how to motivate efl learning and teaching of academic writing by cross-cultural exchanges

English for Specific Purposes, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 391–412, 1998© 1998 The American University. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd� Pergamon All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain

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How to Motivate EFL Learning and Teachingof Academic Writing by Cross-cultural

Exchanges

Sada A. Daoud

Abstract—Learning/teaching academic writing in EFL and ESL contexts isoften described as challenging. In the case of Arab learners and teachers, thetask is formidable in many cases, mainly because of students’ lack of pro-ficiency and insufficient motivation to write. This paper describes a strategythat has proved useful in motivating EFL/ESP students of intermediate levelto write better. The strategy is based on an exchange of students’ essays. Twoteachers, one American and one Syrian, were involved. Students on both sidesstarted by answering one another’s questions. Afterwards, they wrote essaysthat reflected their personalities, lives, and culture or dealt with issues ofinternational concern. They did this with the audience in mind. The teachersfrequently informed each other about different matters related to implemen-tation, including management issues and their own response as well as thatof their students to the strategy. This exchange proved to be motivating anduseful to the EFL context in which it was tried. The paper shows how thisstrategy has helped to effect improvement in the learning and teaching ofacademic writing skills as well as some change in students’ attitude to thetarget culture, perhaps as a result of increased audience awareness. © 1998The American University. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rightsreserved

Introduction

As is the case in many EFL and ESL contexts, learning/teaching academicwriting is challenging to students and teachers in Syria and other Arabcountries. This is mainly because of students’ lack of proficiency and insuf-ficient motivation to write (see Doushaq 1986, for example). The challengeis greater in countries where English is not the language of instruction buta compulsory school and college subject. This is the case in the context forthis paper.

The paper reports on a pedagogical project: a cross-cultural essay ex-change. The main aim of the exchange was to motivate students to write

Address correspondence to: Sada A. Daoud, CELTE, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.E-mail: [email protected].

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by giving them real audiences, but it proved to be useful to the author’s EFLstudents and to her in other ways as well, e.g. increasing their understandingof the target culture.

After describing the context of this project, the paper reviews relatedliterature and then describes the process of implementation, focusing onstudents’ and teachers’ responses and the effect on improving writing andattitudes.

The Context

Research for this project was carried out at the ESP Centre (ESPC),Damascus University. Among other things, the Centre provides requiredcourses to all the University’s students doing Master’s degrees in disciplinesother than English language and literature. The courses are intensive (20hours per week for three months) or semi-intensive (10 hours per week forsix months). Every year, about 400 students follow these courses, which aredesigned to meet their academic and professional needs.

Students

The main focus of this research is on postgraduate medical students atthe ESPC, most of whom are at intermediate level when they start thecourse. On the whole, they are the ‘elite’ in the country as far as their generalacademic record is concerned. They value achievement and are highlycompetitive. Their English course is semi-intensive and in-sessional (i.e.they have to follow it during the first or second year of their Master’scourses). They are required to work a minimum of 40 hours a week inteaching hospitals in addition to one to three nights (depending on theirspecialization) as part of their professional practice.

Medical students’ motivation to learn English is generally high becausethey need the language for their academic and professional courses, mainlyfor reading medical references, and they need it to improve their chancesof getting study and work offers in English speaking countries. The UnitedStates is often the country of their choice.

Course Components

Three main components constitute the ESP course designed for medicalpostgraduate students: Core, Social, and Lab, each of which has its ownsyllabus. The Core is the main course component wherein all four skills arelearnt in an integrated manner, though its main focus is reading. The sameapproach is followed in the Social component, which concentrates on list-ening, speaking, and general language and social skills. In the Lab compon-ent, students learn how to listen to lectures and take notes. Course hoursare divided equally between the Core on the one hand and the Social andLab on the other (5 hours a week each).

393EFL Learning and Teaching of Academic Writing

Academic writing is a Core component. Students learn to write formalletters, essays, and research papers. However, most of the time allocated towriting is usually spent on the research paper, called Academic ProjectPaper (APP), which is based on doing some kind of case study or libraryresearch on topics that relate to students’ specializations. Essay writing,which is not as strictly field-specific as the APP, does not usually get asmuch attention due to the course time constraint. It is, however, the principalmeans of measuring students’ achievement in writing in the end-of-courseexam, the only criterion for pass or fail.

Students' and Teachers' Attitude to Academic Writing

Students feel that they are poor writers. Asked about the skill they thoughtthey were best at, none selected writing, a few selected speaking and list-ening, and the majority chose reading. They expect the course to cater totheir needs/wants in this order: speaking, writing, and then reading (Daoud1994a). A previous study at the site (Barmada 1993), showed that medicalstudents perceived writing as the skill they needed least. A more recent study(Daoud 1995), however, showed that though the majority still perceivedspeaking as the skill they needed most, their perception of writing needswas changing. About 46.5% believed that they would need to publish inEnglish in the future. However, their motivation to write is generally low;some even claimed to ‘hate’ writing. This could be attributed to the con-textual constraints they work under (mainly that of time) and to their overalllow writing proficiency due to lack of experience in this area. In addition,the course’s writing requirements are higher than students can cope with.This causes learning anxiety, particularly because they are used to highachievement. Moreover, the general feeling on the part of the teachers atthe Centre is that after 11 years of learning English at school and college,these students should be able to write essays and mini research projectsreasonably well. This attitude could increase student anxiety in a culturewhere teachers’ views are generally respected.

Also, most teachers at the ESP Centre find teaching writing challenging(‘a pain in the neck’). They believe it is the most constrained and problematic,and that although it is time and energy consuming, it is the least rewardingof the components in terms of learning effects and relevance to students’immediate and future needs. Some think that the majority of students willnot need to write in English in the future.

To counter negative attitudes and feelings on the part of learners andteachers, there is a need for a good deal of understanding about the learningand teaching of writing. Students in this context, and perhaps in similarones, need tutors to provide a more liberal methodology with attentionto affect and motivation in order to build on their strengths and positivecharacteristics. The next section reviews some literature on motivation andmotivating language learning with particular reference to ESP and academicwriting.

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Review of Related Literature

The influence of motivation and learner differences in language learninghas been much emphasized (see, for example, Gardner & MacIntyre 1990;Gardner & Tremblay 1994; Skehan 1990). Oxford (1990: 140) states that‘‘the affective side of the learner is probably one of the very biggest influenceson language learning success or failure’’. In their review of the affectivevariables and their role in second language learning, Gardner & MacIntyre(1993) show the relationship between learners’ attitudes and motivation anddescribe how language anxiety impedes language learning.

Motivation and affect have also been emphasized in relation to EFL teach-ing and learning. For example, Dornyei (1994) highlights the role of theteacher as a motivator, and lists thirty strategies that EFL teachers can useto motivate students. Among these is promoting student contact with L2speakers and using motivating feedback.

The literature also reveals the role of motivation in ESP. Harvey (1986),for example, discusses motivational variables in ESP and the role of theteacher in motivating learning. She presents a model of learning motivationin which teacher intervention takes place at different stages and in differentways, starting with identifying learner needs and expectations and endingwith helping ‘‘the learner focus on a specific type of learning activity’’ to fulfila specific goal (p. 29). Harvey (1986: 31–32) also points out that although ESPlearners are usually instrumentally motivated, with ‘‘a rational understandingthat English is a means of communication’’, this ‘‘may not be accompaniedby an equally positive emotional attitude toward the language’’, and rec-ommends teachers to work on student motivation. According to Harvey(1986: 32) two factors may negatively influence ESP students’ attitude andmotivation. First, the feeling that learning the language ‘‘requires a sub-stantial investment in time’’ and, secondly, the resentment of ‘‘cultural domi-nance’’ implicit in the wide use of English.

To sustain motivation in ESP courses, different suggestions have beenmade. For EFL contexts, Harvey (1986: 32) recommends ‘‘adequate inter-action of teacher style and recognition of students’ needs and expectations’’.In ESL, Bloor & Bloor (1987) recommend negotiating the syllabus with thelearners. Other writers suggest thorough understanding of the local situ-ation (Adams-Smith 1986; Holliday 1994), and some argue for ESP coursesthat contain a general English component (Boyle 1993). In some casesstudents need and want a balance between ESP and EGP (English forGeneral Purposes). In general, it is agreed that priorities should be estab-lished because pleasing everybody is rather difficult (Weir 1988).

If motivational and affective factors are important in language learning ingeneral, they are of vital importance in teaching/learning academic writingfor two main reasons. First, writing is not generally the activity that studentwriters would willingly do (see Raimes 1983); even some professional writersacknowledge finding it challenging (e.g. Widdowson 1983). Second, it hasbeen shown that writing, more than any other language skill, is a constrained


activity on many levels: cognitively, communicatively, textually, linguis-tically, and contextually (Frederiksen & Dominic 1981: 18–20). In EFL con-texts, it can be painful for adult learners who lack the effective English toexpress their conceptual and experiential knowledge. Contextualconstraints, e.g. time and timing of sessions, could aggravate the situationand lead to writing-related anxiety, which in turn leads to ‘‘lower levels ofverbal production’’, according to Gardner & MacIntyre (1993: 6). Thus,writing pedagogy should be aware of the importance of affect in order to beeffective.

The sources of motivation normally mentioned in the literature are theteacher; the learning/teaching task; tests or exams; and students’ needs,wants, and expectations. Though all these sources appear in the strategythis paper reports on (next section), the main source here is cultural contactwith native speakers who provide motivating feedback. In this strategy,recipients of motivation include not only the students but also their teachers.The teachers involved motivate their students by finding motivating tasksfor them. They, in turn, are motivated by these students and by each other.There is a reciprocal relationship, as we shall see.

The Strategy

Where The Idea Came From

The idea of the essay exchange came in a letter (15 September 1992) thata Syrian member of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA)passed on to me upon the writer’s request: ‘‘... please pass this letter to anycolleague who may be interested’’. In this letter, Dr. Joan E. Penzenstadler,who was teaching freshmen composition at Clark College in the State ofWashington, USA, invited participation in an essay exchange project inwhich teachers from different countries were involved. She explained thatparticipants would ask their students to write essays with the other side ofthe exchange in mind, the essays would throw light upon their writers’personalities, experiences, and the history and culture of their countries, ordeal with issues of international concern. To encourage foreign teachers toparticipate, Dr. Penzenstadler added:

I have conducted essay exchanges in the past, both in the US and whileteaching in Taiwan... Invariably, the students on both sides of the exchangewere stimulated to better writing and were eager to read what was sent them.

Because the American academic quarter is short (10 weeks), she suggestedstarting immediately with exchanging lists of questions to which studentscould initially respond in paragraphs or short essays. This would motivatestudents to write longer essays to their audiences later, she explained. Sheurged participants in the project to send brochures and other informationabout their educational institutions.

396 S. A. Daoud

The idea appealed to me as relevant to my students’ writing needs. As theliterature review shows, many writers have recommended contact withnative speakers for acquiring a second language. I thought it would be amotivating activity that would prepare my students for writing their essaysand research projects. Because contact hours in the medical course are fewand students are loaded with work and study responsibilities, I thought oftreating it as an optional extracurricular activity. Upon reflection, I decidedto test students’ response before experimenting with the idea as classroomresearch.

Initial Student Response and Consequent Action

Initially, more than 50% of the students (in three classes, a total of 55students) responded positively to the idea mainly because their audiencewould be native speakers of English. Students also agreed to treat the activityas extracurricular. I made it clear to them that taking it seriously would givethem good training in essay writing and stand them in good stead in thefinal exam.

To test their response in action, I asked all students to work in groups anddraft some questions to send to their American counterparts. A list of twentyquestions emerged from group work and negotiation in the three classes.All students, those who agreed to write for the project and those who didnot, participated in drafting and negotiating the questions, some of whichturned out to be politically and intellectually challenging (see Appendix A.1).

The American–Syrian question–answer exchange was swift and motiv-ating. We sent our questions and received questions in return (see AppendixA.2). Because all my students participated in writing the questions, allwere eager to see how their questions were answered. Students startedimmediately drafting and revising answers to send to the US. Shortly after-wards, a packet of twenty-five short paragraph and essay answers wasdispatched to Clark College. Appendix B shows a question–answer samplefrom each side of the exchange.

To sustain students’ initial motivation, I treated writing at this preliminarystage as free writing, and the focus was mainly on ideas and clarity. Students’attention was drawn to specific rhetorical structures: topic sentences andsupport—things the majority were not aware of before. Language and mech-anical errors were dealt with only if they affected meaning. However, Iconstantly reminded students of their audience. Writing was carried out athome, given to me for comment, and later revised by the writers accordingto feedback. Students were given freedom to choose whichever questionthey were interested in answering. In some cases, several writers answeredthe same question, each from his/her own perspective. Most of the questionssent to us were answered, even the political ones. Some students consideredthe latter ‘‘highly challenging’’. Still, these questions were their favourite.


Students' Main Writing Problems at the Early Stage

Students had several major problems at the early stage of the essayexchange. The first problem was sweeping generalisations with littlesupport. Students also lacked appropriate vocabulary and expressions andneeded help in these areas. The most challenging writing problem, however,related to style and tone. In their early drafts, some students were aggressivein addressing their American counterparts. They seemed to address theAmerican government or public. It took me time and effort to train them tomodify their tone and convince them that the type of writing they weretrying was persuasive in some cases. Good writers, I reminded them, hadto find their way to people’s hearts and minds by presenting convincingarguments, supported by concrete details and examples. I have recordedsome of their ‘interesting answers’ in the early drafts and how these weremodified later in the light of feedback. Appendix C shows one example ofan early draft, the teacher’s comment on it, and the student’s modifiedversion.

The Second American Mailing

Shortly after the initial question–answer exchange we received a generouspacket of essays from Dr. Penzenstadler. Thirty-five essays were sent inaddition to other useful materials. The essays were written in a variety ofmodes, purposes, and formats. Some dealt with different aspects of Americanlife and culture, including topics such as ‘‘Wrestling: A Sport in AmericanSchools’’, ‘‘How Christmas Came to America’’, ‘‘Thanksgiving—The Truthbehind the Myth’’, ‘‘Silver Love’’, ‘‘The Majority Doesn’t Always Rule’’, ‘‘TheGang Guy’’, ‘‘Pygmy Goat Show’’, ‘‘The Sting of Death’’, ‘‘Hiking in the RockyMountains’’, ‘‘Building Your Own Home: An American Dream’’, ‘‘My Lifeacross America’’, etc. Other essays, using comparison and contrast or inter-views, gave us insights into other cultures as well. This reflected the multi-cultural dimension of American society. We were familiarised with aspectsof the Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Togolese, French, German, andSwedish cultures. Topics included: ‘‘Marriage in Togo’’, ‘‘Christmas Seasonsof America and Sweden’’, ‘‘From Hong Kong to America on a Student Visa’’,‘‘Hinduism’’, and ‘‘Education in Egypt and the United States’’. Appendix Dshows a sample American essay.

I found all the essays interesting and enlightening about American culture.Their multi-cultural aspect was also fascinating.

The essays, however, were not the only thing my exchange partner sentin the second mailing. She enclosed other useful things: (a) a detaileddescription of how she used received essays in her own classes; (b) a copyof English 101 syllabus; (c) photographs of her two classes and collegebuildings, etc. Some students also attached photographs to their essays.These proved to be motivating to us as they were a tangible proof of theauthenticity of the task. We were able to identify the essay writers on a piece

398 S. A. Daoud

of transparent paper attached to the pictures of the whole class on whichstudents’ figures were drawn and their names were written.This is how myAmerican correspondent described her use of foreign essays:

I make several copies of the essays and more copies of the ‘special’ essays[She meant good ones]. These are made into booklets which include 3–4essays. I insert a pocket and a card which the student signs for checkout, likea library book. I have these booklets in the room at class time and keepreminding students to check one out and bring it back in a week. If checkoutsare voluntary, one needs only enough booklets for half the class... restrictingstudents to checking one out at a time... I use different colored paper coversfor the ‘special’ papers.

She warned me ‘‘NEVER put the original out where it can be borrowed bystudents’’.

Dr. Penzenstadler’s description of the writing course at Clark College wasvery enlightening. She informed me about the aim behind writing to realaudiences on subjects students are familiar with: ‘‘Writing about a subjectone knows well makes one an ‘expert’ on the topic, enabling the writer (andthe teacher) to focus on the development of skills such as organization,clarity, and correctness.’’ She added:

I find that even when my students write about what they know well, it is areal challenge for them to present it clearly to someone who knows little ornothing about it. This is why I have them write for foreigners: to force themto make it all as clear as possible. Otherwise they assume the reader, ayoung American like them, can ‘read their minds’. Your students will find itchallenging [added emphasis], too, I guarantee.

She was right; my students found the task of writing clearly to a foreignaudience very challenging. But this kind of challenge proved to be usefuland productive in the case of these bright and competitive medical students.They wanted to prove to their American audience that they were able towrite well in English.

The information my partner sent me with the packet of essays was veryuseful and educational to me. It also saved me a lot of time needed to learnthe lessons she had learnt from experience. I was motivated to work harderon the essay exchange, and my students’ positive response motivated meeven more. The borrowing rate was high, and responses came orally and inwriting.

I adapted Dr. Penzenstadler’s class use of the essays in ways suitable toour context and to my research purpose. For example, because my studentswere very busy, I asked them to check one essay at a time and asked themto express their response to it in one paragraph, at least, on a specialresponse sheet I attached to each essay. These written responses servedtwo purposes: giving students’ additional practice in writing, and monitoringstudents’ responses and writing development. I also used informal dis-cussion with individuals or small groups of students after class as a research


tool to monitor student response. Samples of students’ comments (writtenand oral) were collected in a research record I kept for this purpose.

The Second Syrian Mailing

Our second mailing to Clark College included 35 essays on a wide rangeof topics that related to students’ lives and culture, such as ‘‘The FrenchOccupation of Syria’’, ‘‘A Typical Day in My Life’’, ‘‘Studying Medicine inSyria’’, ‘‘What I like Best about My Country’’, ‘‘Life in Students’ Halls ofResidence’’, ‘‘Wars’’, ‘‘Ramadan: The Month of Fasting’’, ‘‘New Year’s Day inDamascus’’, ‘‘My Neighbour’s Wedding Party’’, ‘‘The Five Pillars of Islam’’,‘‘Women Education in Syria’’, ‘‘Teaching English: a Syrian Perspective’’,‘‘Medical Care in Syria’’, and others. Appendix E shows a sample Syrianessay.

Making Use of the Longer American Essays

In writing the essays, we built upon the skills students had acquired inthe early free writing question–answer stage, and further use was made ofthe longer American essays. In addition to meaning, purpose, and audience,focused on earlier, I guided students in how to write a coherent and unifiedessay. Some of the American essays were used as models for introducingthe concepts of coherence and unity on the essay level. Having been writtenand revised several times under the supervision of an expert teacher ofwriting, they proved to be useful in showing my students how to write anintroduction, body, and conclusion. Students’ attention was drawn to howthe writers linked the three main parts using transitional devices, how thebody was divided into paragraphs, each of which dealt with one main idea,how this idea was supported by details, examples or both, and how thesentences were linked using cohesive devices. Students were asked to workin groups to identify strengths in some good essays and weaknesses in theless effective ones. Thus, they were helped to comprehend the basic Englishwriting conventions and apply them not only in writing their exchangeessays but also in the ones required for their course. Transfer and acquisitionof these skills were also evident in students’ academic project papers.

Students also made considerable improvement in writing for a foreignaudience. Throughout their school and undergraduate years, the teacherhad been the only audience of their L1 compositions. Here are two examples,taken from ‘‘My Neighbour’s Wedding Party’’, that show awareness of audi-ence:

A wedding ceremony in Daraya, a small town near Damascus, reflects thenature and life style of the Darayans.The bridegroom’s mother expresses her feelings through ‘‘zaghlota’’ (a verbalmusical local expression made by vibrating the tongue through the mouthrapidly).

400 S. A. Daoud

The non-defining phrase in the first example and bracketed information inthe second are redundant if writing is intended for Syrian readership.

Students also improved a good deal in writing introductions andconclusions, two of their major weaknesses when they started the course.Students in previous courses used to write long and unfocused introductions,as they usually do in Arabic writing. They also did not have a clear ideaabout the function of the conclusion. In this course, some of the Americanessays provided students with model introductions and conclusions toemulate. Examples of their improvement are numerous. This is one exampletaken from the final draft of ‘‘Women Education in Syria’’ (the essay wasrevised twice for wordiness and lack of focus):

Introduction

Until Syria gained its independence from France in 1946, education in thecountry was exclusively a male’s domain. Over the following decades,women’s education has taken great strides both in quantity and quality. NowSyrian women enjoy the same educational privileges that men enjoy.

Conclusion

I believe the learning and working of Syrian women will reflect positively onsocial development in the whole country. Step by step Syria will become aneducationally and socially developed country.

More students joined the exchange in its second phase. This can be explai-ned by peer influence and competitiveness for achievement. Those whowrote earlier reported their enjoyment of the task and their improvement inwriting competencies, and this motivated more students of all levels to write.

Responses to the American Essays

Students differed in their responses to the American essays. This wasevident in the out-of-class discussion of some of the answers received. Somestudents could not understand why some of their political questions, even asimple one like ‘‘Would you like to visit Syria and why?’’, were not answered.Some believed that these questions were intentionally evaded because theywere culturally sensitive and intellectually challenging to ‘‘18 or 19 yearolds’’ (quoting the American teacher’s description of her students’ age).Others assumed that American students’ were influenced by the media.They were referring to an answer to the question: ‘‘Are you for or againstyour government’s becoming the policeman of the world?’’ ‘‘I stand behindmy country 100% in this matter’’, the American respondent wrote. ‘‘When acountry violates the United Nations Security Council’s resolution, somethinghas to be done’’, she added.

To my satisfaction, all discussion was held in English. Students werespontaneous in expressing their opinions and feelings. Grammar rules and


appropriate expression did not prohibit their oral spontaneity as wouldnormally happen in the case of contrived classroom activity. When theycould not find a suitable word, they ‘inserted’ its Arabic equivalent and wenton, not wanting to interrupt the discussion. To encourage them to writeabout their reactions to these answers to the American students (the majorityof whom sent their addresses with their essays), my comment was: ‘‘Yousee, these students have expressed their opinions to the best of their knowl-edge. If you believe that they don’t have enough information about ourculture or they were misled by the media, why don’t you write and informthem?’’ Some students said they would write. These discussions created arelaxed atmosphere in which the language was acquired naturally, andstudents were able to express their views freely. Indeed, I rewarded themfor thinking in different ways.

Thinking in different ways appeared more clearly when discussing somecultural issues. Many students strongly criticized Western values and wayof life, blaming them for many environmental and health problems that havebecome real threats to humanity. Discussing AIDS, for example, somestudents expressed their belief that it was a punishment from God for thosewho misused the concept of freedom. Other students demonstrated a moretolerant and open-minded attitude. They argued: ‘‘If AIDS were a punish-ment, what would you say about babies who get infected in their mothers’wombs and those who get the virus through blood transfusion?’’ Moretolerance was noted among the competent students and less so among theless competent. This tolerance–competence relationship could be attributedto students’ different motivation to learn English. Those who wanted tospecialize and work in the US and UK demonstrated more understanding ofand empathy towards the target culture. Indeed, several of these studentsfollowed courses at the American or British language schools in Damascusduring their undergraduate years. Whatever the reason, having both partiesdiscuss the issues at hand resulted in a more positive attitude.

In writing, students also expressed their views freely but more tactfully.Since writing is an elaborate process that requires a lot of revision of contentand style, students had more time to think and reflect. This was particularlynoted in students’ written answers to some of their American counterparts’questions. Many students modified some of their attitudes which they hadexpressed orally earlier. This finding would support an argument put forwardby McNiff (1990: 58), that the act of writing is educational and empoweringto the writer:

The action of writing helps me to improve my own education, the process ofthe development of my own rationality; and the form of my writing dem-onstrates in action the process of that development itself.

Feedback on the Syrian Essays

All the feedback I received on my students’ writing came in my Americancolleague’s letters to me. Her response was positive, and this motivated us,

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teacher and students, to a great extent. For example, this is how she startedher four-page response letter (10 April 1993) after receiving the Syrianessays:

Thank you for the generous packet of essays by your students. I have readthem all and found them quite interesting and informative to me about yourculture.... I hope that as they experience the feedback of readers they willfind more rewards in writing in English....

She then added:

... descriptions of students’ lives, families, customs, the history and socialstructure of Syria (I knew nothing of the French occupation of Syria, and Iknow most Americans know less than I), and the aspects of Islam were veryeducational for me. I also found it interesting to compare the discussions ofAIDS by your students and by mine. Tell your students they serve an importantneed by educating us, Westerners.

She also commented on her students’ response to Syrian students’ writingproficiency, making particular reference to their questions and how herstudents responded to them. ‘‘My students were impressed with your stu-dents’ ability to express themselves and with the neatness of their writing’’,she wrote. Then she added:

[The questions are] very good... they demanded some real thought andexamination of one’s own values; in some cases, they also required back-ground knowledge of political and international issues.... I think when it cameto thinking through a good answer, my students chickened out and gave up,because the effort would be more than they wanted to make.

As for her students’ answers to the Syrian questions, she wrote:

They give you a glimpse into how many Americans think.... Sometimes you’llsee what we call ‘knee-jerk’ responses to political or religious questions... theanswers given by my American students seemed to be derived more fromparents and the media than from the students’ own experience and analysis.

This kind of feedback, coming from an American native speaking teacher ofEnglish was very motivating to us. We experienced a sense of achievement,which boosted our self-confidence. We also gained considerable knowledgeabout American culture.

Learning From Colleagues

In all her correspondence with me, Dr. Penzenstadler showed personaland professional commitment characteristic of star teachers. Her detailedletters (running into several pages of small print), enthusiastic tone, andgenuine response made me consider her a mentor and motivator. Herhumility impressed me tremendously. Though she is a native speaker and


an experienced teacher, she explained what she learnt from her EFL ‘col-league’. Responding to my idea of keeping a record of students’ responseson special response sheets, she wrote:

I had not thought of a way of keeping records of the reading and responsesto the essays by your students, and now I wish I had done something as youdid: get a tabulation.

She then mentioned planning to get students’ written responses to send mein the future.

In short, I have learnt from my American colleague much more than thereis room to detail and describe in a paper like this. Evidence of this learning isreflected in my motivation to write and share this experience with colleaguesaround the globe.

This desire to share was the real motive behind my first attempt toparticipate in an international conference, at which I briefly reported on theexchange idea and its preliminary findings (see Daoud 1994b).

What Happened to the Essay Exchange?

The essay exchange continued in the following academic year (1993–1994) with new groups of medical students. In that year, the Americanteacher moved to Taiwan, where she took up a position at Tamkang Univer-sity. We exchanged a large number of essays (over 50), this time withChinese students. The strategy remained motivating to students, but not tothe extent it was when native speakers of English were the audience. Sometitles of the essays sent to us from Taiwan were: ‘‘An Undeliverable Letter’’,‘‘Knowing the Chinese Medicine Research Club’’, ‘‘Ching-ming, the SpringFestival’’, ‘‘Customs and Taboos of the Chinese ‘Ghost Festival’’’, ‘‘Ming-hun: A Chinese Marriage Ceremony for Persons Already Dead’’, ‘‘A Manout of the Mainland China’’, ‘‘The Ceremony of Chinese Engagement’’, andothers. Syrian essays included a wide variety of topics as well. They boretitles such as ‘‘My 25 Years’’, ‘‘My Hometown’’, ‘‘Mother’s day in Syria’’,‘‘The Quran’’, ‘‘The Challenger’’, ‘‘Syria: Past and Present’’, ‘‘An EnrichingExperience’’, ‘‘Easter in Syria’’, ‘‘Damascus: The Eternal City’’, ‘‘War Mem-ories’’, ‘‘The Season of Pilgrimage’’, ‘‘Freedom’’, ‘‘Prevention Is Better thanCure’’, etc.

Wanting to broaden the exchange, Dr. Penzenstadler sent me addressesof two other composition teachers: one American at Clark College and onefrom Portugal. Because I was leaving to do an M.A. in England, I passed themessage on to colleagues at the ESPC and offered them all the essays Ireceived and sent, asking them to read and comment on them. Severalteachers borrowed the files and responded positively, orally or in writing, tothe exchange idea. One of them showed interest in continuing it from theSyrian side. This is how he responded in writing:

404 S. A. Daoud

I have always felt that teaching English is the most interesting and rewardingjobs. Reading these essays, the fruit of great effort, made me more aware ofthe sacred mission of English language teachers, messengers of love, peace,and justice. I now feel that I like my profession to the degree of love.

(DH [teacher’s initials], 1994)

I believe the essay exchange strategy helped to energise students’ reservedcapacities to write with pleasure and hence reduce their writing anxiety andapprehension, something that resulted in better verbal production and hencelearning. Their response to it is perhaps mirrored in a postcard I receivedat the end of the course from one group of students who were activelyinvolved in the exchange:

With the course reaching its end, we all thank you. Thank you for all theinterest and care you gave us throughout the course. Thank you for all thehappy fruitful days we spent at this Centre.

Students of Medical Group 4

Conclusions

The cross-cultural essay exchange described in this paper has proved tobe motivating and useful in different ways. This section summarizes thefindings and relates them to the literature.

(1) Writing to a real audience in the target culture proved to be interesting,challenging, and educational for EFL learners. This is consistent with argu-ments that support the role of motivation in learning languages, e.g., Brookes& Grundy’s (1988) argument for investing in students’ needs, interest, andknowledge (see the literature review). Similar effects of writing to realaudiences (but in the local culture) are reported in other studies (e.g. Vincent1990; Arnold 1991).

(2) The presence of a strong affective component in learning English asa foreign language is evident in this research. We have seen how EFLstudents’ and their teacher’s involvement in the exchange, and hence theirlearning from it, increased as they experienced positive feedback on theirwork. This positive feedback also helped in improving their attitude to thetarget culture. These findings are supported by a statement in Stern (1983:310):

... the actual learning of the language is accompanied by emotional reactions,and the entire learning experience may lead to a fixed constellation of likesand dislikes directed towards the whole language in question or features ofthat language, languages in general, the people speaking the language, andso on.

(3) Students’ motivation to write effectively to their readers urged themto improve their cultural orientation and hence their academic language use


(see Jin & Cortazzi 1993). It has made them aware of what is expected fromthem when they write in English (see Nida 1992). This adaptation wasreflected in their end-of-course exam results in two successive years (1992–93 and 1993–94):

, No one failed in the Academic Project Paper, the main writing component.About one-third scored ‘excellent’ (8+ out of 10) and the rest scored ‘good’(6–7 points).

, Students performed well in the essay question of the writing exam. In the1993–94 exam, for example, about half the students exposed to this strat-egy scored ‘good’ or ‘very good’ results (9–14 out of 15 points). Only afew students did not pass.

, The strategy enabled students to practice all language skills in an inte-grated manner. They read, discussed what they read, wrote, and rewrotewithout being pushed to do so. This helped them to do well in all end-of-course exam components. According to the Syrian scale for measuringachievement, the majority got ‘good’ (60–69 points out of 100), ‘very good’(70–79 points), or ‘excellent’ (80–89 points) scores. In the two academicyears of the exchange, only six students (out of 92) failed. Overall, theirscores were much higher than those of their peers who were not exposedto the essay exchange. One important factor that helped to bring aboutthese results was building on the language the learners brought withthem to the learning context and investing in their knowledge of the worldand positive characteristics. According to Brookes & Grundy (1988: 102),this is essential in EAP because there is a need to

... address... students in general and postgraduates in particular at their ownintellectual level... such students are at the very least our intellectual equalsand will not be truly engaged in any classroom activity which does notchallenge them intellectually.

(4) Two other unplanned benefits of the essay exchange strategy emergedin the process of implementation:

, The first benefit is the personal and professional development of the EFLteacher. The exchange motivated her to exert more effort to developher students’ potential as well as her own by learning from her moreexperienced colleague. Additionally, experimenting with the strategy for2 years was an optional ongoing professional course that contributed agood deal to her development. Though the exchange was demanding interms of time, it was rewarding in terms of enjoyment, learning, andachievement. This is consistent with a highlighted statement in Fullan &Hargreaves (1992: 109): ‘‘Teacher development and student developmentare reciprocally related’’.

, The second benefit relates to the needs of the world today. The twoteachers involved acted as bridge builders and promoters of cultural

406 S. A. Daoud

understanding. They were able to broaden their students’ minds culturallyand make them more tolerant and open-minded.

One question that arises is to what extent these findings can be generalised.The answer depends on teachers trying out this strategy in their contextsand finding out for themselves how much it will be able to achieve. Speakingfrom personal experience, the most important ingredient for success isteacher commitment.

On the whole, cross-cultural exchanges and collaboration are easier nowthan at any time in the past, with information technology facilities availablein many educational contexts. Organizations such as CARN (ClassroomAction Research Network), IATEFL (International Association of Teachersof English as a Foreign Language), and TESOL (Teachers of English toSpeakers of Other Languages), to mention only a few, have their Websiteson the Internet, and teachers can easily contact one another and find counter-parts for such exchanges. Additionally, all these organizations organizeannual conferences in which professionals from different contexts can meetface-to-face and negotiate access to one another. At a conference in Cairo,several teachers from the Arab world and beyond (one from Japan)approached me for essay exchanges after I briefly reported on the essayexchange strategy as my research on it was still in progress (Daoud 1994b).

Though it would be simplistic to attribute all students’ achievements inthe two years to the essay exchange, I can claim that the strategy was asuccess in motivating the learners and teacher involved into better writing.As can be seen from the literature review in this paper, motivation improveslearning. In this piece of research, Syrian students and their teacher read,wrote, interacted, and learnt through writing and interaction. They did allthis as an extracurricular activity for which they were rewarded by enjoyinga sense of achievement.

Acknowledgements—I am grateful to Dr. Joan Penzenstadler for giving meher consent to quote her letters and to Miss Jennifer Miller, Dr. Pen-zenstadler’s student, for letting me use her essay. I also wish to thank allthe students who contributed to the essay exchange.

(Received 22 April 1997)

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Boyle, E. R. (1993). EST or EGP: a question of priorities. System, 21, 79–85.Brookes, A., & Grundy, P. (1988). Activating the learner’s contribution in the

development of academic writing skills. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Academicwriting: process and Product, ELT Documents 129 (pp. 100–108). London:Modern Language Publications in association with the British Council.

Daoud, S. (1994a). Developing communicative competence in ESP classes.Tishreen University Journal, 5 (Special Issue), 129–45.

Daoud, S. (1994b). Three strategies for developing awareness of globalissues in ESP classes. In M. Abousenna (Ed.), The global age: issues inEnglish language education, Proceedings of the 13th National Symposiumon English Language Teaching (pp. 121–32). Cairo: CDELT, Ain ShamsUniversity.

Daoud, S. (1995). Feedback in the process of teaching and learning academicwriting in EFL/ESP contexts. Unpublished MA dissertation CELTE, Uni-versity of Warwick, UK.

Dornyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in the foreign language class-room. The Modern Language Journal, 78, 273–284.

Doushaq, M. H. (1986). An investigation into stylistic errors of Arab studentslearning English for academic purposes. English for Academic Purposes,5, 27–39.

Frederiksen, C. H., & Dominic, J. F. (1981). In C. H. Frederiksen & J. F.Dominic (Eds.), Writing: the nature, development and teaching of writtencommunication: Vol. 2, Writing: process, development and communication(pp. 1–20). Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.

Fullan, M. & Hargreaves, A. (1992). What's worth fighting for in your school?(2nd ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press in association with theOntario Public School Teachers’ Federation.

Gardner, R., & MacIntyre, P. (1990). An instrumental motivation in languagestudy: who says it isn’t effective? SSLA, 13, 57–72.

Gardner, R., & MacIntyre, P. (1993). A student’s contribution to secondlanguage learning. Part II: Affective variables. Language Teaching, 26, 1–11.

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Harvey, A. (1986). The role of motivational variables in ESP settings. In P.W. Peterson (Ed.), ESP in practice: models and challenges for teachers (pp.273–84). Washington, DC: USIA.

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use. In D. Graddol, L. Thompson & M. Byram (Eds.), Language andculture (pp. 84–97). Clevedon: BAAL and Multilingual Matters.

McNiff, J. (1990). Writing and the creation of educational knowledge. In P.Lomax (Ed.), Managing staff development in schools: an action researchapproach (pp. 52–60). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Nida, E. (1992). Sociolinguistic implications of academic writing. Languagein Society, 21, 477–485.

Oxford, R. (1990). Language learning strategies: what every teacher shouldknow. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle.

Raimes, A. (1983). Anguish as a second language? Remedies for compositionteachers. In A. Freedman, I. Pringle, & J. Yalden (Eds.), Learning to write:first language/second language (pp. 258–72). London: Longman.

Skehan, P. (1990). Individual differences in second language learning. SSLA,13, 275–298.

Stern, H. H. (1983). Fundamental concepts of language teaching. Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Vincent, S. (1990). Motivating the advanced learner in developing writingskills: a project. ELT Journal, 44, 272–278.

Weir, C. (1988). Academic writing—can we please all the people all thetime? In P. Robinson (Ed.), Academic writing: process and product, ELTDocuments 129 (pp. 17–34). London: Modern Language Publications inassociation with the British Council.

Widdowson, H. G. (1983). New starts and different kinds of failures. In A.Freedman, I. Pringle, & J. Yalden (Eds.), Learning to write: first language/second language (pp. 34–47). London: Longman.

Appendix A: Sample exchange questions

1. Questions From Syrian Students to Their AmericanCounterparts

1. What is your reaction when your government enforces Security Council’s resolutions whenthey pertain to some countries and not to others?

2. Why do you think AIDS is spreading at an alarming rate in your country?3. What do you feel when you hear the word ‘‘Arabs’’? Does your feeling differ when you hear

the word ‘‘Syrians’’?4. Are you for or against your government’s becoming the policeman of the world? Why?5. Is higher education available for all in your country as it is the case here? If not, why not?6. Would you like to visit Syria? Why?7. Would you like to emigrate from your country? Why/why not?8. Do you think that Palestinians should have the right to self-determination? Why/why not?9. Do you think that the threat of a nuclear war has ended with the falling apart of the Soviet

Union? Why/why not?10. How do you understand the term ‘‘marriage’’?

2. Questions From American Students to Their SyrianCounterparts

1. What is your first thought when the term ‘‘United States’’ is mentioned?2. Does your government help with the financial cost of college?


3. Is AIDS becoming a major disease in your country as it is in the U.S.?4. What are your opinions of American films?5. What are your views for and against homosexuals and why?6. Is it common for a woman to work and have a separate career in your country?7. Is it standard in your country to be able to attend college?8. At what age do children leave home in your country?9. What are your favourite sports and why?

10. What are your views on abortion vs. pro-life? Which do you agree with?

Appendix B: Two Question±answer Samples

A Syrian Answer to ``Is AIDS becoming a major disease in yourcountry as it is in the U.S.?'' by Maher Kan'aan, MD

AIDS is not a major health problem in Syria. There are some scattered cases and the affectedare foreign people or Syrians living abroad who have come home for a visit. To prevent thedisease from spreading, all foreign people who want to stay in Syria for a long time are testedon their entry. If the test is positive they are isolated and treated or sent back to their countryof origin.

The reasons that make AIDS so rare in Syria are our social habits and religious beliefs.Homosexuality and drug addiction, which are the major causes of AIDS, are very much lessspread here than in the U.S.A. or Western Europe. Having unlawful sexual relationship is alsoprohibited in Islam. These things guard us against this evil that threatens humanity.

An American Answer to ``Why do you think AIDS is spreading atan alarming rate in your country?'' by Christina Persons

There are a few reasons why I believe AIDS is spreading in the United States. The mainreason is the use of IV needles by drug users. Many Americans use drugs and inject them intotheir blood stream. These drug users do not throw away their dirty needles. They share themand infect each other with the virus.

Also many people engage in unprotected sex in America. People do not wear condoms andAIDS is transferred from one partner to another.

Americans need to learn about protecting themselves against AIDS. Unprotected sex is verycommon. Learning about unprotected sex and teaching others is going to help stop the spreadof AIDS. As far as IV drug users are concerned, most of them are beyond help. They are hardto reach with the AIDS message and most of them don’t care.

Appendix C: A Revised Syrian Answer to an AmericanQuestion

Question: What are your Opinions of American Films?

First draft. American films are dangerous arms, you (most Americans, especially Americangovernment) try to control our minds by several means, films are some of these means. Youput a lot of poison in the films, such as bad manners, your refuse habits and false ideas. Butwe are quite aware of your bad plans and we do not waste our expensive time in useless thingssuch as your films.

Teacher's comment. Dear Sadik:I was interested in reading your answer to this question. It is good that you have expressed

410 S. A. Daoud

your opinion frankly. However, you haven’t supported your argument with details in order tomake it convincing to your readers.

You need to give some reasons that make you believe that ‘‘American films are dangerousarms’’, your main idea, apparently. Suppose you wanted to say that some of these films areviolent, it would be more convincing if you gave some details as to how you think this couldaffect young viewers, for example.

Also, your argument will be more logical if you mention some positive characteristics aboutAmerican films before reaching your overall conclusion.

In many ways, American films reflect American culture. If you were born in the States, I’msure you’d think differently. In other words, one should be tolerant and open-minded regardingother cultures.

I’d like you to rewrite your answer after reflecting on my comments. I look forward to readingyour revised version.

Revised version. My opinion is that some American films are very good and amusing, but othersare booby traps for both Americans and non-Americans. For example, when they present amatter related to some place in the world, they often deform the truth. In this case Americanpeople will take a standpoint according to it without trying to find the truth. In addition to that,I am sorry to say that some American films depend on violence to attract the attention ofspectators... especially the young who will be influenced by them, and their minds will beaffected by these films.

In short, I would like to say that we must look deeply into the matters screened by moviesand not to be passive spectators.

Appendix D: An American Essay

My Life Across America by Jennifer Miller

Although I have lived only eighteen short years, I have lived all over the United States. I haveexperienced diverse life styles and numerous different types of people. Each geographicalsection of the U.S. I have lived in is like a separate entity, each with its own culture, traditions,and customs.

I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, August 4, 1974. I come from two very German families, theKutterers and the Millers, most of whom still live in St Louis and in Chicago, Illinois. Thereare only four members in my immediate family; my mother, my father, my older sister, andmyself. I don’t have any memories of living in St. Louis, but my family does go back to visit ourrelatives.

My dad’s company transferred him to a new position in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1977. Myfirst real childhood memories start there. I remember always being hot; the humidity was highin Kentucky. On an average day the humidity could be 89% and the temperature could be 80degrees, making for a hot, sticky, and oppressive day. I spent most of my time playing in ourbasement, where I would stay relatively cool. Kentucky, like the rest of the South, is prone totornadoes. I remember that when we would hear the tornado sirens, my mom would shuffle usinto the basement to wait out the storm. During the tornadoes the rain would be torrential, andmy mom would sit at the door in the basement that led outside. With a dustpan in her hand,she tried to scoop the water out of the basement.

We moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1980. I was six, but I went through a real ‘culture shock.’The physical environment of the two places are drastically different. Denver has a semi-aridclimate, and the elevation is 5,280 feet, which is why Denver is called the ‘Mile-high City.’ Atthat elevation, the air contains much less oxygen and is very thin. The weekend after we movedto Denver, my dad thought it would be good to go for a little road trip, rather than unpack. Sowe got in the car and drove to the top of Mt. Evans, with an elevation of 14,264 feet, making itthe highest paved road in the world. I don’t remember anything but the trip; by the time wegot to the top, my sister and I had passed out in the back seat of the car due to the lack ofoxygen.

My family would go hiking up in the mountains almost every weekend. On an average daywe would hike ten to twelve miles and the trails would have such a high elevation again that atthe end of the trail we would be higher than timber line—the level where trees don’t haveenough oxygen to grow. Several times my family got stuck above the timber line in an electrical


storm with nowhere to take cover and we had to run for our lives to get below the trees. Theweather in Colorado was always unpredictable.

After living in Denver for eight years, my dad’s company transferred him again, this time toVancouver, Washington. I really didn’t want to go and I had no idea what to expect. When myDad told me we were moving to Vancouver, I thought: British Columbia. When he saidWashington, I thought: District of Columbia. I had never heard of the Pacific Northwest and Icouldn’t stand Seattle’s pro football team, the Seahawks, so what reason did I have to be happyabout moving to Vancouver?

When we finally arrived in Vancouver I couldn’t believe how green everything was. InColorado, the landscape had always been brown because it rarely rained. The first winter wespent in Vancouver shocked me; it rained continuously for three months. I was also shockedto see how small the town was. Previously, I had lived only in large cities, and Vancouverseemed very rural. There was one main street in Hazel Dell, the suburb of Vancouver in whichI live, consisting of a few restaurants, a movie theater, and a supermarket.

Another strange feature I noticed after we moved was that there were strange little humpsdividing the lanes on all the roads. Whenever the car changes into another lane, the tires makenoise on the humps and the car shudders slightly. In Denver the lanes had been divided merelyby the lines painted on the surface of the road. When I finally asked someone, they told methat the bumps, also called ‘turtles,’ had reflectors on them so motorists could see the laneswhen it was dark and rainy.

Now I knew that Washington had turtles on the roads. My next discovery was of the activitycalled ‘cow-tipping’. ‘Cow-tipping’ occurs when a group of people who have nothing else to dogo into a field late at night and tip over sleeping cows. I thought it was a joke but very boredpeople from Vancouver and the surrounding rural communities actually do this as a form ofentertainment. I’m sure in every part of the United States the kids have their own differentversions of ‘cow-tipping’ activity.

Living all around the United States has helped me to learn about different habits of people,and how geographic features keep a group of people set in their own traditions and customs. Iknow from personal experience how enjoyable it is to discover different cultural communitieswithin the U.S., and how easily one can adapt to living in a different part of the country.

Appendix E: A Syrian Essay

Life and Work in The Children Hospital by Salah Deen Suleiman

The University Children Hospital in Damascus, where I practice as a post-graduate doctor, isa famous hospital. It consists of two buildings, the first for emergency and the second for theother departments. Students specializing in pediatrics have to live and work for three years inthis hospital. Life is very hard there and very interesting at the same time.

There are many difficulties in work conditions. Work starts at eight o’clock and ends at five.Then doctors must continue their work at night to late houres [sic]. This means that everydoctor has a night duty every other day, in addition to the day work. Friday is the week-end inSyria. We can have a week-end every other week only. In addition to that, the greatest dreamof doctors is to have a quiet night. This rarely happens, especially when one is on a night duty.One should be ready all the time. His telephone is often engaged.

Also, the relationship between doctors is not that ideal. Doctors who are in their second orthird year act as pay-masters when dealing with their juniors. The young must obey the orderswithout discussion.

Although life is hard at the Children Hospital, some of its aspects are interesting. We enjoydealing with children and seeing their smile when they get better. One forgets his hard workwhen he saves a child’s life or relieves him from his pain. We also get very good training underthe supervision of highly specialised professional pediatricians who are well known all over thecountry.

Life in the Children Hospital is not easy at all; however, it becomes interesting when doctorsfeel that their hard work has yielded good results. Learning from our experience is one thingwe are here for, but saving a child’s life is the most invaluable achievement of all. It is whatmakes life meaningful at such a huge hospital.

412 S. A. Daoud

Sada A. Daoud teaches at the ESP Centre, University of Damascus, Syria.She is currently doing her PhD at the University of Warwick, UK, on aChevening scholarship. She has published and presented papers on aca-demic writing, action research, and teacher development. She is also inter-ested in learner autonomy and global issues in ELT.