Developing Writing Skills for the New Language
April 14, 2008 by jayshreelederman
Developing Writing Skills for the New Language
by Jayshree Lederman
Writing in L1 – A significant group of our students are not native speakers of English. So then, how should L2 New Language writing skills be incorporated for these students?
Creating interest is important. Many students just don’t do any writing when given a short assignment. For such students, group work and one on one teacher assistance has been very useful.
This is a generalization depending on what level of English class one is talking about. What comprises meaningful topics for very low level learners? It could be something as simple as record temperature in our area. Once they understand what record means in this syntax, they are extremely happy to learn the concept. Not all of them have the ability to pick a subject of their choice, and elaborately write on it.
Many students are used to structured material from a text book, and when given a choice of current topics, not all welcome it. How do we work around it? By question and answer sessions, and then giving them the opportunity to write in groups.
Daily journaling is very important when tailored to the appropriate level. And this becomes their personal writing. Most students want their written work corrected for grammar and syntax. They are willing to wait the extra few minutes after class so that they can find out how they did. In many cases there is no actual end product. So much effort is put in just the basic writing that that in itself is their end product.
Rules and structure have their place. When and how much to apply these rules depends on the level of the class. It would be counterproductive to try to teach second language learner students material which the native speakers are even unaware of. The aim should be to teach in a way that the reader understands what the writing is about.
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
Teaching writing to students who speak English as a second language is really a problem. It takes time & patience
I agree with the author that creating interest is very important. Most of our students are reluctant to write, partly because they don’t know the importance of writing, partly because they are lazy. They work hard all day, they try to come to class with hope to hear and learn something. Some of them even show up without a pen, pencil, or paper (just like they’re going shopping).
One of the methods often used by instructors, especially for those of Beginning levels, is to have questions & Answers. Recently Susan Gaer gave out her sample of teachign writing for the Beg.ESL 1 & 2, and I found it very interesting. Most of my students could do it, and they enjoyed it. They are happy they can write a “short composition”! Well, we just give them all the questions about one topics, e.g. My House or My Family. They just practice speaking, then write down the answers without the questions.
Finally, I agree with the author that rules & structure can be taught according to the students’ levels, and “it’s counterproductive to try to teach second language learners material which the native speakers are even unaware of!”
Thach Pham
I recently had a conversation with a ESL teacher of long standing who said teaching writing at the ESL level is not helpful. That it is, in fact, counter productive. The basic skills report seems to indicate that reading and writing reinforce each other and help each other when learned together. But the ESL teacher said it just confused students. I’d appreciate any input from other seasoned ESL teachers. Mary
I think that writing is a core skill that all ESL students must learn. This is extremely important for L2 students who are already in the intermediate levels and who are planning to go on to high school. Correct grammar and an adequate vocabulary are of course the prerequisites of writing skills.
However, I also think that writing skills must be introduced even at the most basic ESL levels such as beginnng ESL 2 &3.
For example, letter and word recognitions can be followed by simple writing exercises, even if these exercises simply mean
copying what’s on the board. I have found out that some adult ESL students have difficulty copying and actually writing
on paper what’s on the board. So more exercises such as writing alphabet letters, words, phrases, and sentences
on paper can be used at the lower beginning levels of ESL.
For the intermediate levels, especially ESL Intermediate 1,
a “massive dose” of grammar and grammar rules will be very
useful. Unless students understand the basic structures of the
English language, they will not be able to write coherently and correctly. At this level, most students can speak English
( though with some mistakes). But many cannot write or put
their thoughts on paper. I tried this approach this semester, and I am happy to report that many of my students can now write simple sentences correctly. This is my first time to teach
Intermediate ESL 1 so I am still eager to find out what approaches work (or don’t work) for this level of students.
In reply to Mary regarding teaching writing. I believe any input of either writing, listening, or reading can only help an L2 learner. The research shows that they must be exposed to language and use it. If they are not writing then they are missing a form of input that helps their understanding of their L2. I believ the exposure is the key. I bring in English newspapers and expose my students to the culture and current events in their community and issues that will be involved in their lives.
Second Language Acquisition is not too different from first language acquisition. As we grow up, we learn to read and write progressively. My little one is a first grader. Last year as she was an emerging reader, I saw her efforts to read and write evolve in much the same way as most L2 learners. There’s no magic pill. We learn by practicing and practicing, and practicing even more. We are given dictation and drills, where we simply copy down excerpts and prose. We are given hours upon hours of reading instruction and guided practice. Think about it: we trained for 6 hours a day for 10 months out of the year for 12 or 13 years(more for college). Most of that time was not spent on learning grammar, but rather, emphasized content, structure and understanding. Giving our students loads of opportunities to practice writing is essential. My daughter’s teacher doesn’t emphasize every spelling mistake or grammatical error. She focuses on process. She looks at meaning, comprehension and effort. I always tell my students that the most important thing is to get the ideas down and be understood. Hopefully, they stay in school long enough to improve and become proficient in grammar and spelling, but those are irrelevant, if they can’t even get the ideas out to begin with.
I am teaching Intermediate ESL 1 and I place substantial emphasis on reading comprehension and writing as well. I have tried “group writing” and this was an excellent tool for motivational purposes. However, since I combined advanced students with low-level students, the advanced students ended up writing the piece. As I read in one of the articles posted, daily or weekly journaling is a good technique. I will try it next semester.
As Confucius said, “The journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step.” Writing is a learning process. It takes time and practice. Most L2 learners are afraid of writing because they are confused by the grammar rules and structures. Additionally, most L2 learners do not have enough English vocabulary to describe their ideas. Students want to express their thoughts in writing, but it is difficult. In order to prove writing skills, ESL students need to understand that it is okay to make mistakes because students will learn from the mistakes. It is helpful if teachers have time to go over each sentence with students. With detailed explanations of the grammar rules, this helps students to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. I strongly believe that writing is important for all ESL levels. At beginning ELS level, students should learn how to write simple sentences. Then students will learn how to write complex sentences when they feel more confident with writing.