Conclusiones de la descripción de la identidad de los maestros de Bogotá

What writing strategies are most helpful for you in developing your writing skills?

The primary objective of this question was to reveal different motives that influenced the development of the respondents‘ writing skills. With regard to these, the responses of the interview group were recorded and read carefully and the following major motives were identified.

 Encouragement (from parents, family members, teachers, friends and classmates)  Personal efforts

 Practising writing  Effective teaching  Usefulness

 Confidence

The motivational factors identified above were found to influence the development of respondents‘ writing skills and they can be categorized into the major dimensions of motivation used by Shoaib and Dornyei (2004).

The first factor, encouragement from parents, family members, teachers, friends, and classmates belongs to Significant-Other-Related Dimension. The second motivational factor, personal efforts can be associated with Self-Concept-Related Dimension. The third and fourth factors, practising writing and Effective teaching belong to Goal-Oriented

Dimension and Educational-Context–Related Dimension respectively. Finally, the last

two Usefulness and Confidence fit into Instrumental Dimension, and Self-Concept-

Related Dimension respectively. Each of these will be discussed and illustrated in the

65 4.3.1.1 Encouragement

Encouragement was mentioned 14 times as the most important factor that contributed to

the development of the respondents‘ writing skills (by 7 high achievers and 7 low achievers). Most of these respondents disclosed that while they were in the elementary and high schools, they were greatly encouraged by parents, family members, teachers or friends to develop their writing skills. Of these, teachers were mentioned most frequently. For example, the following excerpts reflect the influence of significant others:

Family Members (4): I was encouraged to develop my writing skills by my brother while I was in lower grades. As a result, I used to read different books and tried to summarize what I had read so as to practise writing (high achiever).

Parents (3): I started writing letters when I was a grade 7 student because my mother advised me to develop my writing skills for it was useful for my future high school and university studies (high achiever). I was encouraged by my father to develop my writing skills while I was in the lower grades (high achiever).

Teachers (6): I was encouraged to develop my writing skills by my high school teachers, but I did not exert any effort to do so (low achievers). Friends (1): I was informed about the importance of writing by my friend (low

achiever).

These quotes show that motivated students tend to use different writing strategies to achieve their writing goals (i.e., letter writing, reading different materials, and summarizing). Representing external factors, significant others were found to be the sources of students‘ motivation and this finding is in line with the social constructive view of motivation (Williams and Burden, 1997). In addition to this, the responses of the high and the low achievers further revealed that the low achievers lack the determination to exert sufficient effort in order to develop their writing skills: ―I was encouraged to

66

develop my writing skills by my high school teachers, but I did not exert any effort to do so‖ (low achievers), whereas the high achievers were committed to continue developing their writing skills using different writing strategies (see the first statement above under family members, as an example). The other interesting finding that can be inferred from these responses was that the high achievers reported to have begun to become aware of the importance of writing skills while they were in the lower grades. This further testifies to the importance of the significant others in language learning as confirmed by several researchers such as Lunt (2000), Williams and Burden (1997).

4.3.1.2 Personal effort

This motivational factor was mentioned 16 times by 12 high achievers and 4 low achievers during the interview session. These respondents believed that the development of writing skills is mainly attributed to personal effort. But the low achievers were less committed to exert effort to achieve their goal. Unlike these, the high achievers were found to have exerted the required effort for developing their writing skills. This difference in the amount of effort exerted by the two groups is evident in the following statements:

Personal effort is needed to develop one‘s writing ability (high achievers). I did not make conscious efforts to develop my writing skills while I was in lower grades; I have just begun to think about the development of my writing skills lately at the university (low achiever).

The response of the higher achiever reflects his awareness and strong belief in making necessary efforts to develop his writing competence.

67 4.3.1.3 Practising writing

This factor was mentioned 25 times (by 12 high achievers and 13 low achievers). Although practising writing was mentioned to be useful to develop writing skills by both groups of respondents, the low achiever group was found to be inconsistent with it. They exhibited less commitment to purposefully practising writing than did the high achievers. This is evident from the responses below:

Practising writing purposefully is the best strategy that helps me to develop my writing skills (high achiever).

I believe that practising is good to develop one‘s writing skills, but I do not practice purposefully to develop my writing skills (low achiever). I practised writing adequately, for I had been advised by my father that writing is very important (high achiever).

4.3.1.4 Effective teaching

Effective teaching was mentioned 3 times (by 2 high achievers and 1 low achiever). This factor is regarded as influential in engaging students‘ motivation to writing activities. It is generally agreed that if the students are provided with writing activities that are meaningful and interesting to them, they will be happy and encouraged in performing the writing tasks given to them and helped to understand and value the role of effective teaching in enhancing their skills. This is evident in the following statements:

Effective teaching is crucial to help students develop their writing skills and teaching writing should be stressed in the high school like many private schools do (high achievers).

Effective techniques of writing should be taught (low achiever).

While I was in high school, one teacher taught me writing very well, his ways of teaching and the activities he gave us made me love writing (low achiever).

68

The statements also illustrate that the high and the low achievers equally value the role and significance of effective teaching in developing their writing competence

4.3.1.5 Usefulness

This factor was mentioned two times by the high and the low achievers:

Since English is an international language, I can exchange information in writing with people from different parts of the world (high achiever). I did not know the importance of writing while I was in the lower grades (low achiever).

The response of the low achiever indicates that he was not aware of the usefulness of writing until he joined the university, where the students are required to produce essays in their sophomore classes. This instance substantiates the dynamic nature of motivation which was discussed by Shoaib and Dornyei (2004) and indicates that motivation changes over time and students, as they mature, tend to develop an interest in a particular activity when they realize its use and importance to their achievement. The response of the high achiever indicates that his awareness about English as a global medium of communication, urges him to become committed towards developing his writing skills. This conforms to ‗International posture‘ identified as one of the motivational variables in learning English in an EFL context by Kormos and Csizer (2008).

4.3.1.6 Confidence

This motivational variable was mentioned 3 times. But surprisingly, it was mentioned only by the high achievers.

I am more confident in my writing ability than in my speaking ability (high achievers).

69

I always feel at ease when I write something (high achievers).

By and large, the above six factors were mentioned by the respondents as the main sources of motivation that initiated and sustained their efforts towards developing their writing skills.