using writing in english language classroom - is muni
TRANSCRIPT
MASARYK UNIVERSITY IN BRNO
Faculty of Education
Department of English Language and Literature
Using Writing in English Language Classroom
DIPLOMA THESIS
Brno 2011
Supervisor Written by
Rita Collins, EdD Daniela Kulíšková
Acknowledgement:
I would like to thank my supervisor, Rita Collins, for her kind help, valuable advice and
inspiration.
Affirmation:
I hereby declare that my diploma thesis was in all parts exclusively prepared on my
own, and that other resources or other means (including online sources), than those
explicitly referred to, have not been utilized. All implemented fragments of text, have
been marked as such.
Brno, 10th
April, 2011 ..............................
Daniela Kulíšková
Annotation
This diploma thesis deals with the topic teaching writing in a foreign language to
young learners, namely teaching writing skills and the influence the newly established
written part of the final examination might have. Writing in this context is not only
writing for communicative purposes, but all the steps leading to improvement of writing
skills. Moreover, the thesis focuses on roles of teacher, one of which is assessing. The
theoretical part covers the overview of various writing exercises which are also
analysed in two different course books and results of that are compared in the practical
part of the thesis. There are also analysed and interpreted questionnaires given to
teachers to explore the situation in Czech schools and to pupils to compare their
attitudes towards writing before and after the lessons with attention paid to writing.
Anotace
Tato diplomová práce se zabývá tématem výuky psaní v cizím jazyce u mladších
žáků, zvláště výukou dovednosti psaní pod možným vlivem nově zavedené písemné
části maturitní zkoušky. Psaním v tomto kontextu se rozumí nejen psaní za účelem
komunikace, ale i kroky vedoucí ke zdokonalení dovednosti psaní v cizím jazyce. Dále
se práce zaměřuje na role učitele, z nichž jedna je hodnocení písemných prací.
Teoretická část práce zahrnuje i možné rozdělení cvičení zaměřených na psaní a tyto
jsou pak analyzovány v části praktické ve dvou učebnicích používaných pro danou
věkovou skupinu. Praktická část také obsahuje analýzu a interpretaci dat získaných od
učitelů formou dotazníku, za účelem zmapování situace ve školách a od žáků za účelem
srovnání jejich postojů před a po čase stráveném v hodinách anglického jazyka, ve
kterých byla věnována pozornost rozvoji psaní.
Key words: importance of writing, teaching writing skills, assessing writing, the
possible influence of the written part of the new final examination at the end of a
secondary school
Klíčová slova: význam učení psaní, výuka dovednosti psaní, hodnocení písemné práce,
možný vliv nově zavedené písemné části zkoušky z anglického jazyka u nové státní
maturity
TABLE OF CONTENT
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8
2 Theoretical part ................................................................................................................... 10
2.1 Reasons for teaching writing ....................................................................................... 10
2.2 Why could writing be difficult? ................................................................................... 10
2.3 Writing in the early stages .......................................................................................... 11
2.3.1 Word level ........................................................................................................... 12
2.3.2 Sentence level ..................................................................................................... 12
2.3.3 Text level ............................................................................................................. 13
2.4 Writing as a process .................................................................................................... 14
2.5 Motivation ................................................................................................................... 15
2.5.1 Ideas for visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners ........................................... 16
2.6 Teacher´s role .............................................................................................................. 18
2.7 Evaluation of written work.......................................................................................... 20
2.7.1 Correcting procedures ........................................................................................ 20
2.7.2 Mistakes vs. Errors .............................................................................................. 21
2.7.3 Holistic vs. Analytic evaluation of students work ............................................... 21
2.7.4 Rubrics ................................................................................................................. 22
2.7.5 A Rubric for the written exam at school leaving examination in the Czech
Republic 22
2.7.6 Alternative forms of assessing and response to student writing ........................ 23
2.8 Writing for fun and writing on purpose ...................................................................... 27
2.9 Genre based writing .................................................................................................... 28
2.10 From hand writing to IT ............................................................................................... 29
2.10.1 Handwriting ......................................................................................................... 29
2.10.2 Using Information Communication Technology for English Language Teaching 30
2.11 Writing exercises ......................................................................................................... 32
2.11.1 Copying ................................................................................................................ 33
2.11.2 Practice with words ............................................................................................. 34
2.11.3 Practice with sentences ...................................................................................... 34
2.11.4 Creative writing ................................................................................................... 35
2.11.5 Communication activities .................................................................................... 35
2.12 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 36
3 Practical Part ....................................................................................................................... 37
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 37
3.2 Details.......................................................................................................................... 38
3.3 Analyses of the textbooks ........................................................................................... 39
3.3.1 Project ................................................................................................................. 39
3.3.2 Challenges ........................................................................................................... 44
3.3.3 Comparison ......................................................................................................... 50
3.4 Analysis of Questionnaires for Teachers ..................................................................... 52
3.5 Analysis of Questionnaires for the Pupils ................................................................... 57
3.5.1 Suggestions ......................................................................................................... 62
4 Recommendation ................................................................................................................ 64
5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 65
6 Appendixes .......................................................................................................................... 67
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 1 Balance of the skills in Project course book .................................................................. 41
Figure 2 Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Project Students´ book.................... 43
Figure 3 Balance of the skills in Challenges course book ............................................................ 47
Figure 4 Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Challenges Students´ book ............. 49
Figure 5 Balance of the skills in Challenges, Project and Real Life .............................................. 51
Figure 6 Teachers´ attitude towards higher attention paid to teaching of writing .................... 55
Figure 7 Attitudes towards assessing of writing ......................................................................... 55
Figure 8 Teachers´ opinion about how difficult and enjoyable writing tasks for pupils are ...... 56
Figure 9 Comparison of what pupils had been taught in September after seven month ......... 59
Figure 10 Students´ opinion on improvement of writing skills after the course ........................ 61
Table 1Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Project Students´ book ...................... 42
Table 2Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Challenges Students´ book ................ 47
Table 3 The most popular course book used for 6th graders according to my brief research ... 53
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1 Introduction
Teaching writing skills is an essential part of teaching language. In this diploma
thesis, writing could be defined not only as a piece of writing for the purpose of
communication, i.e. commands, notes, letters etc, but all kinds of writing pupils practise
in classes of English as steps of different levels leading to improvement of writing
skills. In the last years teaching writing skills became even more important in Czech
schools, because the new written part of the leaving exam was established. In my
diploma thesis I would like to focus on the current situation in a school and explore
teaching writing as such. I will focus on young learners for whom the final exam seems
to be far away. However, early beginnings of learning to write are very important,
because there we can search for origin of students´ attitudes towards writing, their
motivation and writing habits.
The aim of this diploma thesis is to verify the following hypotheses: firstly,
students, if not motivated to write by self-interest, build a positive relationship towards
writing thanks to an extrinsic motivation. Teachers should change their methods and
approaches because of the new state leaving exam and the text books have developed
according to this new need, too.
In the theoretical part I would like to describe teaching writing from different
points of view. Chapters are dedicated to motivation for writing, the role of guidance
and the importance of an example. I will explain the difficulties while learning to write
either for fun or for a purpose. An important aspect must be considered, there are two
possible methods of evaluation, i.e. holistic and analytical approach via using rubrics.
And last, but not at least, I will classify various writing exercises that appear in
our textbooks and other sources.
In the practical part of my thesis I deal with three domains – writing and students,
writing and teachers and tasks focused on writing skills in current textbooks. I will
compare two textbooks I have used so far according to tasks improving writing skills. I
will focus on writing styles and genres a student is supposed to know in compliance
with A1 level established by CEFR.1 I will use a questionnaire to ask Czech teachers
1 Common European Framework for Languages
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about their opinion, whether they, their children and the textbooks they use are
influenced by the existence of the written part of final exam. I will also ask my pupils to
express their opinion about writing both at the beginning and after a term in my courses.
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2 Theoretical part
2.1 Reasons for teaching writing
Writing is an inseparable skill students have to improve while studying foreign
languages. However, it is not necessary to think about writing as a must. In the positive
way of thinking it is a gift. This kind of communication distinguishes people from other
living creatures.
There are some reasons valid for learners of all ages. Some of them are true
especially for young learners, though. Children (in case of this diploma thesis they are
aged 11-12), learnt to write in their first language already and have recently started to
learn foreign language orally, so that there exists the space to teach them writing in the
foreign language, too.
Byrne justifies teaching writing to young learners and claims, among other
reasons, that: pupils enjoy writing, partly because writing in a foreign language is a new
activity for them. Students also expect to be taught writing at school. Moreover, they
may get bored or tired and need a break from oral activities. Time for writing, even if it
is just copying an exercise, provides quiet time to relax and pupils go back to speaking
with new energy. Writing offers the opportunity to work on their own and rely on
themselves, their skills and knowledge, because there may be big differences among
peers. Calm time of writing provides time for personal contact, when a teacher may help
students individually and focus his/her attention on the particular problem of the child.
As proud as children could be, they bring home something to show and be praised.
(Byrne, 129)
2.2 Why could writing be difficult?
Writing sometimes causes problem even for adults, not only for children. And
there are some people who find writing difficult even in their first language. Why is it
so? Is the ability to write a gift? Don Byrne analysed three possible reasons that may
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cause those difficulties, i.e. psychological, linguistic and cognitive problems.
(Byrne,4)
Speaking, unlike writing, is natural interaction with someone physically present.
While writing, one is left alone. What is more, one often does not know the audience.
Also people speak because they want to and write because they are told to and it is
similar with the content. Thanks to immediate interaction in speaking there is no time
to think about organisation, grammar and vocabulary and if someone has a problem,
the partners usually help each other.
2.3 Writing in the early stages
It is difficult to set an exact age limit, when pupils should be taught writing in
foreign language. ´´Although younger learners may not yet be able to write beyond
sentence level, ten-twelve-year-olds are often able to write paragraphs of simple
stories´´ (Georgiou, Pavlou, 144). This topic has been discussed elsewhere (Byrne, 31;
Reilly, V., Reilly. J., 21-120; Georgiou, Pavlou, 144). Small amounts of language affect
quantity and kinds of writing, but the truth is that children do not have to wait until they
are able to write correctly. Experts claim” The more people write, the easier it gets and
the more they are motivated to do it. “ (NCTE, 2010). As a result from that statement-
the earlier pupils begin to practise writing, the earlier they should become comfortable
with writing techniques. Being at school, writers write because some authority told
them to do so. However, writing is not just copying exercises from the book, it could
and should be creative, and the teacher is here to set the right conditions. It is the
teacher, who creates opportunities for students to be in different situations. Students are
asked to write for any audience on any purpose during their studies and also later in
their lives. The important factors are students´ level of language and their
developmental stages. A child goes from pre – writing level, when he/she can read or
write picture stories, through the letter – writing, e. g. alphabet songs or alphabet books,
to word – level, sentence – level and finally text level (Reilly, J., Reilly, V. 49, 76, 100).
The last three categories are the main stages of students I focus on.
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2.3.1 Word level
Children should begin with writing of familiar words. Later, they can add new
sets and extend their word bank. It is important, that students remember words in this
stage and they can colour and decorate them according to the main topic they belong to.
For their future proficiency writing, they will have to know how to work with the word,
too. A word can be divided into chunks and put together again. Multi-syllable words
can be divided into syllables and blended again. Then, the meaning can be changed
because of different prefixes etc. Children should be aware of appearance and therefore
pronunciation of words and similarities among words, i.e. children learn easier the
words similar to those they have already known (Reilly, J., Reilly, V. 49). They can
decode unknown words while reading and encode words while creating their own text.
It is useful if students decorate walls with pictograms, word-family posters, and word
chains to feed visual memory or play clapping games for auditory and kinaesthetic
learners etc.
2.3.2 Sentence level
If students are able to talk in sentences, they can also write sentences. There is not
a strict line between word level, sentence level and text level. Sentence writing is just
one step higher level. If it seems to be difficult for children, they could produce first
sentences thank to meaningful copying of one given sentence which they change
slightly – one or two words and later change the whole sentence to produces
personalized writing. A teacher as a guide enables children to be more and more
independent. Although at first ´´children need to see examples of what you want them to
write´´ (Reilly, J., Reilly, V., 76).
Even in this level, all senses and all learning types have to be satisfied, so that it is
worth considering combining writing with the other activities and different learning
strategies. Therefore sentence writing can be used with TPR, drama and mime. It is also
important to connect the sentences with the real life a pupil lives in. We also can make
the sentences to live their real life thanks to pictures. For some children, it is easier to
describe real objects than an imaginary world, so that they can use their thinking to
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grammar, primarily. It may be too much to bear if we want children to create a sentence
and think about meaning or situation at the same time.
2.3.3 Text level
Text level may be difficult for children, because they need to be successful in
English language concerning grammar and extended vocabulary. They also should be
good at writing as such. Pupils should know the difference between single sentences
and the texts. Writing any text, they have to bear in mind the topic. Following the topic
the text seems to be cohesive. Children have already learnt to blend words together to
write sentences, now they have to use sentences to create paragraphs and finally the
whole text. Those steps are essential for any genre they practice, e.g. narration,
description, letters, report, survey etc.
On one hand the more pupils practice, the more confident they are. Writing any
genre, there are sequences, such as drafts, the final copy and presenting, which are
always very similar. On the other hand, to make it interesting, a teacher should use
innovations in conditions, approaches, challenging tasks and interesting topics.
Various writing exercises on different level could be found in course books. In
practical part, two different course books will be compared according to these criteria.
Writing activities in course books are normally of the controlled or guided kind,
where a model is given and the student´s task is to produce something similar,
usually based on additional information given. The types of writing task given can
be quite varied and include writing factual accounts such as a report for a
newspaper, filling in grids, writing notes to others, making lists, filling in forms,
writing a diary, writing formal and informal letters, summarizing texts, and many
others. (Cunningsworth, 80)
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2.4 Writing as a process
The field of theory offers various steps, into which the writing process could be
subdivided. Jeremy Harmer suggests organising the writing process into five main
steps: planning, drafting, editing (reflecting and revising) and final version. (Harmer, 4-
5). Richards and Renandya enrich the process with more steps during and after writing,
such as: planning, group brainstorming, clustering and rapid free writing, WH-
questions, drafting, responding, revising, editing, evaluating and post writing.
(Richards, Renandya, 348-9)
Young learners may feel lost when they are given a blank sheet of paper and
supposed to write any genre about any topic. They usually appreciate being helped to
begin and not to feel alone with the demanding task.
Firstly, a teacher should explain clearly, what he/she wants pupils to do.
Secondly, there is a space to discuss ideas together as a class or in groups or pairs. If
there is enough time, children can write down the vocabulary that comes to their mind
according to the topic or it could be realised as brainstorming among peers. The
children should be aware of the facts connected to WH questions who they are writing
to, why, when, how etc. As Harmer noticed, even experienced writers think about what
they are going to write considering purpose, audience and content structure (Harmer, 4-
5) After that, they may be left alone with a great amount of vocabulary and ideas to
produce a piece of writing, which is called the draft. The draft may by checked by
teacher or peers, who comment on it and give useful advice. A pupil rewrites the draft
using feedback he/she got from a teacher and peers and submit the final version to
teacher who reads it and evaluate. Students should be carefully led to be able to edit
their final version, which may be used for post writing activity in the classroom or even
read by broader audience.
Unfortunately, there usually is not enough time to go through all the steps
whenever pupils have to work on the written task. However, it is very important to teach
them to plan the process of their writing and give them the opportunity to do so and
provide a good example at the beginning to inspire them and let them develop their
writing skills in their own way. Help them manage the process of writing.
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2.5 Motivation
Some students just like writing and it gives them pleasure. If students did not
come to the lesson motivated, they have to be helped.
Jeremy Harmer explains the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation of pupils.
A variety of factors create a desire to learn. Perhaps the learners love the subject
they have chosen, or maybe they are simply interested in seeing what it is like.
Perhaps, as with young children, they just happen to be curious about everything,
including learning...This kind of motivation – which comes from outside the
classroom and may be influenced by a number of external factors such a attitude
of society, family and peers to the subject in question – is often referred to as
extrinsic motivation, the motivation that students bring into the classroom from
outside. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is the kind of motivation that is
generated by what happens inside the classroom; this could be the teacher´s
methods, the activities that students take part in, or their perception of their
success or failure. (Harmer, 20)
Firstly, a teacher has to analyse properly, why the particular student is not
motivated, why he/she does not like writing and help him to build the positive
relationship. A student may feel unsure about his/her handwriting, may suffer from a
lack of ideas, is not good at spelling or might feel not able to construct a meaningful
sentence etc. And because one of those things or maybe all of them and many others,
he/she fails again in basic writing tasks and is nor successful again and again.
An enthusiastic teacher should be able to share enthusiasm and make each child
to feel familiar with writing tasks and confident about his/her own writing. When the
teacher has analysed the lack of motivation in case of a particular pupil, he/she has to
choose the right kind of writing exercise and provide all the necessary information, so
that the child succeeds this time.
If a teacher is lucky, he/she is able to find an exercise a student both needs and
also is enjoyable. Those tasks are engaging in themselves. A task like that is ´´one that
involves students not just intellectually but emotionally as well...When students are
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´switched on´ by engaging task, there is a good chance that some of their doubts about
writing will disappear.´´ (Harmer, 62)
Students respond to various stimuli, but some things usually stimulate them
more than the others. Therefore, what engages students may be different for each
student. Researches proved that some students are especially influenced by visual
stimuli and it is easier for them to remember things if they see them, some students are
especially affected by auditory input and for others kinaesthetic activity may be more
effective than visual and auditory stimuli (Harmer, 16). People respond to all the
stimuli. However, one of them is more helpful when trying to remember what we gave
learnt.
2.5.1 Ideas for visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners
A teacher should make an effort to feed all pupils´ senses; they need to see, hear
and move. Proper stimulus can make learning and therefore writing easier for those
children.
For auditory learners, listening to music could be very effective stimulus
(Harmer, 65-66). Not to disturb students with words, the best choice is any instrumental
music, which can evoke feelings of fear or happiness.
On the word-level, pupils can write down vocabulary that they associate with the
music they are listening to. On the text level, pupils can describe pictures the author of
the music was probably looking at while writing. Unlike static describing, students can
also write a short story or a scene from the movie, where the music could be used.
As Harmer suggests, visual learners appreciate the material that stimulates them
through the things they can see and transport them into different worlds (Harmer, 67).
Using pictures might have a great effect on children who respond well to visual aids.
Looking at pictures and other interesting objects evokes set of ideas and vocabulary.
Harmer offers a few ideas in his book, e.g. to gain more information from students, ask
them to describe the picture for someone, who is blind. Except description, writing a
postcard might be evoked through showing a picture of any place in the world to
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children. Pupils are asked to pretend they are on holiday and they should write a
postcard to their friends, where they describe the place and what they are doing there.
For many children it is much easier if they are given tasks like those, they do not have
to spend such a long time working on their imagination and ideas and they can focus on
writing itself. Students know and should practice describing people as well. For that, we
can use portraits or photos of people to make children write about people´s appearance
and feelings, too. To practise verbs, children can also write a story about those people
and add any subjects the teacher involved. Secret subjects teacher brings to the
classroom hidden in a box in a hat may be also used as topics for poems or riddles.
A lot of pupils do not find it attractive and motivational to write just for a piece
of paper or exercise book, that just a teacher is supposed to read. For those, it might be
very helpful if they could share their ideas and work together on any project as a pair,
group or the whole classroom. Furthermore, they can write to each other. ´´Successful
collaborative writing allows students to learn from each other´´ (Harmer, 73). Pupils can
e.g. share one story or description where each writes either one word or one sentence.
They can also write a piece of text and rewrite various words or extend the words to
change the meaning of the sentences, such as to changing adjectives or numbers etc.
Among peers in the classroom, they can write short messages in jumbled words.
To focus on kinaesthetic learners, they can send messages with instructions such as
jump, sit or look at...To see there is any purpose in their writing they can write not only
each other in the classroom, but also to their pen friends living far away. Getting the
answers back from someone out of the classroom can be very simulative and could
encourage pupils to write again, because they could see the point in this activity.
There is probably no activity, which would motivate all the pupils in the
classroom. The skilled teacher is usually able to figure out an activity which encourages
the attention of the most. Either the activity is for fun or meaningful writing on purpose,
the more interesting the task is, the more motivated students feel.
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2.6 Teacher´s role
The role of the teacher could be called the role of guidance from the very first
moment of writing activity to the last one as has been discussed elsewhere (Byrne, 25-
26; Harmer, 41; Edge, 66). Moreover, teacher´s work starts even earlier planning the
lesson and finishes with evaluation. According to Jeremy Harmer, teacher´s
performance before, during and after students´ writing could be divided into following
stages:
Demonstrating
A teacher as a guide should provide some examples and also explain the basic
features of each genre when students are supposed to write a specific type of writing.
Students should be informed about different degrees of formality and informality, polite
and familiar language, personal and impersonal and also main differences between
spoken and written language. A guide should demonstrate a clear example of what he
expects to get from his students. (Harmer, 41)
Motivating and provoking
The beginnings of activities appears to be the most difficult part and it is the same
with writing, especially creative writing. Students seem to have difficulties either with
small amount of vocabulary or lack of ideas. Therefore their guide should spend
suitable time before lessons preparing set of words and interesting topics and activities
for students to persuade them writing could be fun they can enjoy while learning. It is
possible in all ages and stages from jumbled words on the blackboards with the
youngest up to writing essays about global issues with adult learners. It appears to be
very helpful provoking students to express their agreement or strong disagreement with
ambiguous topics such as smoking in the public or writing homework. (Harmer, 41)
Supporting
A good guide should be still present and ready to assist and help students with
their needs, which could be connected to students´ lack of inspiration or ideas and also
the ways to express them, i.e. vocabulary or grammar. Students have to be assured of
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what they are doing is useful and be helped whenever they cannot overcome any task or
a part of it during the process of writing. (Harmer, 42)
Responding
When teachers are given students´ pieces of written work, they react in two ways.
They both respond and evaluate. Students may be given a respond either for their drafts,
i.e. their unfinished versions. Teacher´s respond then is a kind of guidebook with some
recommendation how to improve the work. A teacher provides warnings and useful
advices where the main difficulties are and suggests correcting, e. g. ´´be careful with
articles´´ or ´´could you explain once again particular part of the story.´´ The aim here is
not evaluation, but helping to improve the piece of writing and to avoid mistakes
mentioned next time. Very useful could be peer evaluation. Students may feel less
offended are more open to critique and suggestions. (Harmer, 42)
Evaluation
There are various means of evaluation and everyone needs to be praised and the
younger a learner is, the more valid this recommendation seems to be. While evaluating,
try to appreciate the good before criticising and correcting. Otherwise, ´´students realise
that what the teacher prizes above everything else is freedom from mistakes´´ (Edge,
66). However, correcting is necessary as well. Everybody wants to know his place on
the scale of his personal progress, i.e. what he has improved since his last attempt, on
his own scale. On the other hand, achievement measures what someone has achieved
according to the others in the group.
Corrected and evaluated pieces should not be archived in folders sooner than
authors/writers have a chance to see the evaluation and have the opportunity to be
enlightened, to find out about mistakes they have done and to ask teacher for
explanation if necessary.
A good guide in writing should be able to make writing enjoyable, give children
opportunities for copying and using examples, prepare adequate opportunities to use
orally learnt matter, adapt exercises for different speed of working, assist whenever
possible, support creativity, encourage, evaluate and praise.
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2.7 Evaluation of written work
2.7.1 Correcting procedures
A teacher has a chance to choose from various correcting procedures. However,
´´it is very depressing for a student to get back any piece of written work with lots of
teacher correction on it´´ (Edge, 50). Further, correcting all the mistakes seems to be
time-consuming for teachers. When students are asked to correct their mistakes then,
they may be confused because of doing too much correction, and they do not know
what to focus on.
Sometimes, but not in all types of writing, it appears to be very useful, if a
teacher corrects mistakes selectively, i.e. ´´by marking only one particular kind of
mistakes, one which would be useful for a particular student or by giving the students
some information about what mistake they have made´´(Edge, 52). Moreover, this
system seems to be well-arranged and therefore more helpful for students.
To raise independent students, a teacher should help them to find the mistakes
on their own. It could be either self-correcting, that students enjoy, because it is usually
teacher´s job, or using symbols indicating any kind of mistake. The symbols are written
beside students´ lines, what makes them look for their mistakes in the text.
Those symbols may consist of one or a few letters, they can be taken over or the
teacher can agree on some symbols with his/her students. To illustrate this technique, S
could be uses for spelling mistake, P for punctuation, G for grammar mistake, WO for
wrong word order and many others. Ideas mentioned by various authors could differ
slightly, but initial letters maintain more or less the same. (Byrne, 125; Harmer 111;
Murcia, 201)
No piece of students writing should be hidden in the folder, unless the mistakes
are explained by teacher, corrected by writers and students are encouraged to consult
any mistakes and problems with their guide. As Tarvers advises, a teacher should be
always positive while evaluating finished products. ´´Any writing effort will have
strengths, even if they are few and sometimes hard to find...Even if the strengths you
praise is a very mundane one´´ (Tarvers, 73).
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2.7.2 Mistakes vs. Errors
While correcting pupils´ writing, a teacher has to identify mistakes and errors.
According to an explanation in Byrne´s book, errors are caused either when trying
something with the language, what students have not learnt yet, e. g. generalisation
when they use irregular verbs as if they are regular ( teach – teached). Errors may be
caused due to word for word translation, too.
On the other hand, mistakes occur even if a student has learnt something, but
he/she forgets or is just careless when writing (Byrne, 123)
2.7.3 Holistic vs. Analytic evaluation of students work
As I have said above, it is very helpful if a teacher responds to pupil´s drafts.
´´We have to develop an appropriate level of response for commenting on a first draft,
and to differentiate that from the level suitable to a second and third draft´´ (Tarvers,
176). After that, when a teacher is given the final version of pupil´s written work, there
are two conventional options of evaluation, i.e. holistic and analytic (´´Holistic versus
Analytic evaluation´´).
Holistic evaluation
The use of holistic rubrics can result in a somehow quicker scoring process, i.e.
it could be done more rapidly than analytic evaluation. Therefore, it is a handy tool for
an overloaded teacher. In this kind of evaluation of students writing, the teacher is
required to score the product as a whole, measuring its success according to a
predetermined scale without judging the component parts separately. This approach is
customarily utilized when errors in some part of the process or work can be tolerated
and the overall quality is high. (´´Kritéria hodnocení´´)
Analytic evaluation
´´An analytic rubric breaks the writing task down into smaller components and
evaluates each independently´´ (´´Holistic versus Analytic evaluation). Therefore it is
22
much more helpful for student writers because it specifies exactly where a student needs
to focus on when revising. According to process of writing, the analytic evaluation
might be more useful during the steps leading to the final result, i.e. drafts. On the other
hand, the final piece of work could be evaluated rather with the holistic rubric.
(´´Kritéria hodnocení´´)
2.7.4 Rubrics
A rubric is an authentic assessment tool used to measure students' work. Using
rubrics make the process of correcting easier, clearer and more objective for both,
teachers and learners. (´´Creating grading rubrics for writing assignments´´) However, it
is not always quicker. It provides a clear evidence and students do not have to feel
offended, because of teachers possible personal preferences among students. Moreover,
Pamela Flash states that “When students are apprised of grading criteria from the start,
they can be more involved in the process of working toward success´´ (´´Creating
grading rubrics for writing assignments´´). In addition to helping students understand
how the assignment relates to course content, a shared-rubric can increase student
authority in classroom, through transparency.
We have to bear in mind that students are assessed and compared among one
class, but also among schools, so that rubrics appears to be suitable tool for evaluation
of final exam.
2.7.5 A Rubric for the written exam at school leaving examination in
the Czech Republic
Most of pupils in the classes of 8-year grammar school and many of pupils at the
Czech lower secondary school aim to school leaving examination at the end of the
secondary school. Therefore, it could be easier for them if they were prepared for it
while practicing in earlier years. The harder pupils practice, the more easy exams appear
to be and the more successful students are.
23
A teacher can start to explain the rules of evaluation at the very beginnings of
pupils´ writing, so that pupils are used to the system and feel more comfortable and
confident about what they are supposed to do.
Students should be informed not only about what they are supposed to do, but
also about the rubrics used to assess their work to fulfil requirements successfully. It
seems to be useful strategy, when students are allowed to observe and participate.
For that reason, it appears to be useful tool, if a teacher informs students about
the system of the most important requirements according to the final examination and
their learning to write.
The rubric used for final examination in the Czech school is divided into four
columns, i.e. categories for short written texts, such as the postcard or note. There are
four columns for long written texts, e.g. essay, a letter..., too. However, for long texts
each column is subdivided into 2 parts. To sum up, there are 4 categories for shorter text
and 8 for longer ones, each for 0 - 3 points, so that the maximum for shorter texts is 12
points and 24 points for longer texts. For more detailed information see the appendix,
there are information translated from Czech into English and they are available on
websites for the teachers, who are supposed to correct and evaluate students’ final
works during final examination (lms.ciscom.cz).2
2.7.6 Alternative forms of assessing and response to student writing
One thing is even more important than an essay without spelling or grammar
mistakes. It is the communicative purpose of writing. ´´Correction should mean helping
people to become more accurate, not insisting on completely standard English´´ (Edge,
50). For that reason, we can find it in the first, therefore the most important criteria in
the rubrics mentioned above.
Speaking has the same purpose. However, written text could be inspected more
carefully being read again and again and that is why teachers sometimes pay attention to
mistakes rather than communication.
2 See the appendix 1
24
These days, new approaches to assessing and ways to responding are opened to
teachers of foreign languages. These modern methods lead to independence and self-
reliability rather than dependence on teachers.
Richards and Renandya suggest a few non-traditional approaches to assessment
of student. These are self response, peer response, protocol analysis, journal entries,
dialogue journal, learning logs and portfolio. (Richards, Renandya, 347-351)
Self response and peer response
Firstly, students need to get in the habit to look at their own and others´ writing
critically. It is not possible until a teacher let them practise it. It is suitable to start with
pieces of writing that are easier than students´ current level of English. To begin with
this method, students have to have the opportunity to discuss mistakes with the teacher
and their peers either. Students, who are given the proper training, are able to respond to
their paper and therefore are one step closer to be independent students. ´´For self-
correction to work, we have to give a little time at the beginning of a lesson for students
to look at their marked work and try to correct any mistakes´´(Edge, 51).
Students need to feel their teacher is interested in their own response and he/she
is interested in how they can see and assess their own piece of work. Even if correcting
grammar mistakes seems to be difficult for student, they can easily work on their
spelling thanks to dictionaries and they should be capable of checking in what style they
are writing, whether they mentioned and worked out the pieces of information they
were supposed to mention.
Peers response
This method is worth-considering. Not only it makes students less worried, but
they enjoy it more than being corrected by teachers. Also, they may feel less offended
being criticized by their peers (Of course, it depends on climate in each classroom).
On one hand, if students work in groups, one of the members may check
grammar, others vocabulary and linking words etc, they may work more effectively
than one teacher. ´´Two heads are better than one´´ adds Edge in his book (Edge, 53).
On the other hand, students lack the competence of native speakers and are probably not
as skilled at giving response as a teacher, so that peer response has to be controlled in
order to be valuable activity.
25
Peer response can also motivate writers, because a teacher is not the only (and
still the same) audience. Students usually enjoy providing entertainment for their peers.
Portfolio assessment
Portfolio is a kind of collection of what a learner has done so far. In case of
writing, it could be either a folder with selected pieces of writing among a year or years
at school, or collection of not only creative writing, but also tests. There could be also
drafts included to be compared with final versions or students can write entries into one
diary pro keep the writing habit. Any kind of portfolio a student and a teacher choose,
they have a chance to observe the development and the way they covered together.
Later, if students need to revise how to write different genres and styles, it could
be also a textbook or guidebook of stylistics.
No matter what kind of portfolio is chosen, it could be useful tool, clear
evidence of improvement, but also the book full of memories for both, a teacher and a
student. (Richards, Renandya, 347)
Journal Entries and Dialogue Journal
Keeping a journal and sharing writing with students help the teacher and
students to overcome possible obstruction or inconvenience and work on friendly
climate in the classroom, as claimed in the last chapter of Jeremy Harmer´s book
(Harmer, 125). Among other positive features it provides an opportunity for informal
assessment, it offers intensive writing practice and therefore builds writing habit. Not
only it improves writing, it also makes writing enjoyable and interesting. Unfortunately,
not all the students in the ESL classroom are keen on writing and those may find this
task quite annoying.
The difference between journal entries and dialogue journal is in equal
opportunities to contribute to the journal. Students write their entries into journal, a
teacher comments them, asks for explanation or gives an advice, so that the relationship
is hierarchical here.
Dialogue journal, on the other hand, offers to students and a teacher a common
space and an opportunity to write to each other in equal turns. It leads them to the
feeling they trust each other. Learners are motivated to express their feeling and ideals.
26
A guide assists them to do so.
This type is probably more suitable for more skilled writers, because they are
able to express their opinions and feelings easier. Nevertheless, this written
conversation could be used even with young learners with the basic knowledge of
language if an appropriate topic is chosen, because the goal is to communicate.
It may take time for the children to accept the journal as part of their learning,
but your response to their writing can speed things up. The children soon begin
to enjoy this private method of communication between them and you. Through
the children´s responses to your additional clarifying/guiding questions, you can
gain valuable insight into their individual learning preferences, attitudes, and
abilities. (Georgiou, Pavlou 120)
Anyway, there is no doubt, that both kinds of shared journals help learners to
practice and improve writing, builds the writing habit and supports writing habit.
Protocol Analysis
Protocol analysis seems to be demanding and time-consuming process. Still, it
appears to be positive challenge for ambitious and hard-working students who really
want to improve their writing. At first, a teacher serves as a model by showing students
real protocol analysis in the classroom as an example. (Richards, Renandya, 348)
This alternative method, like the others, deals with writing as a process, rather
than final writing itself. Students are supposed to consciously analyse all pre-final
writing steps. This approach may be also called ´´think aloud activity´´( Richards,
Renandya, 348), because students should record all things that come to their mind
during the writing process.
There are many options offered to teachers, but one recommendation sounds like
the general truth, valid for any approach: ´´Assessment of writing involves complex,
informed, human judgement´´ (NCTE, Beliefs about the Teaching of writing)
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2.8 Writing for fun and writing on purpose
In each ESL classroom, there is some time for writing for purpose or writing for
learning, according to terms of Byrne and Harmer that is usually a part of the
curriculum and those genres we find in the table of content in any textbook. Among
those genres is e.g.
A note with directions
A postcard ( a postcard from holiday or a postcard wishing a happy birthday)
A form
A short description of people (preferably the student himself/herself).3
´´The most effective learning of writing skills is likely to take place when students
are writing messages for a real audience.´´ (Harmer, 39). Here, a teacher leads pupils
´´from writing simulation to writing situation´´ (Harmer, 31) and pupils pretend to be in
the role, i.e. they write a postcard for birthday, a postcard from being on holiday, a note
with directions inviting a friend etc.
The other writing activities could be for entertainment, ´´for fun´´ (Byrne, 64),
also called ´´writing for writing´´(Harmer, 34). They do not necessarily help students to
write more effectively, to develop learner´s composition and if they do, it is a by-
product. Even if students´ level is elementary, they have the opportunity to express
themselves in the creative way. Students like those activities because they have a lot of
fun and very often they have the opportunity to work together with their peers in pairs
or groups. A teacher could let pupils work on puzzles, quizzes, headlines, jumbled texts,
role descriptions or picture description. They might occur in various parts of the lesson
at the beginning, in the middle or at the end and the length of those activities varies a
lot.
Creative writing, like painting or singing, is considered to be a gift. Others
assume creativity could be developed either. One way or the other, creative people with
3 According to Common European Framework for Languages
28
required imagination can get a profit from it and are able to be creative and original
even in those genres that are thought to be routine. As Fromm argues, ´´all humans
desire to be creative and, by doing so, transcend´´ (Leach, Graham, 32).
2.9 Genre based writing
If students are able to use different oral register, they also must be able to write
for different purposes for various audiences. Jeremy Harmer argues: ´´Building the
writing habit is extremely important, but without looking at examples of different
genres to see, how they are constructed, and without becoming used to drafting and re-
drafting, students are unlikely to become effective writers.´´ (Harmer, 86). Simply,
students should have the opportunity to write a lot and in different genres, so that they
could use a specific choice of vocabulary, i.e. register. Register, than, depends on the
target audience, too.
Without the specific knowledge in writing on purpose, the writing such as formal
letters would have a little chance to success in pupil’s future attempts. Therefore we
have to build the awareness of genres from the early stages of studying foreign
language. Except knowledge of the genre, students are supposed to have general world
knowledge, topic knowledge and socio-cultural knowledge (awareness of the social
status of different members in our society).
When pupils are asked to write within a specific genre, they would benefit from
analysing the genre at the beginning of the process. If students are allowed to read such
a piece of writing first, they recognise it in their own, they will be able to manage the
task in much more self-dependent way. Students are on their way from observers to
autonomous learners. Except that, by discussing and analysing features of different text
types, students begin to understand why and how various texts are organised and can
better revise and evaluate their own writing. (Harmer, 91)
Recent researches highlight the importance of helping elementary students to
realize different purposes of writing. The awareness of the set of knowledge mentioned
above gives to students the tool to manipulate the information to the particular audience
in the proper way. (Harmer, 91) A teacher should focus students´ attention on form as
29
well, not the content only. Students should be familiar with forms and phrases and
certain text features typical for any genre. Features, a student can rely on and use while
attempts to write particular kind of the text.
2.10 From hand writing to IT
2.10.1 Handwriting
Today, when most of the writing is done with electronic media, a keyboard is used
nearly more often than a pen. Using pens and pencils is very important and still often
used type of writing, as Harmer claimed in his book How to Teach English (Harmer,
121). Students of ESL might have problems with writing some features they do not to
write in their first language. Pupils in Czech schools are used to writing different shapes
of letters. The main difference is in connecting letters in one word, therefore writing
apostrophe ´s might sometimes cause problems.
Students from other cultures are made to think about how to express themselves
and at the same time they try to manage new writing system. For that purpose, many
sources provide handwriting sheets (e.g. handwriting.com). Keeping diaries and journal
could be very helpful, to be able to write into it elsewhere not having laptops,
handwriting is time proven and worth-considering method. Not only commercial
sources, but also experts highlight the importance of handwriting in lessons of foreign
language, one of those is Harmer (Harmer, 45).
Children can practice the letter shapes in the air. The more creative teacher may
allow pupils to write either big shapes of letters or phonological signs on the wall or in
the box with sand or flour. Moreover, whole words or names could be made of various
materials, e. g. pasta, yarn, send, seeds, buttons etc. Those could be glued on any ground
such as paper, wood, wall...
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2.10.2 Using Information Communication Technology for English
Language Teaching
Today, using Information Communication Technologies in English Language
Teaching appears to be not only popular, but also necessary. Antonie Domingues
Miguela summarizes pros and cons of using ICT in the language classroom. Among
other positive features she mentions autonomous learning, mixed ability work can be
going on simultaneously in the same classroom, students who might otherwise be
reluctant in face-to-face activities (non-virtual) are often willing to participate in online
activities, students participate in activities with other schools, other countries, they use
an email and chat communication facilities for intercultural projects, students highly
motivated, especially when they have a new audience to talk about themselves. As the
negative features, she provides following examples: students need to differentiate
between multi-media as a game and as a learning tool, students do a lot of inessential
activities at the computer – they need not sit in front of the computers all the time,
students suffer the delusion at the beginning of computer use in language learning, that
they might be busy without learning any English, the computer stands between the
student and the teacher etc. (Miguela, A.D., Using ICT in ELT)
PowerPoint Presentation
Except all the handmade and handwritten projects looking like posters, students
could work on projects on various topics using power point presentation. Time changes
and students and their interests do so, that is why even the tool in teaching writing might
moved on the scale from handwriting to creating Power point presentations. Power
point is an incredibly popular piece of software, mainly because it came with Microsoft
package, as Adam Simpson claims in his article Using PowerPoint for ELT
(eltworld.net). PowerPoint has been known and used for many years. However, the
more equipped computer classrooms schools offer, the better access students and
teachers have to computers and the faster is PowerPoint spread to schools and therefore
ELT classroom. It used to be tool used by teachers giving lectures, presenting language
structures, for practice and drilling, or for reviews, but it could be used also be students
to present various topics they are supposed to. In 2011 they might find cutting out
pictures, drawing with crayons and handwriting quite old fashioned and they might
31
prefer using PowerPoint. Elizabeth Stover mentions one more very important benefit:
´´When you teach students to use these programs and allow them to turn in work
completed with them, you effectively prepare students for the world in which they will
work as adults.´´ (britishcouncil, Modern technologies in teaching writing).
PowerPoint could be used by students to fulfil classroom assignments. Individual
projects are enriched by adding personal flair to the backgrounds. Individuals can profit
from adapted speed of the slides and visual help. Members of groups, on the other hand,
are able to contribute into the project with individual sections they have worked on
elsewhere. Students complete the project at different times, unlike the handmade poster,
and then combine the pieces into unified presentation, as Stover added. Moreover,
PowerPoint allows student projects to be visually appealing without a large amount of
props, such as individual pictures, files, music etc.
Writing based on any genre – in the classroom
While writing, students usually write a few drafts before they reach the final
version of what they are supposed to write (see the chapter Writing as a process). It
could be quite tiring rewriting the same piece again and again. Therefore, they can very
easily correct the mistakes in a document written on computer. According to 3rd
criteria
of the rubric used during final examination in the Czech Republic, spelling is quite an
important issue. Thanks to automatic correction, students can also self-correct spelling
in the underlined words they did not use correctly.
Out of the classroom communication
To motivate children to write, allow them to get a response from the worlds out of
the classroom. In previous years, students had an opportunity to exchange letters with
their pen friends. Nowadays, e-mails and various social nets are more common. For
that, children could find a real person from any place in the world to exchange emails or
text messages and practice the real living language with an (native) English speaker. It
is a great opportunity to pick up the language and find more about another culture in a
very natural way (epals.com).
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2.11 Writing exercises
Writing activities, according to Donn Byrne, ´´have been divided into four groups
– copying, practice with words, practice with sentences and creative writing- but there is
inevitably some overlap.´´ admits the author himself (Byrne, 131).
Murcia´s book contains, among others, a chapter about teaching composition,
where she deals with writing exercises, too. Here, it is focused on the techniques that
can be used to teach writing at different proficiency levels in ESL classroom. Specific
teaching suggestions are also discussed in four categories: controlled writing, directed
composition, guided composition, and free writing (Murcia, 187). Author suggests some
exercises that should help students to improve their writing skills before the proper
composition writing.
Among suggested exercises marked as controlled writing are following: an
alteration of model sentence changing a specific grammatical feature such as tense,
sentence combining exercises, sentence expansion with modifiers, multiple substitution
exercises etc (Murcia, 193).
The next step improving students writing skills and leading to the final version of
their composition is directed composition. Many of these exercises lend themselves to
group activity, such as writing interviews with class mates, exercises in which the
content and sequence of events are provided by series of picture or cartoons, the story
told by any narrator rewritten by students, using note taking to write a report, exercises
in which students are supposed to answer questions about a person or event and many
others introduced in this chapter (Murcia, 196).
The last step before writing composition as such should be guided composition as
Murcia claimed. Students work independently but being given suggestions about form
and content. At this stage students might be given detailed information to create a
written response or are given a letter they are supposed to respond to (Murcia, 196).
The very last step, independent writing, represents different kinds of writing
students are able to produce themselves. Those could be either an impersonal report,
research etc providing accurate, clear information, or more personal writing such as
diaries, essays, stories.
Unlike Murcia, Byrne´s chapters are interested in writing exercises in more
33
general way. They are not supposed to lead pupils to writing composition only, but
work on writing skills as such. Furthermore, exercises he offers seem to be more
suitable for the target group of young learners we are interested in.
As it was mentioned before, students develop and go through various stages while
learning to write in second language, i.e. word level, sentence level etc. For that,
exercises develop on the scale from the easiest to more difficult ones.
2.11.1 Copying
The value of copying as a writing activity is a matter of discussion. For it is
sometimes considered to be the first stage in writing programme, i.e. teaching writing
from the easiest steps to the most demanding, only. On the other hand ´´copying could
be very important in real life, too´´, argues Harmer (Harmer, 52). For instance, the built
and fixed ability to copy words quickly and properly could be very useful while taking
notes on purpose, i.e. when they want to make notes when reading the text and they
copy the highlighted, important words. Studying the second language, it helps children
to learn new symbols, to spell words properly and to reinforce sentence structure
(Byrne, 34). Pupils are sometimes asked to write down the sentences written in the
textbook or on the blackboard. However, it can easily become another annoying
classroom routine. Therefore, copying should not be just a pointless activity, but should
be adapted to look like a meaningful procedure. Verbatim copying deserves its place in
language teaching, e.g. if students copy new vocabulary, songs or poems to have their
own set, though. As Jeremy Harmer pointed out ´´if (students) are encouraged to
concentrate on accurate copying this can only be helpful in fostering their attention to
detail´´ (Harmer, 53).
An activity that used to be primarily a copying one could be transformed into a
meaningful activity in which also thinking is involved. Simple copying of the set of
vocabulary could be replaced by drawing and labelling pictures with the new words.
Also, the particular set of vocabulary can be divided into columns under various
headings. Byrne mentions 5 basic types of exercises in this category: putting a list of
words in alphabetical order, putting a list of words in their correct sequence, putting
34
words in categories, doing puzzles or playing games such as bingo (Byrne, 36). As a
copying activity could also be considered writing given words or phrases in the right
place of the dialogue or story (according to pictures, too) or rewriting jumbled words or
sentences in correct order.
2.11.2 Practice with words
To practise words, following exercises are available: completing crosswords,
labelling items, making lists, classifying items, completing texts, correcting sentences,
making words or making notes (Byrne, 134-136). Some of them are very similar to
copying exercises, but they are improved somehow to be more challenging. Completing
crosswords, children are not given any words, but picture clues of definitions, only.
Also, while labelling pictures they are not given a list to choose from. They have to fill
in an incomplete text any appropriate word or correct mistakes according to a picture.
Pupils might be given a long word and new words from the letter, make as many as
possible. Notes could be taken based on the picture pupils can see.
2.11.3 Practice with sentences
Students need to learn and practise the art of putting words together in well-
formed sentences, paragraphs and texts. One way of doing this is parallel writing
where students follow a written model...The most basic form of parallel writing
is the kind of sentence writing that is often used for grammar reinforcement.
Students are given one or two model sentences and then have to write similar
sentences based on information they are given or on their own thoughts.
(Harmer, 55)
In another exercise offered by Harmer, pupils are supposed to write a paragraph
almost identical to one they have read. The author calls this method ´´substitution-drill´´
(Harmer, 57) and as an example he provides writing a paragraph about a writer based on
information from the table after reading a similar text about another writer.
35
For further practice with sentences, Byrne suggests exercises such as completing
speech bubbles, writing sequence sentences, completing information, completing
questionnaire, making notes, writing questionnaire, recording personal information or
taking notes (Byrne 136-138).
2.11.4 Creative writing
Researches show that ´´pupils at this stage, i.e. young learners, in this case 6th
graders need plenty of opportunities to use language imaginatively´´ (Byrne, 139). For
that reason a teacher may use various exercises, namely writing notes, writing about
pictures, writing rolecards, making up stories, writing reports, writing messages or
projects (Byrne, 139-141). Children need social interaction, so that preparing activities
for pairs or groups of students is worth considerable.
2.11.5 Communication activities
Communication activities are very important, because they show students that
their writing is not just another task they are supposed to fulfil in the English classroom.
Their writing could be used for purpose of communication. ´´At this stage, in is
important that communication activities should match the growing ability of the learners
to express themselves through written form of the language´´(Byrne, 60). Suggested
writing exercises for purpose of communication are writing instruction, asking for
information, message in form of a note, short letters (Byrne 40-42). A teacher could also
encourage and help students to find friends abroad to whom pupils could write letters or
emails as a way of extending communication practice.
36
2.12 Conclusion
To sum up, writing is not only an important ability in lives of human beings, but
almost necessary knowledge. Therefore, it is taught as an inseparable part of four
language skills. That is the main reason to teach writing at school, to be able to
communicate in the written form, too. Further, writing activities allows students to have
a break from speaking and enables them to work on their own during lessons. In case of
my diploma thesis, the reason to pay attention to teaching of writing is the preparation
of students for upcoming final examination which includes written part since this year.
We observed various problems writing might cause for children, followed the process of
writing and focused on different development stages, because children are able to learn
to write in foreign language from the beginnings, as the form and content of teaching is
adapted to their level. That is one of the roles of teacher together with providing
motivation and examples, responding to students work and evaluation of them either in
holistic or analytic part. Moreover, alternative forms of evaluation were developed
through years. Everyone is in need to be praised, which is why a lot of attention should
be paid. Secondly, bearing in mind final examination, pupils who are prepared properly
and regularly using various writing exercises to be ready for final examination, will not
be surprised and should be more successful later.
Pupils and people in general should be able to express themselves either in
speech or in the written form. The way to be able to do it might be long and demanding
for some of them, but could be facilitated by a teacher aware of his/her role during the
teaching process, and who is ready to help through learning and developing students´
writing skills.
37
3 Practical Part
3.1 Introduction
In the practical part of my thesis I would like to investigate two textbooks I have
used while teaching young learners. I will compare them according to balance of four
language skills, i.e. listening, reading, speaking and mainly writing. Then, I will analyze
different kinds of writing exercises in both books, compare and deduce results. I will
provide some extra writing exercises which may be used for further practice and to
build the writing habit. I will observe the occurrence of genres students of A1 level are
supposed to know according to CEFR and written part of the final examination at Czech
secondary schools.
Secondly, I will analyse questionnaires I gave to the group of students at the
very beginning of their studying in my English language classroom and at the end. I will
compare those answers including what genres they learnt to write and what their
relationship towards writing is.
Thirdly, I asked teachers who work with children aged 11-12, i.e. 6th
grade,
about their experience and opinion and the influence of the new final examination on
their teaching, if there is any. On that purpose I used questionnaires sent via email.
I will verify following hypothesis: A teacher of the target age group of pupils
has the opportunity to build their relationship to writing due with preparing demanding
but still enjoyable exercises children can do to acquire communicative skills.
Analysing the percentage of attention paid to teaching different skills and especially
writing exercises in course books edited 10 years after each other I would like to verify
or overcome the presumption that the books are improved because of the new part of the
final examination, part of which is the examination of students´ writing skills. Thirdly,
teachers changed their approach to teaching of writing because of that examination.
38
3.2 Details
I have been teaching a group of fourteen students aged 11-12 at eight-year
gymnasium in Klobouky u Brna. They are 6th
graders and they have been learning
English as a compulsory foreign language for three years so far. However, some of
them have been voluntarily taught longer. This is their first year at this school and they
came here from different primary schools. For that, there were slight differences in their
knowledge. In the classroom, there are five girls and nine boys. We worked on writing
skills and assessing of their writing since our first day we spent together in the
classroom. They have forty-five-minute English lesson four times a week in their
timetable. I gave them a questionnaire4 focused on their writing skills and relationship
to writing at the beginning of this course and seven months after that. I will compare
their answers in the third section of the practical part of my thesis.
It is the third year I have been teaching there. The very first year I used the
textbook that has been used for many years at that school Project I (Hutchinson). One
year ago, I had a chance to change the textbooks and I choose Challenges (Harris &
Mower). Now, I will compare both of them according to teaching of writing skills at the
beginning of the practical part.
To explore real situation in the Czech school, the experience and opinion of
other teachers working with the children of the target age group, I used a questionnaire5
sent by email to various lower secondary schools and eight-year gymnasiums in this
republic. I gave the questionnaires to the teachers in the school where I teach, to my
colleagues from this Faculty of Education and I sent it to more than thirty teachers of
English, whose addresses I found on websites of lower secondary schools and
gymnasiums, where pupils aged 11-12 are taught. I intended to send questionnaires to a
lot of different cities and villages in the Czech Republic, at the end I sent fifty-two
questionnaires in total. Unfortunately, not all the respondents were willing to answer.
Still, I collected 25 questionnaires from various regions including our capital city as
4 See the appendix 2
5 See the appendix 3
39
well as smaller villages. In the second third of the practical part I will present results of
them.
3.3 Analyses of the textbooks
3.3.1 Project
Project students´ book was first published in 1986 and other newer updated
editions came after. It is five-level course which starts from beginner level. The topics
are aimed to motivate students to use English actively. They are supposed to be
interesting and appealing for young learners, too. It seems the book covers curriculum
requirements as far as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation etc. Those are divided into
six chapters, projects and culture pages and so are the main skills, developed from the
beginning of the course. .
Grammar is offered in the way that children are able to analyze it themselves
with a little help of a teacher. Emphasise is put on learners´ independence. He/she could
regularly monitor his/her progress in particular chapters of the students´ book “Progress
diary“ or “Language check“ in an additional Project Workbook.
Language is presented through topics in realistic context, so that students want to
use their English to talk about well known appealing issues. However, all the
vocabulary and topics are not always updated considering how quickly some things
could change, e.g. pop culture, hobbies or technique.
Regarding the target age group, there are a lot of pictures, songs, puzzles and
other games for lively and funny language practice. Learners are accompanied and
guided by imaginary characters of same age introducing particular lessons: Ben, Mandy,
Rebecca, Jane, Tony, Andrew, Stephen and Courtney and a computer called Reginald
who presents, stresses and revises grammar. Those fictitious guides come from different
English speaking countries as a reminder of different countries where English is used.
Culture
The textbook builds and supports strong cultural feeling. For that, there are six
Cultural pages after each lesson dedicated to various area of the culture of English
speaking countries. There are presented various greetings in English and places in the
world where English is spoken. In the chapter about handwriting there are presented
40
examples of British children’s handwriting. Culture page 3 is focused on the school
system, school days and uniforms and children are supposed to compare it to the Czech
system. Page number 6 presents times, for instance opening hours of different
institutions and buildings in Britain. Living and houses are discussed in last but one
Culture page and the very last one describes various places in the world and people
living abroad.
Projects
Projects offer the opportunity to practice all the skills, among others writing, we
are particularly interested in. Projects take place after each unit, except the very first
one, and are supposed to be connected to the main topic of the unit.
Project 1 follows the second unit called “Communication“. Students are given
three options, i.e. to introduce themselves and their favourite things, to introduce a
famous person or their friends. They can do the project in the scrapbook in which they
practice to write not only personal information, but also the build right word order of
question in the interview.
After the third lesson “My world“, project with the same headline lead students
to write a letter to their pen friend which has to cover his/her person, his/her family,
friends, pets, favourite group, things he/she likes and the school he/she attends. After
they bring some pictures, students are supposed to decorate their scrapbook or put that
on a poster.
Third project deals with free time, for “Time“ is the topic of the fourth unit.
Students make a questionnaire, ask students and teachers the question and put results in
graphs. Then they create sentences based on the information from graphs and at the end
present the text together with graphs to their classmates.
Project 4 after Unit 5 “Places“ is focused on places in pupils´ lives. They are
recommended to use useful existential phrase there is/there are when describing a photo
or a picture of the city they live in. Another option is describing their dream house.
They are asked to draw a plan of the rooms and furniture and write about the house and
rooms.
In Project 5, a chapter that comes after Unit 6 “People“, students practise useful
language while describing famous people in the picture they found or draw. They write
their name, where they come from, their appearance, what they do and what they are
41
doing in the picture at the moment. Further, they can compare the project with the very
first one and appreciate the improvement they did writing about a person.
Skills
Skills development begins at the beginning in this textbook. When choosing a
course book, teachers evaluate and judge if it has the appropriate balance of skills,
whether they are designed to promote the skills etc. In my diploma thesis we will focus
on one of the skills, i.e. writing and compare the attention paid to writing in two
different course books in detail and further I will mention briefly one published
recently, trying to answer one of the hypotheses – Do the newer and later published
textbooks pay higher attention to teaching writing skills as a reaction on the new final
examination?
Figure 1 Balance of the skills in Project course book
As we can see in figure 1, teaching writing skills fills almost one third of
teaching all four skills in this course book, which is rather high percentage. Overall
number of exercises focused on writing is 104 that covers various types of activities, as
you can see bellow.
25%
11%
33%
31%
Project
Listening
Reading
Speaking
Writing
42
Writing exercises
Categories often overlap each other. Still, exercises could be approximately
divided according to criteria set up in the theoretical part of my thesis.
Table 1Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Project Students´ book
Type of an activity Number of exercises Percentage
Copying 34 33%
Practice with words 30 29%
Practice with sentences 24 23%
Creative writing 13 13%
Communication activity 3 3%
All writing exercises 104 100%
Most of the writing exercises could be labelled as copying. Within copying,
completing grammar tables is the most frequent exercise. Students copy the table in
their exercise books and are supposed fill in the missing parts according to the text in a
particular unit. That should support their learning autonomy due to the opportunity to
the opportunity to deduce a particular grammar rule themselves. This category also
covers completing the sentences pupils can find in the text or are given a choice from a
box. Meaningful copying could be considered the substitution of long forms with short
forms and vice versa.
The second broadest category is practice with words which is supposed to be
more challenging for pupils. In this course book pupils label the pictures, rewrite
numbers into words or complete dialogues, sentences not being given any choice from a
box. For further practice with words they use workbooks full of jumbled words,
crosswords etc. One could object this is not writing as such, but even simple exercises
focused on writing in the course books are there for purpose, i.e. it is useful practise and
could be considered as steps leading to writing in a higher level.
43
The third category, practice with sentences, appears in exercises such as parallel
writing where students are supposed to write sentences following a written model, e.g.
using grammatical table to create sentences, writing sentences about pictures, rewriting
affirmative sentences into negative and vice versa, writing sentences about a person
following a chart with personal information or a questionnaire and then writing true
sentences about themselves.
Creative writing is involved in all four Projects pages. Further, to use language
imaginatively pupils draw and describe their own horror family, create their timetable,
compare and describe pictures, explore their handwriting and write short texts about
themselves and their country.
Communication activity is represented in a few activities, i.e. writing a postcard,
writing a short note for someone and, crating questionnaire for peers or writing a secret
code message.
Figure 2 Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Project Students´ book
Copying Practice with words
Practice with sentences
Creative writing Communication activity
33%
29%
23%
12%
3%
Writing exercises
44
Writing tasks in relation to CEFR level A1
To gain A1 level pupils should be able to fill personal information in a form, to
write a birthday postcard, a simple postcard from holiday, a note with directions where
to go and meet someone, to write simple sentences about himself/herself, e.g. where
they live.
In Project course book students learn how to fill in a form and write simple
sentences about themselves. They also can write a short postcard from holiday. They are
able to describe a map of a city, but they do not learn how to write a note giving
directions how to go to a particular place. They do not practice writing a birthday
postcard, but they are taught to write a short note to wish someone a happy birthday on
the radio instead.
To sum up, Project course book meets most of the requirements of 1A level, but
not all of them. To be specific, three fifths are fulfilled, but the other genres are not
omitted completely, but they do not follow requirements accurately, e.g. students learn
about a map and direction, but there is not a written note with directions written for a
friend.
3.3.2 Challenges
Challenges is the newer four level course book for teenagers, it was first
published in 2006 and we use the sixth impression from 2010 in our school. This course
book provides the valued opportunity to be used and adapted either to students of a
lower secondary school or students of an eight-year gymnasium. Studying an eight-year
gymnasium, students are supposed to study faster and more effectively, so that they
could use all four course books, i.e. one book a year. On the other hand, pupils of lower
secondary school could use two course books only to work with each of them for two
years. The course book is designed to cover 90 – 120 lessons of English. It is divided
into 10 modules plus “Get ready“ unit focused on revision. Each of the lessons is
subdivided into three units followed by a Study corner to revise a unit before a test.
After each even modules there are chapters called “Across Cultures“ accompanied by a
45
Project.
Informative and engaging topics should involve teenagers and unlike Project,
Challenges units are really updated and pupils can read about current affairs in fashion,
sport or show business and discuss what teenagers really do now in their free time.
Within this text book students are accompanied by children of their age Lucy, Alex,
Tom and Rajiv, coming from multi-cultural background are both heroes of Challenges
story and help with studying.
To support mixed ability classes, there is not only enough various exercises, but
also a magazine Time out at the back of the students´ book. At the back of their course
book pupils find a “Picture Dictionary“, too, that is easy and fun to use.
Students are led to work out a meaning of the words and grammar rules through
Word Builders, Sentence Builders and tables with grammar they are supposed to fill in
with a little help of their teacher.
Across Cultures
In the chapters called “Across Cultures“, added to each even unit, students are
motivated to pay attention to culture. Particular topics deal with national sports, school
days in different countries, life in the United Kingdom, the United Nations Children´ s
Fund and New Year celebration all around the world. Each of those chapters focused on
culture is followed by a Project for students´ portfolio.
Projects
All the projects are related to units according to topic. Students are supposed to
keep them in their portfolio and they may observe their progress in their skills, mainly
in a creative writing from the very first project to the last one. For writing is an essential
skill students need to create such posters.
Project 1 which follows Module 2 Exercises is dedicated to sport. After active
building of vocabulary related to this topic and reading an article about national sports,
students are asked to make a poster about their favourite sport. They are given questions
to help them, i.e. where is the sport popular or who are the top players. Questions are
very helpful, because the topic might appear too to some students and they might not
know how to start and what to add then.
Project 2 for students´ portfolio is My Ideal School Day. Pupils should write a
46
timetable for their ideal school day (minimum seven lessons). They are also give some
clues to work with, e.g. important subjects, breaks, lunch, sports, textbooks, internet,
DVD. Again, clues are provided to help students to follow particular line while writing.
However, we can observe analyse one more reason. They have the opportunity to
practise writing being given a set of requirements, i.e. information they have to mention,
It is appreciable practice for final examination where the written part of an exam is
organised in the similar way.
Making a poster about living in pupils´ country is the topic of Project 3. After
Module 3 Expeditions, students read an article about UK in the chapter Across Cultures
and are supposed to create a poster presenting what they like and do not like about
living in their country. They are not given any sub steps to write about in their poster.
They are given an example, how their poster could look like. This kind of exercise is
called parallel writing, i.e. there are few model sentences and students have to write
similar sentences based on information they are given or on their own thoughts.
A leaflet is another way students´ project can look like. After reading a text
about UNICEF in Across Cultures 4 chapter that follows Module 4 Helping, students
make a leaflet for a good cause. Here, students are given both example of a leaflet and
ideas, i.e. possible causes and ways of raising money.
Project 5, which is a part of the last Module 10 called Fun, brings the topic New
Year Celebrations around the world. Students are supposed to make a poster about a
festival in their country using suggested questions to helps them such as when it is, what
it is for, what traditions there are etc. As an example authors used a poster of New Years
Eve in Sydney.
Projects in this book are much more adapted to a submission of final
examination, students are supposed to be creative and follow particular sub tasks at the
same time, which is appreciable practice.
Skills
As we can observe in figure 3, teaching writing skills fills only 9% of teaching
all four skills in this course book, which is rather low percentage. Overall number of
exercises focused on writing is 156 that covers various types of activities, as you can
see in figure 3.
47
Figure 3 Balance of the skills in Challenges course book
Writing exercises
Writing exercises in Challenges could be divided in the five categories in
accordance with the explanation in the theoretical part in the following way:
Table 2Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Challenges Students´ book
Type of an activity Number of exercises Percentage
Copying 39 26%
Practice with words 65 42%
Practice with sentences 36 23%
Creative writing 7 4%
Communication activity 9 6%
All writing exercises 156 100%
36%
30%
25%
9%
Challenges
Listening
Reading
Speaking
Writing
48
In this course book, the broadest category appears to be practice with words. The
main reason is the large amount of such exercises in Study Corners, i.e. lessons focused
on revision. In most exercises ask students to complete words in sentences or dialogues.
Pupils also change or correct words in the sentences either because they are not correct
or to adapt the sentences to fit their reality. There are also pictures that students label,
lists they write and forms they fill in with one word only based on vocabulary, grammar
or facts.
Copying exercises are the second broadest category. Like Project course book,
Challenges use copy and complete tables to explain new grammar rules or introduce the
new set of vocabulary, authors of this course books designed exercises called Word
builder, Sentence builder and grammar charts similar to Project ones. Students copy the
charts and fill in the gaps according to a text or a box with given set of words. Pupils
also complete text or crossword with the given selection of items, copy and write the
words in the correct group, order them alphabetically etc.
Within the third most extensive group of exercises, practice with sentences,
students order the given words to write questions or answers, write sentences using
particular grammar, write true/false sentences about themselves or sentences about any
topic, e.g. their country. They also use parallel writing to write sentences similar to the
ones they read before, e.g. writing a list of birthday in their families or a list of rules.
Creative writing category and communication writing one overlap each other in
many cases. When students write a postcard for the purpose of communication, they
have to practise creative writing as well while creating the content. Among other
writing for the purpose of communication there is an email, a text –message written
using abbreviations, a congratulation note, an invitation, a class survey using
questionnaires or a note with directions for a friend how to get to his/her house.
Moreover, creative writing category covers a report, a form and all the Projects.
49
Figure 4 Type of writing exercises and its presentation in Challenges Students´ book
Writing tasks in relation to CEFR level A1
According to A1 level, this course book fulfils the requirements more than
sufficiently. Students should be able to follow all the requirements of A1 level after
using this course book, in which they are taught how to fill personal information in a
form, to write a birthday postcard, a simple postcard from holiday, a note with
directions where to go and meet someone, to write simple sentences about
himself/herself, e.g. where they live.
Copying Practice with words
Practice with sentences
Creative Writing
Communication activities
25%
42%
23%
6%4%
50
3.3.3 Comparison
Comparing these two course books, the date they were published for a very first
time seems to be important. The gap is twenty years and it really is remarkable, even if
new updated editions were published later. Considering real life of students, their
hobbies, interests, and mainly ways of communication the world around has changed a
lot. Moreover, an author of a new, contemporary course book for lower secondary
school must bear in mind the fact that children begin with their English lesson much
earlier than they used to in previous years. They sometimes learn their first words and
phrases in a kindergarten. It may be said that Project course book appears to be on the
scale of the level of a foreign language behind Challenges considering grammar,
vocabulary or overall level of difficultness of various exercises even if both of them are
intended to be for beginners. So it is comparing writing exercises and chapters focused
on culture and projects, too. Attention paid to projects and culture pages is comparable
according to quantity, i.e. six of them in Project and five of them in Challenges, but
they differ in quality, i.e. topics are updated and tasks more challenging and specified is
it in the new part of final examination.
Considering a number of lessons a year, Challenges course book is designed for
schools with higher number of lessons of a foreign language per year, providing large
amount of various exercises, the course book keeps pupils busy all year long. However,
number of lessons of pupils using Project is probably supposed to be lower, a teacher
has to supply with additional material to cover all the lessons during the school year, but
at the same time cannot introduce the subject matter students are supposed to learn in
following Project 2 next year.
The more contemporary issues students meet within the course book, which
establish a connection between language and life, the more interesting and motivating it
seems to be. On the other hand, comparing balance of skills in both books, it becomes
apparent that less attention is paid to writing in the newer book Challenges than in
Project course book. Instances have been determined, in which attention to writing
exercises is paid to quality, not quantity of those. An example might be provided when
we explore the course book that was recently published as the preparation for the final
examination, Real Life.
51
Figure 5 Balance of the skills in Challenges, Project and Real Life
Comparing percentage of exercises focused on skills, it might be said that
according to quantity Projects offer more exercises than later published new books that
are supposed to deal with existence of new final examination and help students to be
prepared to such an exam.
Therefore we can come up with the questions it the lower percentage of
exercises focused on writing does or does not necessarily mean lower quality of
development of writing skills. In case of the books I analysed in this thesis, we could
conclude that the lower percentage of exercises focused on writing does not lead to
lower quality of development of writing skills.
Comparison of writing exercises in both course books shows, that the broadest
category in Project is copying exercises, worth of which is debatable, (as was said in the
theoretical part, it is sometimes considered to be the first stage in writing programme
only) whereas within Challenges the highest percentage of exercises deals with practice
with words. Representation of exercises focused on practice with words seems to be
congruent. Exercises focused on creative writing and communication activities, which
represent the higher level of writing skills and therefore are the most important and
useful differ slightly in percentage of representation. In Challenges course book there
are more communicative activities and in Project course book there seem to be more
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Listening Reading Speaking Writing
Project
Challenges
Real Life
52
activities dealing with creative writing. Comparing the results for both creative and
communicative writing– Project seems better.
The focus of this study is the knowledge of writing according to A1 level and the
amount of mastered genres that are part of final examination at the very end of
secondary schools.
Among stylistic compositions that should be covered in course books presenting
A1 level are filling personal information in a form, writing a birthday postcard, a simple
postcard from holiday, a note with directions where to go and meet someone and
further, students should be able to write simple sentences about himself/herself, e.g.
where they live. As I claimed in chapters about a particular course book, Challenges
entirely fulfil these requirements, whereas Project does not follow all of them as such.
Some of them are covered just partly, .e.g. description of a city instead of note with
directions. Then, an important part of the task is omitted, i.e. verbs expressing
instruction. There is just a note with birthday wish in place of a postcard, so that the
addressee is left here. It is the matter of discussion, whether the absence of those details
is or is not important or even fundamental.
Even if Project contains higher percentage of writing exercises, Challenges is
more satisfactory according to satisfaction of A1 requirements of writing.
To sum up, in this part of my thesis writing exercises in the course books were
analysed according to the criteria explained in the theoretical part. Some exercises were
difficult to classify as categories often overlap. It was found out, that percentage
distribution of various writing exercises varies. However, all of them are represented in
both course books.
3.4 Analysis of Questionnaires for Teachers
The second third of the practical part of my thesis deals with data I got from
teachers, to whom I sent a questionnaire. My intention was to do a short survey on the
real situation in English language classrooms since the new final examination has been
established. I asked twenty-five teachers of 6 graders thirteen questions (See appendix
3) concerning what textbook they use, whether it is satisfactory according to developing
53
of writing skills and if they use supplementary material. There were more questions
based on their everyday experience such as in what part of a lesson they use writing
activities in, what they write with their pupils and how they assess the writing. Did they
change their attitude towards writing in ELC after the new final examination was
established? Further, they were asked theoretical questions if there should have been
more attention paid to teaching writing after the new final examination was established
and when they thought pupils should be taught writing in a foreign language for a very
first time.
The most popular course book according to my brief research seems to be Project
both 1 and 2. As I denoted in previous part, comparison of textbook, Project 1 appears
to be less demanding than the newer text book which respects that students have started
with English much earlier than it used to be in previous years. For some teachers there
seems to be a solution in using both Project 1 and Project 2 altogether or just the second
one for pupils of the target age group. The second most often used textbook is Messages
and the other course books are used by one user each.
Table 3 The most popular course book used for 6th graders according to my brief
research
The course book Number of users Percentage of users
Project 1 8 32%
72% Project 2 7 28%
Project 1, 2 3 12%
Messages 2 8%
English in Mind 1 4%
New Opportunities 1 4%
Adventures 1 4%
Challenges 1 4%
54
New English File 1 4%
Number of respondents 25 100%
Whole number of respondents using Project course book in their classes is
eighteen out of twenty-five, which is almost three-fourth majority, i.e. 72%. On the
other hand, most of the users of all the textbooks, 88%, claim they find attention paid to
writing exercises in their course book satisfactory. Those who do not find attention paid
to writing satisfactory are all users of Project 1. In other words, only 12% of all
respondents think the course book they use is unsatisfactory and all of them are users of
Project 1.
Those three people, who are not satisfied considering an amount of exercises in
their course book focused on writing, use various kinds of supplementary material, i.e.
books, internet sources, magazines or they figure out their own tasks for students based
on the topics in their course books. Twenty-four percent of all the respondents
answered they had not used any supplementary material. The others use magazines,
websites, books or other sources, such as their own projects and tasks they have
designed. According to my respondents, the most useful and popular are various
websites and internet sources, i.e. eight people of twenty – five use them as
supplementary material while practising writing skills. Seven of the respondents use
books, 6 teachers use magazines.
The following question was rather theoretical, I asked the teachers, when,
according to their opinion, a pupil should be taught to use written form of the foreign
language for the first time. Opinions of informants take place on the scale from seven
years to ten and from the third to the fourth graders. Some of them replied, that pupils
should be taught to write as soon as they manage it in their mother tongue, i.e. if they
are already able to write, they should write a few vocabulary, simple phrases or even
simple sentences from their first lesson. One informant pointed out, children are able to
write in English when they can use grammar to be and to have. To sum up, teachers´
opinions differ a lot, but ten of twenty-five agreed on ten years, which is in fact almost
beginning of the lower secondary school, i.e. our target group.
Taking into account the new form of final examination, I asked my informants,
if they think much more attention should be paid to teaching of writing skills because of
55
that issue. Nineteen of my twenty-five respondents think there really should be more
attention paid to the development of this skill and only three of them do not think so.
One of them explained that he/she focuses on speaking while teaching at lower
secondary school. Other three respondents did not express themselves.
Figure 6 Teachers´ attitude towards higher attention paid to teaching of writing
However, eighteen of them admitted their approach to assessing writing has not
changed and seven of them have changed their approach. They should have answered
the question whether they assess writing from holistic or rather analytic point of view.
Twelve of them decided on holistic approach, ten of them prefer analytic approach and
three of them combine both analytic and holistic approach. As was mentioned before,
analytical assessment analyse different aspects of the writing, i.e. level of vocabulary
and grammar as well as mistakes in vocabulary and grammar. Teachers might assess
coherence and cohesion of the text or fulfilment of the given subtasks. However,
holistic assessment deals with the whole piece of writing using no detailed analysis of
separated categories.
Figure 7 Attitudes towards assessing of writing
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
higher attention
yes
do not know
no
assessment
analytic
both
holistic
56
Sixth graders usually study English as their first foreign language at lower
secondary school on the level A1, so that they should be able to manage certain writing
skills i.e. filling personal information in a form, writing a birthday postcard, a simple
postcard from holiday, a note with directions where to go and meet someone, to write
simple sentences about himself/herself, e.g. where they live. I questioned the
respondents what stylistic formation they write with their students . Most often teachers
lead their pupils to write a personal letter, in other words fourteen of twenty-five of
respondents. Ten of twenty-five ask their pupils to write a postcard. Thirteen English
language teachers let their students to write description of people, things or places. Nine
of them claimed they write short stories and seven teachers write short essays with them
dealing with topics covered in their course books. Those are pets, home, a school, food,
a diary or daily routines or a family. Six teachers provide instructions how to write an
email or short note in their classes. Less often teachers mentioned teaching of writing
an advert, comics, a dialogue or an interview, poems, journal, report of a classroom
survey or recipes.
When teachers were asked in what part of their lesson they usually use tasks
which practice communicative or creative writing, most of them claimed they let their
students write it as homework. It was twenty-one teachers. Fifteen of them often do it at
the end of their lesson as so called follow up activity. Nine of them focus on main tasks
as well and only four of them use writing as a warm up activity.
In the very last question I asked them, what their experience is while teaching
young learners to write in foreign languages and what they would say about their
pupils´ attitudes towards writing tasks in their classes. Respondents were supposed to
express their opinion using one-to-five-point scale where one means difficult and not
enjoyable up to five which means easy and enjoyable.
Figure 8 Teachers´ opinion about how difficult and enjoyable writing tasks for pupils
are
0
10
20
1 2 3 4 5
difficultnes
enjoyment
57
As it is obvious in the figure above, the highest peak is reached in the number two, so
that most of the teachers think writing in ELC is rather difficult and not very enjoyable
for their students.
To conclude, this part of my thesis is connected to the theoretical part due to
human factor, in this case it is the teacher, who is the participant of the real situation, set
in Czech schools. In the theoretical part I explored the role of teacher from motivation
to assessment and in this part I explored teachers´ opinion and experience they have
with their learners and evaluation as well their theoretical opinion such as when the
pupil should be taught to write in a foreign language for the first time.
3.5 Analysis of Questionnaires for the Pupils
The last part of the diploma thesis is deals with the brief research on the opinion of the
group of students at the beginning of a course and seven months later. Students were
taught standardized English lessons forty- five minutes four times a week, in which the
lesson plans included various writing exercises at the beginning, in the end or in the
middle of the lessons. Still, the aim was to involve writing exercises in the most natural
way either as a warm-up activity, follow ups or the main task, because it was not a
specialised course.
The pupils came from different primary schools, so that I gave them the first
questionnaire (see appendix 8) in September, so that I could analyse the data before the
course and compare the results to the ones I got at the beginning of April. Firstly, I had
to analyse the knowledge and attitudes towards writing they used to have before they
had come in my classes. Both, attitudes and knowledge differed. I had to unify their
common knowledge of language itself and then the approximate level of writing skills,
too.
The questions pupils were asked are very similar in both questionnaires, so that
the results are easily comparable. The questions could be divided into three categories.
The first one deals with pupils´ opinion about their writing. Secondly, there are
questions exploring the real situation in the classes they attend and the classes they used
58
to go before according to learning to write in the foreign language. Thirdly, there are
rather theoretical questions exploring their attitudes towards writing in the classes and
the importance of learning to write in a foreign language in general.
The first question deals with the attitude of pupils towards writing. Simply, they
were asked whether they liked writing or not and why. It was a multiple-choice
question, so that they could choose one or more reasons why they like it or not and they
were given a chance to express their own idea as well. They were given four possible
reasons they could choose either if their answer was yes or no. They do not like writing
because it is not interesting for them, it is not enjoyable enough, it is too difficult to use
new grammar on their own or they find using and searching vocabulary too difficult. If
they choose they like writing in their classes it could be because they think it is an
interesting activation in the lessons, an entertainment, it is good to practise new
grammar or it is useful to learn new sets of vocabulary.
In September, nine of fourteen students claimed they liked writing in a foreign
language; the most often referred-to reason was that it is useful when learning and
practising new vocabulary. Two people did not have a positive relationship to writing in
EFL and two of them did not know. Now, after seven months, nine pupils stated they
like writing mostly either because it is an interesting activation or they though it if
useful while learning new vocabulary. Five pupils, however, do not like writing in the
classes and very often referred-to reason was they found using new grammar on their
own too difficult. To comment on it, I have to notice that they have learnt a lot of
grammar, e.g. present continuous or past simple, in relatively short period of time
comparing with previous years that might be confusing for some of them.
Secondly, pupils were asked what they had learnt to write before September, i.e.
before they came to my classes. They were supposed to choose some of five given
options and also had the option to add their own answers. The options follow the
requirements of CEFR to gain A1 level in writing skills. They same questions they were
given later, after seven month. At the beginning, eleven out of fourteen students claimed
they could write simple sentences bout themselves, e.g. where they lived, how old they
were etc. Five pupils could fill personal information in a questionnaire, four pupils were
taught to write a simple letter, three of them were taught to write a note to someone
59
saying where they where and where they would meet him/her and two people had an
experience with writing a postcard. Only one person admitted they practised any other
kind of writing exercises, such as writing poems, mind maps or short jokes. After seven
month, when they answered the questions once again, all fourteen pupils replied they
were able to fill personal information in a questionnaire, write a postcard, a simple
personal letter or write note stating where they were and how to get to a particular place.
Thirteen pupils claimed they were able to write simple sentences about themselves and
seven of fourteen pupils mentioned they practised writing in other ways, in words they
remembered limericks, comics, or funny short stories write word by word etc. The
process pupils came through could be presented in figure below.
Figure 9 Comparison of what pupils had been taught in September after seven month
Following set of questions explored how the teaching and practising writing
looked liked in previous classes, what the pupils thought about it after seven months. In
September, three of fourteen students responded they had been writing for fun at the
beginning or at the end of their classes, five of them could not have remembered and six
of them had not done so. After the course, eleven pupils admitted they sometimes did
writing activities for fun, e.g. limericks, one of them did not think so and two pupils
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
September
April
60
were not sure about that.
The pupils were also asked whether they had exercises to practise writing in
their course book and whether they liked them. At the beginning of the course, twelve
pupils admitted they remembered there were exercises focused on writing skills,
however only one person liked it, five did not and five did not know. When they
answered the question for the second time, in April, all of them replied they noticed the
exercises focused on writing in their new course book and five of them liked it, six of
them sometimes liked it and three people did not.
Except exercises in the course books, the respondents were also asked whether
the teacher prepared any extra writing tasks for them. Eleven of students remembered
their teacher used to prepare those tasks, one did not remember and two of them
answered no. Eight of those, who remembered the teacher prepared tasks to practise
writing, liked the tasks, two pupils sometimes liked it and one did not. After this course
all fourteen pupils admitted the teacher prepared those tasks, five of them liked it, eight
sometimes liked it and one of them did not.
An important aspect of teaching writing was considered, i.e. assessing of
writing, children were asked if they were given marks and whether the teacher
explained the way he/she assessed their pieces of writing. Eight of fourteen pupils
noticed their works were marked, four said they were not and two did not remember.
Out of those, whose works were marked, four of them were explain what the teacher
expect them do to and how it will be assessed. To sum up, four of fourteen did not how,
how their work would be assess and to what particular features they should pay
attention while writing. They are given those information before they sit their final
exam as I stated in the theoretical part, students should know what will be asses and it
what ways, so that they could pay special attention to those features.
After months spent in this course where special attention to writing skills was
paid, pupils were questioned whether they think they writing skills have improved. Ten
of fourteen pupils thought their skills have improved, i.e. 67% of all students in
the classroom.
61
Figure 10 Students´ opinion on improvement of writing skills after the course
Considering results obvious from figure nine and figure 10, pupils writing skills
have been improved during the course, 67% of all pupils stated so and only one person
does not agree with the statement.
The last two questions are rather theoretical and someone could object children
are not capable to pass judgement on topics like this. However, it is the pupil, who is in
a everyday interaction with course books and teachers and knows the best the way
he/she is taught. His/her attitude towards this issue is therefore worth-considerable and
might offer a new point of view, the view an expert in not able to come up with being
both adult and educated considering the particular field.
Do the pupils think learning to write in a foreign language is important? And
why do they think so? Those were other of questions pupils were asked at the
beginning and after the time spent in the course. Firstly, all of the children replied that
learning to write in foreign language was important. In the second set of questionnaires
thirteen of pupils answered it is important, one of them thought it is not, because he or
she has already learnt at. It is debatable whether it was said seriously and the child
really feel his/her improvement was so remarkable or whether it should have been
irony, a joke or an intention to make the teacher satisfied with the answer. Important
67%
6%
27%
Improvement of writing skills
yes
no
do not know
62
fact arising from analysing their answers is, pupils find learning to write in a foreign
language important. There are various reasons that lead pupils to think that learning to
write in a foreign language is worth-considering. Some of the pupils could see time
limited aims only, for instance, because children just want to know it or they think it is
useful to practise any new grammar or vocabulary. One girl mentioned the opportunity
to exchange information via email or letters with peers abroad, i.e. a chance to find a
pen friend. Some children consider the future life, too. For example it is important to be
able to express themselves in more ways than speaking only. They also think they just
might need it in the future, because they could use English as a foreign language almost
everywhere, it could even become lingua franca.
To sum up, pupils are essential factor considering teaching/learning, that is why
their attitudes and opinions should be considered. Those were observed in the practical
part of the thesis to verify or displace my hypothesis that students lacking of intrinsic
motivation could be motivated responding to various stimuli.
3.5.1 Suggestions
After using Project course book, I would recommend some improvements.
Some exercises might be extended or to be put closer to pupils´ real lives. Moreover, as
I have mentioned in the theoretical part, for some children it might be very difficult if
they have to describe an imaginary object or a person. To help those children, we
created a 3D map of a city, labelled the building and only after we described the map.6
The similar project was focused on a house and furniture. Pupils were asked to find
pictures of pieces of furniture in real magazines, cut them out, design rooms of their
dream house and then they describe it in a folding picture-book.7 A teacher should be
provided with a feedback considering not only how well students understand the content
of the lesson, but also how they feel. Therefore I join teaching culture and getting a
feedback when we learnt about holiday and festivals. Pupils decorate the postcards and
6 See the appendix 4
7 See the appendix 5
63
write their imaginary English speaking friend about their lessons of English, what they
like or do not like and suggest possible improvements. This time they wrote a postcard
to Santa Clause 8
Now, let me introduce a few suggestions when working with Challenges course
book and examples that I used within this course book. Ask students to write real emails
to you when they are on holiday and write them back, it seems they appreciate the
feedback in real communicative situation. The same you can do with a text message, to
update the task, introduce some new up-to-day shortcuts English speaking teenagers
use9. Let pupils create their own postcard from holiday
10 they pretend to be on and send
it to their English speaking friend with description and the picture of the place, too.
Allow students to use real maps, find the way to their house, draw it and write a note
how to get there11
for a friend.
8 See the appendix 6
9 See appendix 7
10 See appendix 8
11 See appendix 9
64
4 Recommendation
Here, I dare to suggest a few recommendations. I am aware of lack of respondents
regarding both teachers and pupils. In case of extending this thesis, I would suggest
contact even more respondents from both fields. The number of teachers I contacted
was rather low considering how many of them replied. Even if I contacted the teachers
themselves via email, not the school as an institution, more than half of the
questionnaires were left unanswered. It could be more useful to contact them personally
or even use interview rather than anonymous questionnaires. However, it would have
been time consuming as well and their answers too broad to analyse.
Secondly, more than one group of students should have been explored, because
only one group of students could have distorted the results. Next time, at least two
groups should be worked with and the results analyses and compared. One of those
groups could be either attending that course or not to gain even more obvious
comparison.
Thirdly, more books could be explored and writing exercises in those analysed
and compared. At first, research could have been made on what the most often used
course books are in this country and those should be analysed and the results compared
and interpreted then.
65
5 Conclusion
Writing is one of four essential skills when learning a foreign language.
Sometimes, the relationship to writing we build at the beginning influences the whole
life. The process starts at the beginning of learning a foreign language writing simple
words or phrases and with the right guidance balancing enjoyment and correctness the
student grows up to write the high level texts.
In the practical part of this work, three aspects were considered, i.e. course
books, teachers and pupils, to verify or displace three hypotheses. Students if not
motivated to write by self-interest can build a positive relationship towards writing
thanks to a teacher preparing interesting tasks they enjoy. Secondly, teachers have to
change their methods and approaches because of the new state leaving exam. Thirdly,
text books develop according to this new need.
Analysing questionnaires answered after this seven-month course, it was found
out children are able to write all the required stylistic genres, although they had not been
able to do so at the beginning of the course. Before this course, only 4 students were
explained how their pieces of writing were assessed, in spite of the fact that knowing
what is praised or punished is an essential information since analytic evaluation of the
final examination works has been established. All pupils claimed writing is important
when studying a foreign language and 67% added they think their writing skills have
improved. According to the facts stated in the practical part of my thesis, this
hypothesis, i.e. students if not motivated to write by self-interest can build a positive
relationship towards writing thanks to a teacher preparing interesting tasks they enjoy,
seems to be verified.
Do teachers change their methods and approaches because of the new state
exam? Eighteen of them claimed they did, but twelve of them did not. For instance,
twelve of them still use holistic type of assessment which differs from the system used
to assess the written part of the final examination. Moreover, all of them who use
Project 1 are not happy with the textbook considering the development of writing skills.
To sum up, more than a half of the teachers were influenced by the new examination
and the hypothesis was proven true.
66
The text books were improved to suit the new final examination better covering
the new, modern stylistic genres, i.e. a text message, an email and all the genres
required to gain A1 level. On the other hand, the research on writing exercises in both
books, i.e. the newer Challenges course book and the older Project course book, shows
that the attention paid to teaching writing, expressed in percentage, is considerably
lower in the newer course book. To conclude, the later published course book improved
in quality, but there are fewer exercises focused on writing than in the older book.
Further, according to information resulting from the questionnaire given to teachers,
Project 1 is not satisfactory for future usage. For that, this hypothesis was rather
verified, too. Course books have been be improved and adapted to the new needs,
because pupils are taught how to write updated genres such as an email.
Mapping the situation in Czech schools, this work could help to analyse the
situation in schools from the point of view of teachers, which could be sometimes
different from attitudes of experts and theorists. Having had the opportunity to use two
different course books in a relatively short period of time, I had a chance to compare
them from many points of view, especially what is their contribution to teaching writing
skills at the given period of time, when the new final examination is often discussed.
One of the benefits of this thesis could be seen in communication with pupils whose
opinion on teaching writing skills could be inspiring for future teacher´s practice as well
as some ideas how to adapt teaching to the new final examination.
67
6 Appendixes
List of appendixes
Appendix 1 Assessing criteria for long texts ............................................................................... 68
Appendix 2 Questionnaires for children ..................................................................................... 71
Appendix 3 Questionnaires for teachers .................................................................................... 73
Appendix 4 3D map ..................................................................................................................... 75
Appendix 5 A post card .............................................................................................................. 76
Appendix 6 A folding picture book .............................................................................................. 77
Appendix 7 A text message ......................................................................................................... 78
Appendix 8 A postcard from holiday........................................................................................... 79
Appendix 9 A note with directions .............................................................................................. 80
68
Appendix 1 Assessing criteria for long texts
69
Assessing criteria for long texts
Firstly, let me start with longer texts. The text is evaluated in 8 categories, where
the most important criteria are described in the first column. (´´Analytická kritéria
hodnocení písemné práce´´)
I A Assignment and content
Three points are available, if a writer mentions all the tasks and follows the
genre. The text is not shorter or longer than required.
IB Content and full range
A problem or thought is explained clearly and all the tasks are high-wrought
with satisfactory amount of details, although there is no irrelevant information.
II A Organisation, coherence, and cohesion
The text has to be divided onto paragraphs, logically organised, coherent.
II B Cohesion, linking words
Mistakes in using linking words do not make the understanding difficult or
impossible; they are used correctly and in a wide range.
III A accuracy in vocabulary and spelling
Mistakes in using spelling and vocabulary do not make the understanding
difficult or impossible. There are no more than three mistakes in vocabulary and
spelling. Vocabulary is extended.
III B extension of vocabulary
Vocabulary is extended enough according to the assignment and elaboration of
different tasks.
IVA accuracy in grammar
Mistakes in using grammar do not make the understanding difficult or
impossible. There are no more than three mistakes in grammar features.
Grammar is extended.
IV B extension of grammar
Grammar features are extended enough according to the assignment and
elaboration of different tasks.
70
Assessing criteria for short texts
The rubric for assessing short texts is very similar to the rubric for assessing
long texts. The difference is in smaller amount of points one is able to get. There are
four categories instead of eight, so that there are 12 points available. (´´Analytická
kritéria hodnocení písemné práce´´)
I. Treatment of an assignment/ content
Here, a pupil can get 3 points if he adheres to genre, mentions all the points he
was supposed to write about, and follows the maxims of quantity and quality.
Pupils are supposed not to write more or less words than required, i.e. respect
range specification.
II. Organisation of the text
Conditions to get 3 points in this category are fulfilled when the text is coherent
and organized in the suitable way. There has to be amount of linking words used
properly.
III. Vocabulary and spelling
If mistakes in vocabulary and spelling do not make the understanding of the
written text impossible, vocabulary is extended enough and it is used correctly
(0-3) mistakes, a writer gets 3 points.
IV. Grammar
If mistakes in grammar do not make the understanding of the written text
impossible, vocabulary is extended enough and it is used correctly (0-3)
mistakes, a writer gets 3 points.
71
Appendix 2 Questionnaires for children
Máš před sebou dotazník, který pomůže při psaní diplomové práce. Prosím Tě o chvilku času na pravdivé
vyplnění odpovědí. Děkuji za Tvůj čas
Vzpomeň si na svoje hodiny angličtiny v předchozích letech.
1. Co jste se už učili psát? Zaškrtni:
a) Dokážu vyplnit dotazník o osobních údajích (zaměstnání, věk, adresa, koníčky)
b) Dokážu napsat pohlednici, např. s přáním k narozeninám
c) Dokážu napsat jednoduchý dopis, např. pozdrav z prázdnin
d) Dokážu někomu napsat vzkaz, kde jsem a kde se sejdeme
e) Dokážu o sobě napsat jednoduché věty, např. kde bydlím, co dělám
f) Jiné (např. myšlenkové mapy, básničky, vtip)
………………………………………………………………………..
2. Co si myslíš o učení psaní v hodinách angličtiny? Měl jsi ho rád?
Ano - proč? Ne – proč?
a) zajímavé zpestření hodiny a) nebylo to pro mě zajímavé
b) zábavná aktivita, legrace b) nebylo to zábavné
c) dobré k procvičení probírané gramatiky c)bylo pro mě těžké používat
d) dobré k učení nových slovíček, př. samostatné novou gramatiku
co máme v pokoji, moje rodina… d)bylo pro mě těžké používat/
e) jiný důvod vyhledávat nová slovíčka
………………………………………………………. e) jiný důvod
…………………………………………………
3. Psávali jste někdy v hodinách angličtiny jen tak pro zábavu, např. na začátku nebo na konci
hodiny?
4. Měli jste v učebnici úkoly na procvičení psaní v angličtině?
Bavily Tě?
5. Chystal (a) Vám kromě úkolů z učebnice úkoly na procvičení psaní pan učitel/ paní učitelka/?
Bavily Tě?
6. Bylo Vaše psaní známkované? Vysvětlila Vám paní učitelka/pan učitel, co v úkolu hodnotí?
7. Myslíš, že je důležité učit se v angličtině psát? Ano Ne
Proč?
8. Myslíš, že je výuce psaní v cizím jazyce věnuje dostatek času?
Ano, stačí to.
Ne, chtěl bych se psaní věnovat víc, psaní je přece důležité.
Nevím, neumím se vyjádřit.
72
Máš před sebou druhou polovinu dotazníku, který pomůže při psaní diplomové práce. Prosím Tě o
chvilku času na pravdivé vyplnění odpovědí. Děkuji za Tvůj čas
1. Máš rád/a psaní v angličtině?
Ano - proč? Ne – proč?
f) zajímavé zpestření hodiny a) není to pro mě zajímavé
g) zábavná aktivita, legrace b) není to zábavné
h) dobré k procvičení probírané gramatiky c)je pro mě těžké používat
i) dobré k učení nových slovíček př. samostatné novou gramatiku
co máme v pokoji, moje rodina… d)je pro mě těžké používat/
j) jiný důvod vyhledávat nová slovíčka
………………………………………………………. e) jiný důvod
………………………………………………
2. Co jste se už učili psát? Zaškrtni:
g) Dokážu vyplnit dotazník o osobních údajích (zaměstnání, věk, adresa, koníčky)
h) Dokážu napsat pohlednici např. s přáním k narozeninám
i) Dokážu napsat jednoduchý dopis např. pozdrav z prázdnin
j) Dokážu někomu napsat vzkaz, kde jsem a kde se sejdeme
k) Dokážu o sobě napsat jednoduché věty, např. kde bydlím, co dělám
l) Jiné (např. myšlenkové mapy, básničky, vtip)
………………………………………………………………………..
3. Píšete někdy jen tak pro zábavu např. na začátku nebo na konci hodiny?
4. Máte v učebnici úkoly na procvičení psaní v angličtině?
Baví Tě?
5. Chystá vám kromě úkolů z učebnice úkoly na procvičení psaní paní učitelka?
Baví Tě?
6. Zlepšil se Tvůj písemný projev v angličtině v tomto školním roce?
7. Myslíš, že je důležité učit se v angličtině psát? Ano Ne
Proč?
8. Myslíš, že je výuce psaní v cizím jazyce věnuje dostatek času?
a) Ano, stačí to.
b) Ne, chtěl bych se psaní věnovat víc, psaní je přece důležité.
c) Nevím, neumím se vyjádřit.
73
Appendix 3 Questionnaires for teachers
1. Jméno (není povinné)
……………………………………………………………………………….
2. Škola
a) ZŠ
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
b) víceleté
gymnázium………………………………………………………………………
3. Třída/ ročník, ve kterém vyučujete anglický jazyk ………………………………….
4. Jakou učebnici používáte v primě/6. třídě ZŠ?
5. Zdá se Vám po stránce rozvíjení dovednosti psaní dostačující?
a) Ano
b) Ne, protože…
c) Neumím se vyjádřit
6. Používáte i jiná cvičení ke zdokonalení psaní, než jsou v této učebnici?
Pokud ano, z jakých zdrojů
a) Časopisy:
b) Internetové stránky:
c) Knihy:
d) Jiné:
7. V kolika letech je podle Vašeho názoru možné začít s výukou dovednosti psaní u žáků?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………
8. Myslíte, že vzhledem k zavedení písemné části maturit by se mělo tomuto tématu, tj. rozvoji
dovednosti psaní věnovat více pozornosti?
a) ANO
b) NE, není nutné
c) Neumím se vyjádřit
74
9. V jaké části vyučovací hodiny nejčastěji využíváte aktivity rozvíjející dovednost psaní?
a) Na začátku - Warm ups
b) Jako hlavní úkol -main task
c) Na konci hodiny- follow ups
d) Domácí úkol - homework
10. Jaké slohové útvary probíráte s Vašimi žáky 6. tříd/ primy v cizím jazyce?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………
11. Jak hodnotíte písemné projevy?
a) Pomocí tabulky rozdělené např. na oblasti gramatiky, slovní zásoby, textové návaznosti,
splnění daných požadavků (téma, styl…) – analytické pojetí
b) Celkový dojem - holistické pojetí
c) Jinak:……………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………
12. Změnil se Váš přístup k hodnocení psaného projevu po zavedení nové státní maturity?
a) ano
b) ne
13. Myslíte si, že písemný projev v cizím jazyce je pro Vaše žáky
Spíše těžký – spíše snadný 1 2 3 4 5
Spíše nezábavný – spíše zábavný 1 2 3 4 5
75
Appendix 4 3D map
There is a pond with trees and there is a hotel next to the pond. A car park
is opposite the hotel and next to the car park is a church....
76
Appendix 5 A post card
77
Appendix 6 A folding picture book
78
Appendix 7 A text message
79
Appendix 8 A postcard from holiday
80
Appendix 9 A note with directions
81
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