It is taught as a second language that overcomes most instructional courses and subjects in school. However, English is one of the most important subjects for which students do not have the required skills, especially in writing (Dorji, 2005). Quality writing is crucial for students' academic success, as it is one of the basic requirements for any professional development progression (Rietdijk, Janssen, Van Weijen, Van den Bergh & Rijlaarsdam, 2017).
To study the effective methods to improve the quality of writing of grade four children. What are the reasons that hinder the ability of the four grade children to write English. Are the methods and strategies used to improve the quality of children's writing effective.
The research school, Wangdue Primary School (WPS) is located in the western part of the country. After analyzing the results of the secondary school examination, the researchers found that there is a need to study why students lack quality writing skills. First, the pretest as a diagnostic test and the posttest to examine children's qualitative writing are conducted with the essay question "Write about 100 words."
The pretest and posttest identified the current level of students' writing quality and their improvement after the intervention program.
Vocabulary development (Dictation)
According to EA, Figure 2 shows the highest number of students who fall into the high error group in all five areas of the standards (spelling, punctuation, heavy usage, tenses, and other grammatical errors). Their errors are classified into 1) high spelling errors, 2) high punctuation errors, 3) high capitalization errors, 4) high tense errors, and 5) high other grammatical errors such as subject-verb agreement.
Error Analysis (Pretest/Diagnostic Test)
- S S strategy (Sentence builder)
- Four Square writing strategy (paragraph writing)
- Writing process
- Teaching Grammar/tenses
- Findings and Result Analysis
- Diagnostic test (pretest)
Moving from word spellings to sentence construction, this strategy was engaged in building sentences using 2S and a light bulb strategy. The 2S refers to the setting and subject of the sentence, and a bulb refers to the idea or a reason for the sentence. The sentences are constructed using this strategy using the setting (Where and when), Subject (who and what) and bulb (reasons or why).
For example, students were asked to write about 'Help the earth, recycle and recycle', they write 'Every time and everywhere, smart people recycle and reuse the waste to help the earth to be clean and healthy'. Here the first S (setting) is 'Anytime and anywhere'; second S (Subject) is formed using adjective, noun and verb, 'Smart people recycle and reuse the trash'; and finally the reason 'To help the earth to be clean and healthy'. This strategy helped construct the sentence and gave us a clear idea of what exactly the paragraph means.
This is the method for teaching basic writing skills that are applicable across the grade level for all different types of writing, such as narrative, descriptive, expository and. This visual organizer helps students to . successfully conceptualize, understand, and structure a piece of written document. The four-square writing method guides students in expanding or adding more sentences in a paragraph, as shown below.
The writing process was taught and practiced for 200 minutes per week within the set schedule of the intervention. To guide them in constructing sentences correctly, the researcher taught them the rules of grammar, including subject-verb agreement, tenses, punctuation marks, and capitalization. According to the reflection of the diagnostic test, EA determined the following weaknesses in the children that affect the quality of writing.
To facilitate the strategies for quality writing, the researchers conducted a pretest after thinking about the ALS of English writing, which shows that fourth-grade children need to improve. Vocabulary development in terms of spelling competence is experienced as major problems among students in group four. There was a maximum number of students who were incompetent in the vocabulary and spelling of the words to form quality sentences.
SPELLING ERRORS
Punctuation marks
However, the target learners were found to face difficulties in punctuating sentences correctly.
Capitalization
Punctuation Errors
Capitalization Errors
Tenses
TENSES ERRORS
Spelling Error
- Analysis of English Teachers’ Free form Survey Questionnaire
- Focus Group Discussions Analysis
- Practical Implications of the study
- Limitations
- Recommendation
- Recommendations for implementation
- Recommendations for future research
To investigate the current status of the English curriculum in the school, the competences of the English curriculum in general, the assessment practices, the factors that threaten. Vol.6, No.1 January-June 2020 21 . quality writing and writing strategies commonly used in school, a free-form survey questionnaire was used in this study. This analysis answers the AR questions, 1) What are the reasons that hinder the ability of fourth grade children to write English skills? and supports the findings 2) Are the methods and strategies used to improve children's writing quality effective.
Ten teaching faculty members responded to the need for improvement in the second language (English) among students at the school. The said improvement refers to overall language competence in four basic skills, 1) listening, 2) speaking, 3) reading and 4) writing. Reading: the lack of reading habits is the main factor that results in poor quality of writing. Practice: quality writing takes practice; the lack of practice for the children deprives writing effectively.
The students who experience poor handwriting do not practice writing and have left most of the works undone. In this method, they are provided with certain guidelines for the proper organization of the ideas to have quality writing. Storytelling: teachers tell them the story and children rewrite the story after listening to the story properly.
Nevertheless, academic excellence is assessed at the end of the semester through quality written practices, as they must take part in a summative form of assessment - an exam. Finally, the teacher informants were asked to suggest some solutions to the lack of quality writing by the students. This discussion helped the researchers triangulate the findings of the AR question: What are the reasons that hinder fourth grade children's English language literacy?.
Boredom to write: most of the students felt that writing English was boring as they found it difficult to build the sentences; they cannot express their knowledge and feelings in English because of less vocabulary and they do not have good handwriting. Difficulty in writing: almost all the participants expressed that writing English is the most difficult because of the following reasons that they have expressed. I'm bad at spelling but good at writing, so I need to improve the spelling of the words”.
The research seemed to support the writing approaches that create a positive environment for students' writing development. Similar research can be conducted with a larger sample population group in a longer research period to reach a general consensus that can have greater impact on the majority of students.
