Practice of Writing Skills in the Classroom
6.7 Teaching Higher Order Sub Skills of Writing
Higher order writing skills include argumentation, position and place, attitude, mode, style, awareness of purpose and audience, organisation and cohesion while lower order writing skills include spelling, punctuation, grammar, mechanics etc.
Table 6.17
Asking Students to Prepare Notes on the Opening Paragraph, Development Paragraph and Conclusion
Variable Tools used
Levels Responses Descriptive
Statistics Teaching
extended piece of Writing
Teachers' questionnaire (Item 44)
1 2 3 4 5 Mean SD
SSC Level, N=16 0 5 5 6 0 3.06 .854 O Level, N=16 0 3 3 10 0 3.44 .814 Difference of Mean
between SSC and O levels –. 38
Source: Field Survey (Scaling: 1= Not at all; 2= Rarely; 3= Sometimes; 4= Very Often; 5= Always; SD= Standard Deviation;)
The mean score of O level is 3.44 and SSC level is 3.06. The data presented in the table above is suggestive of teachers' concern about how to prepare students and make them skilled in writing ‘opening paragraphs’, ‘development paragraphs’ and ‘conclusion’.
6.7.1 Teaching Coherence and Cohesion
Maintaining coherence and cohesion is highly important in the extended piece of writing. The following table gives a picture about the teaching of coherence and cohesion.
Table 6.18
Providing Ideas about the Cohesive Ties Variable Tools used
Levels Responses Descriptive
Statistics
Cohesion Students' questionnaire (Item 32)
1 2 3 4 5 Mean SD
SSC Level,
N=120 0 34 48 27 10 3.09 .935 O Level,
N=120 12 16 44 30 18 3.22 1.161 Difference of Mean between SSC
and O levels –.13
Source: Field Survey, 2010 (Scaling: 1= Not at all; 2= Rarely; 3= Sometimes; 4= Very Often; 5= Always; SD=
Standard Deviation)
The mean scores of O level and SSC level are high in this aspect, though the state of teaching cohesive ties appears to be slightly better in the O level classrooms. It has been explored in the interviews with teachers that the students of SSC level also learn linkers in the classroom frequently. The teachers of both the levels opined that they taught cohesion in the classroom which is evident in the following figure:
Figure 6.2 Teaching Cohesion
SSC
O Levels
Yes No
3 4
13
12
0 5 10 15
No. of Respondents
Teaching Cohesion
Yes No
Nevertheless, the techniques of teaching cohesion are not same in the two levels which are reflected in the following table:
Table 6.19
Techniques Applied in Teaching Cohesion in the Classroom
N=25 (Multiple Responses)
Options SSC O levels
f % F %
i) You don't follow specific techniques for teaching cohesion 2 12.5 5 29.41 ii) Guiding students by indicating the place where linkers are missing
in their copies 1 6.25 8 47.05
iii) You teach them at the outset the importance of maintaining cohesion 4 25 4 23.52 iv) Showing some models and pointing out how cohesive ties were
maintained in those writings 9 56.25
According to the data presented in the table above, the SSC level teachers teach cohesion through model presentation, while the teachers of O level said that they guided students by drawing their notice to the use of cohesive ties while checking the copies of the students. But it was not observed in the SSC classrooms.
6.7.2 Starting Essays in an Attractive Way
The introduction of any extended piece of writing is very important. There are different ways to start an essay. The following table reveals whether the teachers guide students to learn how to start an essay in an attractive way.
Table 6.20
Giving Ideas to Start an Essay in an Attractive Way
Variable Tools Used Levels Responses Descriptive
Statistics DOM 1 2 3 4 5 Mean SD
–. 11 Attractive
starting of an essay
Students Questionnaire (item 33)
SSC,
N=120 18 35 46 16 5 2.63 1.03 O Level,
N=120 21 26 41 31 1 2.74 1.064 Teachers'
questionnaire (item 50)
SSC,
N=16 0 0 0 7 9 4.56 .512
–. 12 O Level,
N=16 0 0 2 5 9 4.44 .727
Source: Field Survey, 2010 (Scaling: 1= Not at all; 2= Rarely; 3= Sometimes; 4= Very Often; 5= Always; SD=
Standard Deviation, DOM=Difference of Mean between SSC and O Levels)
The data were collected from the responses of students and teachers. An incongruity was detected in their responses. The teachers of both the streams claimed that they taught how to start essay, but responses of the students negated the claim of the teachers as the mean scores of the SSC and O levels were 2.63 and 2.74 respectively.
Table 6.21
Techniques of Teaching to Start an Essay
N=32 (Multiple Responses)
Options SSC O levels
f % f %
i) You teach them to start an essay with a point or thesis sentence 2 11.76 ii) You teach students to start essay with a point or thesis and then
support the thesis or point with arguments 5 26.31 8 47.05 iii) You teach them to start with a quotation from literary pieces 3 15.78
iv) You teach them to start with an exceptional expression to grab the
attention of readers 11 57.89 7 41.17
Source: Field Survey, 2010 (Teachers' Questionnaire)
Majority of the teachers of O level have opined that they asked students to start an essay with a point or thesis and then supported it with arguments. Almost the same numbers of teachers have replied that they ask students to start with an exceptional expression to grab the attention of readers. On the other hand, majority of the teachers of the SSC level are in favour of starting essay with an exceptional expression.
6.7.3 Providing Ideas about Developing an Essay
The following table illustrates reality about the extent to which teachers provide ideas about developing an essay.
Table 6.22
Providing Ideas about Developing an Essay Variable Tools used
Levels Responses Descriptive
Statistics Developing
Essays
Students' questionnaire (Item 34)
1 2 3 4 5 Mean SD
SSC Level,
N=120 14 6 17 23 60 3.91 1.378
O Level, N=120 2 16 31 34 37 3.65 1.248 Difference of Mean
between SSC and O levels .26
Source: Field Survey, 2010 (Scaling: 1= Not at all; 2= Rarely; 3= Sometimes; 4= Very Often; 5= Always; SD=
Standard Deviation;)
It is reflected in the table above that teachers of both the levels are concerned about the development of essay. The mean scores of both levels are high. The mean score of SSC is 3.91 while the mean score of O level is 3.65.
6.7.4 Teaching Students Techniques of Maintaining Paragraph Unity
Maintaining paragraph unity is highly required in any extended piece of writing. If paragraphs are not organised and sequenced well, the task appears to be disjointed.
Table 6.23
Teaching Students Paragraph Unity
Variable Tools Used Levels Responses Descriptive
Statistics DOM 1 2 3 4 5 Mean SD
.32 Maintaining
paragraph unity
Students' Questionnaire (item 31)
SSC,
N=120 15 10 18 24 33 3.75 1.416 O Level,
N=120 14 14 31 29 32 3.43 1.314 Teachers'
questionnaire (item 51)
SSC, N=16 0 0 0 5 11 4.69 .479 .19 O Levels,
N=16 0 0 0 8 8 4.50 .516
Source: Field Survey, 2010 (Scaling: 1= Not at all; 2= Rarely; 3= Sometimes; 4= Very Often; 5= Always; SD=
Standard Deviation, DOM=Difference of Mean between SSC and O Levels)
Mean scores are high in both the streams as evidenced by the table above. One of the probable reasons for the high mean score of the SSC level is the presence of several tasks on paragraph writing. While interviewing, the teachers of the SSC level opined that they taught students to develop a single idea in a single paragraph. The students of O level usually did not practise paragraph writing separately but they did it while writing essay and composition.