Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Research Title:
PROBLEMS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING SKILL
OF GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT SOUTHVILLE 1 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: A
BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACTION PLAN
Research
I. Context and Rationale
In the K-12 curriculum, the students take a required Core Subject called
“Reading and Writing” where the skill of writing is no longer the mere recording of
information. Instead it is the channel for communicating their own mind-- their
experiences, their knowledge, their time—to others. It does not only aim to help the
students acquire effective writing skills—but in the process, to develop them into
people. Writing is also an important skill in studying English, which needs great
investment from the students. However, many Senior High School students do not
know the importance of writing so they only spend little time for it.
Furthermore, developing the students’ writing skill will help them get
acquainted with new types of writing as well as consolidate their writing skill. Writing
principles for students such as: grammar points, content, vocabulary and especially
university. Almost all colleges or universities require their students to get admission
exhaust all means to address the problems affecting the development of the writing
skill of students because when they have efficient writing skill, it can help them get a
good job. In fact, The Department of Education, District of Cabuyao Laguna and the
ICCP group foundation, Inc. held the signing of the memorandum of agreement last
September 16, 2016 at LISP I Cabuyao, Laguna as the start of their partnership.
They will give greater opportunities to the students or graduates from the different
schools of Cabuyao. It is in condition that the teachers will teach the competencies
given and provided by the industry-partners. According to Dr. Maritess Cruz, NXP
Human Resource manager, they need people with high writing skill level who can
researcher observed that there are still low performing students and some has very
suitable for teachers and grade 11 Senior High School students that could be of
great help, especially in the public schools, the researcher seeks to address the
Writing
people in order to suit their different needs and purposes for writing.
Graham (2002) identified the following four vital areas in the writing process:(1)
knowledge of writing and writing topics,(2) skill for producing and crafting text,(3)
processes for energizing and motivating participants to write with enthusiasm, and
(4) directing thought and actions through strategies to archive writing goals.
Grape and Kaplain (2001), in their book “Theory and practice of writing”,
explore the meaning of writing in temps of the rhetorical triangle in writing. Such
triangle consists of the reader, the recipient of the final product of the writing process,
the writer, the originator of the message; and the subject matter and the text itself.
Both the writer and the reader have to consider all these aspects when writing and
reading, respectively for each one plays a significant role in the journey towards
meaning.
because it is a process of reaching out for one’s thought and discovering them.
Writing, as such is a process of meaning making” (Third Year student, 2004, National
University of Singapore)
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
From the ancient time, writing is an extension of human language across time
and space. Writing most likely began because of political expansion in ancient
Robert Todd Caroll (1990), the most important invention in human history is writing. It
not only with our contemporaries, but also with future generations. It permits people
from the near and far distance past to speak to us. In fact, writing originated from the
need of saving cultural values and human’s spiritual. It is the official element for the
sometimes need to make official texts, for the purposes of communication or other
business. Such cases, writing skill is the best supportive tool for us. It plays an
Writing is a skill, which is not only helpful in writing to English, but also useful
to improve other considerably. “In English learning classroom, the teacher aims at
developing four skills of his/her the learner’ ability to understand to speak, to read
and to write. The ability to write occupies the last place in this order, but it does not
mean that it is least important. Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man
and writing an exact man”, said Bacon. “It is an important tool, which
enables man to communicate with others people in many ways” (Rita Rani Mandal,
2009). To students, good at writing will bring many benefits for us. Firstly, writing is a
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
good way to help develop their ability of using vocabulary and grammar, increasing
the ability of using language. Secondly, writing is an essential tool to support other
skills. If a student has good writing ability, they can speak and read the text more
because it can help people have a well prepared when finding a job or attend English
courses. With those benefits, writing is really very important to every student.
In the school setting, writing plays two distinct but complementary roles. First,
it is a skill draws on the use of strategies (such as planning, evaluating, and revising
opinion with the support of evidence. Second, writing is a mean of extending and
deepening student’s knowledge; it acts as a tool for learning subject matter (Key,
2000; Shanahan, 2004; Sperling & Freedman, 2001). Because these roles are
closely linked, Reading Next recommended that language arts teacher use content –
area texts to teach reading and writing skills and that content – area teachers provide
Research has shown that writing promotes learning and enhances critical
thinking skills. Emig (2002) pointed out that higher cognitive function, such as
analysis and synthesis, seem to develop most fully only with the support of verbal
Educational Progress, major problems exist in students’ ability to write coherent text
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
and to use information to persuade. The NAEP (2002) writing standards state that
students should be able to generate, draft, evaluate, revise, and edit ideas and forms
choices in the organization of their writing, including detail to illustrate and elaborate
the literate society of the future, students need to be proficient writers. According to
Standards for the English Language Arts, the 1996 report by the National Council of
Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA), the
literacy requirements of our society are increasing and are expected to continue to
rise. Researchers estimate that by the year 2020, students will need powerful literacy
abilities in order to participate fully in society and in the workplace. The NCTE/IRA
report stated, “Changes in technology and society have altered and will continue to
alter the ways in which we use language to communicate and to think. Students must
be prepared to meet these demands” (p. 4). This source will be used to develop the
in the competencies students will need in order to be successful in the work force. In
The Future Isn’t What it Used to Be: Student Competencies for the 21^ Century. Day
and Koorland (1997) reported that employers in jobs which require written products
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
cite writing as the primary skill requiring improvement among new employees,
especially the skill of using language appropriate to subject matter and audience.
Day and Koorland stated that effective written communication will always be an
important job skill. Day and Koorland’s findings will be used to develop the
importance and rationale of the study; they illustrate why it is important to help
writing as “a unique mode of learning” (p. 122) involving the active participation of
both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Researchers have agreed that
writing enhances thinking skills; the higher cognitive functions of analysis and
synthesis seem to develop most fully with the support of written language (p. 122).
Emig stated that if the most effective learning occurs when learning is reinforced,
then writing “through its inherent re-inforcing cycle involving hand, eye, and brain
marks a uniquely powerful multi-representational mode for learning” (p. 125). This
source illustrates the importance of developing writing skills, which will be used in the
proficient writers in order to participate in our literate society. The National Council
of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association (1996) have stated
that the literacy requirements of our society are increasing and are expected to
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
continue to rise. It is estimated that by the year 2020, students will need powerful
In the article It Can Be Taught. But It Does Not Develop Naturally: Myths and
Realities in Writing Instruction. Graham and Harris (2002) reported that providing
who experience difficulty with writing. A writer’s development depends upon four
factors: knowledge, skill, will, and self-regulation. Graham and Harris stated that
children who find writing challenging generally do little planning or reflection before or
during writing. The authors suggested increasing students’ writing time to 45 minutes
to an hour each day, and providing direct instruction in self-regulatory strategies such
as planning and revising texts. This study provided evidence that prewriting should
Forsman used timed writings, in which students were given several prompts on a
topic and wrote continuously for a specified amount of time. At the end of the time
period, students counted the number of words they had written and recorded the
number at the top of the entry. Forsman’s primary goal for the students was that they
increase the number of words written in each timed writing, and counting the words
experience has been that when students have had little experience writing in the 30
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
school setting or when their writing has been inhibited by fill-in-the-blank exercises,
they need to develop self-respect for their own generating power” (p. 164). This
strategy will be used in English class during the experimental period as a way to
measure students’ growth in fluency. Anson and Beach (2005) described the
rationale and purposes for using joumal writing as a tool for improving students’
writing fluency and critical thinking skills in their book Joumals in the Classroom:
Writing to Leam.
According to Anson and Beach, the purposes for joumal writing include
“improving thinking, enhancing formal writing, and enriching the social context of the
classroom” (p. 21). Joumal writing is also important to helping students achieve
fluency, and it can build confidence and comfort in writing. Anson and Beach stated
that “the raw quantity of students’ writing seems strongly related to how much and
how well they leam” (p. 23). Various types of joumals, strategies for incorporating
joumal writing into class assignments across the curriculum, and methods for
evaluating joumals were explained. The ideas for using joumals will be adapted for
content-area and English class activities during the experimental phase of this study.
The articles and researchers cited by authors related to the study focused on
the importance of writing, importance of developing writing skills and the instructional
strategies for improving students’ writing strategies which are the considerations in
the making of an action plan. These studies will provide the researcher valuable
inputs for the conceptualization of his study as well as in the formulation of the
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
researcher will provide a base of concepts which were found significant in the data
analysis of the data. From the literatures perused, it is not surprising that the success
of teachers and students can be very much enlivened through proliferation of reading
texts for an effective instruction. The studies cited will provide the researcher insights
instructional strategies for improving students’ writing. In the classroom, both the
teacher and the student play the most significant roles. Thus, the teacher has to offer
The statement of Graham, Grape and Kaplain, Caroll, Nhadal are all related
to this study in the sense that academic performance is based on the students’
explanations, theories, etc. Writing allows us to share our communication not only
Speaking of similarities to the present study, Koorland and Emig have agreed
that writing enhances thinking skills; the higher cognitive functions of analysis and
synthesis seem to develop most fully with the support of written language.
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
students?
2. What are the reasons behind the difficulties encountered by the Grade 11
students?
This study will be preceded on the first semester of academic year 2016 –
respondents consist of 150 Grade 11 students who come from the classes H.E A,
H.E B and H.E C. All of them are at the age of seventeen to nineteen years old. Their
V. METHODOLOGY
a. Sampling
The respondents consist of 150 Grade 11 students who come from the
classes H.E A, H.E B and H.E C. All of them are at the age of seventeen to nineteen
method.
ACTION RESEARCH TEACHERS’ SOCIETY
b. Data Collection
The researcher will venture on asking permission from the principal of the
school where she will conduct her study through a formal letter. The questionnaires
researcher.
c. Ethical Issues
This research should not embarrass the students who have problem
in writing. The purpose of this research is to help them develop their writing
skill that can also help them boost their self-esteem and not the other way
around. The researcher will inform the respondents about the study to be
of view, problems and ways of learning writing. In addition, observation will also
VI. WORKPLAN
Research
continue this study throughout this school year to determine if, with increased
time, any improvement in students’ writing skills will occur. This action
research can be utilized by the other English teachers, so that they can
Grade 11 students.
March 2015]
Emig (2002). The Practice of English Language Teaching. The 3th Edition.
Press
75, No 2, 173-180.
http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/writingskills.pdf
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications/downloads/pdfs/Nar_Sample.