a process that entails the development of four basic skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. According to the Common European Framework, such skills can be grouped into productive and receptive. Reading and Listening are categorized as receptive skills, while speaking and writing are productive skills. Students’ and teachers’ experience along with research findings suggest that most learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) find productive skills more difficult to develop than receptive skill, and writing skills the hardest to acquire and improve. Learning to write is a complex process that calls for a wide range of cognitive and linguistic strategies to be used, most of which EFL students are not fully aware of. The purpose of this talk is to help EFL college majors become aware of the factors that make EFL discourse sound stilted and foreign. Good writing results from rational thinking, logical organization, and appropriate use of language. Sample texts will be looked at identify the strengths and weaknesses in each case.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

    Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading

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    Analyzes studies showing that writing about reading material enhances reading comprehension, writing instruction strengthens reading skills, and increased writing leads to improved reading. Outlines recommended writing practices and how to implement them

    A Writing Revolution: Using Legal Writing\u27s \u27Hobble\u27 to Solve Legal Education\u27s Problem

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    The attached article responds to a 2011 article by John Lynch, published in the Journal of Legal Education, that urged legal writing faculty to return to an outmoded and ineffective writing pedagogy, the “product approach,” on the grounds that it would make teaching legal writing easier. This article builds on the work of Carol McCrehan Parker and others interested in writing across the curriculum and argues that the only way to reduce legal writing’s “hobble” and to solve legal education’s problem is to create a six-semester writing requirement. The reason law students are graduating without adequate preparation for practice is that law schools have failed to commit to teaching writing. Most law students graduate having been required to take only an introductory course that teaches practice-related writing skills and an upper-class seminar with a scholarly writing requirement. Law schools can no longer afford to rely on a small percentage of faculty or externships to teach the most important skill law students have to offer on graduation. Because matriculating students have less writing skill and experience than they did even a decade ago, the need for a six-semester writing requirement is that much greater. This article then discusses a proposed writing curriculum that would not unduly burden law schools or their faculty and concludes with additional, specific recommendations for incorporating writing across the curriculum—in doctrinal and writing courses—to improve students’ metacognitive skills and their ability to transfer those skills to practice

    Teaching Writing as Productive Skills

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    Pengajaran ‘writing/menulis' sebagai keterampilan berbahasa yang tergolong dalam ‘productive skills' menuntut guru bahasa Inggris untuk mengarahkan peserta belajar untuk bereksperesi dalam bentuk bahasa tulisan yang membutuhkan elemen-elemen keterampilan berbahasa seperti penggunaan pilihan kata yang tepat, penulisan ejaan kata yang tepat, dan penulisan kalimat-kalimat yang terterima menurut kaidah-kaidah bahasa. Kesemua elemen-elemen tersebut berbeda dengan penerapan keterampilan berbahasa ‘speaking/berbicara', yang mana tatkala berbicara, pembicara dapat menggunakan isyarat, penggunaan ekspresi wajah, dan juga mengajukan pertanyaan. Penulis menawarkan komponen pembelajaran menulis seperti praktek dan tujuan menulis, bagaimana menyusun isi dan pengalaman-pengalaman belajar untuk pengajaran menulis, pendekatan-pendekatan menulis, pengajaran menulis berbasis teks,dan peran teknologi untuk mengajarkan keterampilan menulis dalam bahasa Inggris

    Who wants to be able to do reference properly and be unemployed? STEM student writing and employer needs

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    The issue of graduate writing is one that has attracted much focus and debate in higher education, particularly around maintaining ‘academic standards’ at a time of expansion in this sector. The need to develop academic skills, including writing, for higher education study has increasingly been linked to the skills that graduates need to gain employment (Davies et al., 2006). This raises the question of whether the type and purpose of writing within university programmes is different to, and possibly in tension with, writing required for employment after university. This is a point raised by recent research (Day, 2011) which shows that students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) subjects are more confident with oral rather than writing skills. The material discussed in this article is part of a two-year mixed method study looking at literacies, including writing, which undergraduate students develop at university, and the relationship of these literacies to employability. This article focuses on six first-year STEM students studying Forensic Science and Computing Science within the larger study. The qualitative data, gathered through repeat interviews, is discussed in relation to a small sample of employers and alumni working in science-based industries describing writing for transition into work and for on-going employment. The project therefore provides a useful Appleby et al. Who wants to be able to do references properly and be unemployed? student insight into writing, comparing this with employer expectations and the experience of alumni who have made the transition into work. What emerges from our study is the need to see writing at university as part of a wider communicative repertoire supported by a social and cultural approach to situated writing. This approach is more than simply skills based and is one that encourages and develops social as well as academic learning. We argue that such an approach, added to by technical skills support, enables greater engagement and success with learning in addition to enhancing employability

    L2 writing: Using pictures as a guided writing environment

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    This article addresses the learning of second language (L2) writing skills to show how pictures can be used as an effective guided writing tool to facilitate students\u27 writing process and to improve their writing proficiency. A study was conducted with 53 university students who had a prior knowledge of Spanish in secondary school. All students were enrolled in an intensive review course. Writing ability questionnaires were administered before and after the writing instruction, in addition to a final review of the writing tasks involved. Writing assignments were both topic-selected and picture-guided; students found the activities valuable, absorbing, and helpful. Results demonstrate that the instruction of using pictures as a guided writing environment assisted beginning foreign language students to develop and improve their writing skills as well as to lower the anxiety level of expressing oneself in the target language. Findings suggest that foreign language teachers should be encouraged to use the pictorial approach for L2 writing education

    RWU Students Work with Organization that Helps Intellectually Disabled Students Transition to Jobs

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    This hands-on experience shows how community-engaged writing projects help students develop key writing, teamwork and research skills
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