Why We Need More Emphasis on Writing?

#writingskills, #literacyskills, #writinginstruction #trendsinliteracy #issuesinliteracy #startegiesliteracy

Hi all! this is my first entry since I started my fourth term in my EdD journey. I am takin three classes this term which are applied statistics, assessment strategies and my first focus class, tend and issues best practice in literacy! In this entry I will focus on the importance of writing skills and the challenges that we are facing, and of course some strategies that you can use in your class room.

Why is writing instruction important?

Writing is one form of communication that an individual use in their life. There are different types of writing, but each has the same goal: to communicate or express their thoughts. Writing skills are skills that an individual should possess to be considered literate (Ducker, 2021). Employers hire applicants who have good writing skills as each career requires writing reports. According to Thomas et al. (2020), young learners who were identified to have low writing skills are at risk for literacy difficulties. In an article published by Tenney School in 2020, 27% of middle and high school students are proficient in writing. As a middle school teacher, I see this trend in students losing their writing interest. Miller (2018) emphasized that educators should look for why students' writing skills decline during middle and high school years. Some colleges and universities require their student applicants to submit an essay. The essays that students submit together with their application are one of the outputs that colleges review if the student applicant is suitable for the program they are entering. Educators are trying to use different strategies and practice skills to improve students' writing skills. However, despite these efforts, students still fail to reach a proficiency level in writing.

What are the problems with writing instruction?

Different factors affect writing instructions like the strategies used by the teacher in teaching technical writing, students' motivation, and other academic difficulties that learners have. In a conversation with one of my colleagues in school, one of the leading reasons students are not proficient in writing is that the standards set for them are not age-appropriate. Writing skills requires mental maturity, and during the teenage years, students are still developing, and because of this, they are left behind in terms of their writing skills and cannot catch up even in high school. Qin and Uccelli (2021) emphasized that students should gradually be exposed to technical writing. Instructors should ensure that they are already proficient in the pre-requisite skills before introducing students to a different type of technical writing. Morris et al. (2018) mentioned that students who could not catch up with their literacy skills in third grade are more at risk of having literacy difficulties in secondary than other students on a level. The problem with our educational system is that we cannot keep the students in the same grade level until they master the skill.

Writing requires a good imagination and experience. Students in lower school do not have a lot of experience, which affects their ability to choose a topic that they can write. According to Schoonen (2019), the students reading and writing skills have a positive correlation, which means that if a student is a high-level reader, they have more topics to write about. They learn to adopt the style of the author of the text that they are reading. Akim (2021) suggested that if individuals cannot think of anything to write, they should read. This way, they will be able to have a different perspective and activate an individual’s imagination.

English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with academic difficulties are more at risk of not meeting the proficiency level for writing. ELLs are still learning the language, and it is difficult for them to absorb the rules in writing if they are not familiar with the language itself (Miller, 2018). As a non-native speaker, it was difficult for me to do my writing assignments in school back home, whether for my English or Filipino (my native language) class. It was challenging to write it in English because I do not use the language, am not familiar with the spelling, and my vocabulary is not comprehensive. I remember my teacher would ask us to read two texts in a week before giving us a writing assignment, so we already looked for the meaning of words that we were not familiar with, which is the same reason for ELLs. Native English speakers, I understand them because, like them, I had trouble writing in my native language. My language is inconsistent, which is the same case with the English language. Students have a hard time spelling because there are words with the same pronunciation, different spellings, and different meanings.

One of the most significant factors that I observed is that students nowadays rely on technology. Whenever they have a writing assignment, the first thing that they will do is to google it and copy and paste it, and claim that they wrote it. Also, because of technology, students are distracted and do not pay attention to their academics in general. Alhumaid (2019) emphasized that technology has advantages and disadvantages, like the speech-to-text feature of Chromebook affected the students' ability to write. Students do not know how to handwrite or type their work because of the speech-to-text feature of electronic devices.

What are the strategies to improve writing instruction in schools?

Teachers are using different strategies to improve the students writing skills. Below are some strategies that teachers can use in their classes.

1. Write about what you see. Often students do not write because they do nit what to write. Teachers will give topics that they can write about, but not all students have the same experience, so not all students can write. If teachers ask the students to write about something they see and think about it, students will have more freedom to write. Teachers should bring their students outside, so they will have things to see instead of the four walls of the classroom.

2. Take away the technology. Technology is one of the significant distractions why students do not practice writing. Take the Chromebook and let them write using pen and paper. I remember one of my colleagues shared with me that at the beginning of the school year, the English department in our school asked the students to write a letter to the teacher, and the student was very excited to write.

3. Normalize writing. As a Math teacher, I still ensure that students practice writing in my class. It might not be five-paragraph writing but exposing them and giving them more opportunities to write even outside the English class. Another benefit of doing this is that students see that writing skills are essential.

Writing skills start from writing letters, then words, to writing complete sentences, then paragraphs. Most students do not have any chance to practice their writing skills, which affects their proficiency. Reading and writing go together, and teachers and parents must support their students in their literacy journey early. School districts are doing their best to help teachers improve writing instruction. Students are unique, and not every strategy will work for all students.

References

Afifah, W., & Sarudin, A. (2020). Interweaving Conceptual and Substantial Problems of Writing Instruction: Socio Reflective on Exploring Hortatory and Analytical Exposition. English Language Teaching Educational Journal, 3(1), 26–40. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1265816.pdf

Alhumaid, K. (2019). Four ways technology negatively changed education. Journal of Education and Social Research 9(4). 11-20. https://doi.org/10.2478/jesr-2019-0049

Miller, J. M. (2018). U.S. history state assessments, discourse demands, and English Learners’ achievement: Evidence for the importance of reading and writing instruction in U.S. history for English Learners. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 42(4), 375–392. https://discovery.ebsco.com/c/36ffkw/viewer/html/px4ncdecnj

Tenney School. (2020, November 14). Study Finds Only 27% of Middle & High School Students Proficient in Writing: How to Make Sure Your Child Excels

https://tenneyschool.com/middle-high-school-students-proficient-writing-child-excels/

Qin, W., & Uccelli, P. (2021). Textual Borrowing in Science Summaries: Upper-Elementary and Middle School Students Learning to Write the Language of Science. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 34(10), 2505–2528. https://discovery.ebsco.com/c/36ffkw/viewer/pdf/m4546o7spf

Schoonen, R. (2019). Are Reading and Writing Building on the Same Skills? The Relationship between Reading and Writing in L1 and EFL. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 32(3), 511–535. https://discovery.ebsco.com/c/36ffkw/viewer/pdf/tqfkh7remv

Thomas, L. J. G., Gerde, H. K., Piasta, S. B., Logan, J. A. R., Bailet, L. L., & Zettler-Greeley, C. M. (2020). The Early Writing Skills of Children Identified as At-Risk for Literacy Difficulties. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED602890.pdf