A system of exercises to develop writing abilities in 7th grade at Ricardo Zenón Secondary School

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(2) Dedication I would like to dedicate this work to my parents, teachers and friends ..

(3) Acknowlegements -I would like to thanks the following people, whom I will be grateful forever. -My advisor who has been so patient and who has done everything for this paper. -My parents for their comprehension and support throughout all these years. -My friends for being so unconditional and helpful. -To my dear teacher Gilberto Cespedes Pedraza because his unconditional suppo rt ..

(4) INDEX Abstract..................................................................................................................... .................1 Resumen......................................................................................... ...........................................2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3 1.Theoretical Considerations .................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Antecedents. ................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Approaches to the teaching of writing. ............................................................................ 9 1.3 The writing skill .............................................................................................................. 10 1.3.1 Types of writing ........................................................................................................... 11 1.4 The teaching of writing in English in Secondary Schools. ............................................. 12 2. Needs Assessment ............................................................................................................. 14 2.1 Population and sample .................................................................................................. 14 2.2 Conceptualization of the dependent variable ................................................................ 14 2.3 Dimensions and indicators ............................................................................................ 14 2.4 Methods used to determine students’ needs. ................................................................ 15 2.5. Analysis of the results before the implementation of the proposal. ............................... 16 2.6 Regularities of the diagnosis ......................................................................................... 18 3. Proposal of the system of exercises ................................................................................... 19 3.1 Characteristics of the proposal ...................................................................................... 19 3.2 Proposal ........................................................................................................................ 19 3.2.1 Evaluation of the proposal by the specialists .............................................................. 26 3.3 Analysis of the results after the implementation of the proposal.................................... 27 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 28 Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 29 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 30.

(5) Abstract This major paper deals with the teaching of the writing skill in seventh grade, particulary writing as instrumental skill. A distinction is made between the concepts writing as an end, that is, writing for communicative purposes, and writing as a means, that is, writing as an instrumental skill for the reinforcement of the oral skills through the written practice of grammar, vocabulary, phoneme-grapheme relationship, etc. Writing as an instrumental skill highlighted as a preparatory step in order to move on to communicative writing in learning English as a foreign language. The paper presents the theoretical foundations that account for the importance of instrumental writing (Chapter 1),the assessement of student’s needs in terms of the development of this skill and of the teacher’s needs in terms of preparation for the teaching of this skill (Chapter 2), and a set of instrumental writing activities aimed and contributing to the student’s development of this skill (Chapter3).. 1.

(6) Resumen Este trabajo trata sobre la enseñanza de la escritura en séptimo grado, particularmente la escritura como una habilidad instrumental. Una distinción hecha entre el concepto de escritura como un fin, que es, escritura para propósitos comunicativos, y escritura como un medio, que es , escritura como una habilidad instrumental para el reforzamiento de la habilidad oral a través de la práctica escrita de gramática, vocabulario y de la relación fonema-grafema etc. La escritura como habilidad instrumental es destacada como un paso preparatorio a fin de continuar con la escritura comunicativa en la enseñanza del inglés como idioma extranjero. Este trabajo presenta las fundaciones teóricas que cuentan para la importancia de la escritura instrumental (Capítulo 1). La valoración de las necesidades de los estudiantes en términos de el desarrollo de esta habilidad y de las necesidades de los profesores en términos de preparación para la enseñanza de esta habilidad (Capítulo 2). Y un set de actividades de escritura con el objetivo de contribuir al desarrollo de esta habilidad (Capítulo 3).. 2.

(7) Introduction The programs of the Revolution have been increasing in an amazing way and our internationalist cooperation has reached a stage that could not have been imagined before. Nowadays, it is more important for the student’s formation in high school to contribute to the political ideological and intellectual preparation and stimulate their interest through the development of knowledge skills and habits related to the learning of a foreign language which provides its use for a socio- cultural development. Cuba develops intense cooperation programs with the third world countries in the field of medicine, sports, education, science and technology. These programs require the mastery of foreign languages. Among the foreign languages which are taught in Cuba, English has a high priority because it is the language of written information and it is studied as a foreign language in most of the countries of the world. English permits Cuban specialists to interact with people from the countries where they are giving their help .Because of this reality learning English is a necessity that should be covered in the secondary school level. The teaching of this language is composed by four components listening, speaking, writing and reading which are taught in different ways keeping in mind that all should function as a whole in order to have students learn the language and be competent users of it. Teachers claim that the component with the highest degree of difficulty in the learning of a foreign language is writing, so because it is the skill less frequently used in spite of the fact that it helps reinforce the language items that the students learn orally . Through class observations, interviews and checking of notebooks of seventh grade students from the secondary school Ricardo Zenón the author of this paper confirmed that:  Students enjoy more speaking and listening activities rather than writing activities .  Accuracy problems, difficulties in the use of mechanics, punctuation, spelling and organization of ideas have hindered the right use of writing skills as the bases for communicative writing.  Teacher’s rationale is limited with respect to activities or procedures in the writing. lesson, so this component receives an inadequate didactic treatment.  The didactic materials do not provide enough writing activities.. 3.

(8) The problematic situation previously described call the attention to the author with the necessity to look for ways that might contribute to a better didactic treatment of the writing skill in the teaching of English in secondary school.. The above problematic situation led the author to the following scientific problem:. How can the writing objectives in the English subject in seventh grade particularly those related with instrumental writing be achieved?. Object of study: The teaching learning process of English in seventh grade students at “Ricardo Zenón” Secondary School.. Field of action: The development of instrumental writing skills in the English subject in seventh grade students at “Ricardo Zenón” Secondary School.. General objectives: To propose a system of activities for the treatment of instrumental writing skills in seventh grade.. Scientific Questions: 1. What are the theoretical precepts that account for the teaching of writing with an instrumental focus in seventh grade? 2. What is the current state of the students’ level of development using the writing skill, especially with instrumental purpose? 3. What writing activities can be used. to improve the students’ level of development in. the writing skill? 4. What are the specialist‘s criteria in relation to the proposal? 5. What are the results obtained after the implementation of the proposal?. 4.

(9) Scientific Tasks:. 1. Establishment of the theoretical precepts that account for the teaching of writing with an instrumental focus in seventh grade. 2. Diagnosis of the current state of the students on the writing skills. 3. Proposal of a set of activities to improve the student level of development in the writing skill. 4. Evaluation of the proposal by the specialist’s criteria. 5. Analysis of the results of the partial implementation.. Variables of investigation: Dependent variable: The development of instrumental writing skills in the English subject in seventh grade students at “Ricardo Zenón” Secondary School.. Independent variable: a system of activities for the treatment of instrumental writing skills in seventh grade.. Methods:. Theoretical:  Analytic-synthetic and inductive-deductive: they were used to analyse and process the obtained information and to make generalizations on the main aspects considered in this paper. . Historical-logical: it was used to analyse different methods, approaches in the treatment of the writing skill. In the teaching learning process.. Empirical:  Class observations: To assess the teachers’ knowledge about the teaching of writing and how they implement writing activities in class. Interview: To know the teacher’s opinion about the present state of the students’ development in writing. 5.

(10)  Pedagogical test: to measure the level of proficiency of the students in the writing ability.  Document analysis: to analyse the 7 th grade program and the students’ workbooks to know what is officially stated with respect to the writing ability.  Specialists’ criteria: to evaluate the quality of the proposal.  Pre –experiment: to assert the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposal in practice. Mathematical analysis:. . Percentage analysis: to process the information obtained from the application of the instruments before and after the implementation of the proposal.. Population and Sample:. This term paper was carried out at “Ricardo Zenón” Secondary School in Santa Clara. Out of the whole population of 180 students from 7th grade, an intentional sample of 30 students from group 7th 2, 16 females and 14 males, was taken to carry out this scientific work.. In the sample the following aspects were considered: • The average age ranges between 12 and 13 years. •. Most of the students live in Sta Clara.. • There are significant differences in the level of knowledge and abilities verified in the psycho pedagogic diagnosis carried out by the teacher and in the academic results obtained so far. •. Attendance and punctuality to class are good.. Practical contribution: This paper proposes a system of activities for the treatment of instrumental writing skills in seventh grade. According to the regularities evidenced in the analysis of the results, the author designed this system of activities aiming at improving instrumental writing in seventh grade students at “Ricardo Zenón” Secondary School and at. stimulating the teaching. learning process of English. 6.

(11) 1. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 1.1 Antecedents. Writing, as one of the communicative skills, has been neglected, compared with the other skills—speaking, listening, and reading. This can be traced back to the time of Plato in which he explains that ¨speaking is superior to writing because speaking allows one to grasp the truth¨( Raimes198:141). In contrast, writing, as a communicative activity, only dictates, edits, and revises spoken words, but does not convey truth. In writing, words are manipulated in the sense that it leaves room for the reader to have their own interpretations. What must be stressed here is that writing, compared to speaking, is believed to be an unimportant activity, and that this belief has not totally disappeared even today.. The primacy of speaking has influenced linguistics and ESL studies and has come to overshadow the importance of writing.. According to Raimes(1983), the audiolingual method in the 1945s influenced a lot in second language learning .This method laid stress on developing listening and speaking ski lls by listening to utterances and repeating them as fast as native speakers uttered them. This approach holds that people normally learn their languages in a spoken form rather than in written form; therefore, quite naturally, listening and speaking were placed before reading and writing. To the extent that this concept is tenable, it is reasonable to assume that the concept underlying this approach is that speech was dominant, and writing was regarded as a secondary agenda and not a goal of language learn ing.. Pedagogy too has tended to the same belief, even to the extent of sometimes supposing that communicative language teaching involved only the development of the ability to converse — as if written language was no really authentic communication.. Without a doubt, the teaching of speaking was dominant before the 1960s, and it still affects the view of writing in English learning.. 7.

(12) From the historical standpoint of writing, the 1960s have been considered a revolutionary age because writing began to be one of the objects of researchers, and teacher’s attention. Writing was conceived as a means of recording students’ speech and a support for the learning of speech because the technology for sound recording had not fully developed before the 1960s. During the 1960s, however, with the growth of ESL, writing got much more attention because it was necessary to become familiar with the form of writing and how to write ideas beyond the word and sentence level. Furthermore, composition studies were developed in the U.S.A. and the audio-lingual approach was fallen at that time.. The tendency to neglect writing in ESL has continued even after the communicative approach was developed. Since the communicative approach was introduced into the field of ESL, communicative language teaching has been praised for its emphasis on fluency rather than on accuracy. Yet, at the same time, it gathered much criticism because the systematic learning tended to be underestimated.. The importance of writing has not been acknowledged becaus e the communicative approach focuses much more on speaking and listening. Although Littlewood(1981), in his book Communicative Language Teaching, does not entirely ignore communication through written mode, he identifies learners as speakers and describes communication mostly as oral activities such as discussions and role-playing activities.. With respect to the writing skill he considers writing e-mails as meaningful and motivational activities for students to engage in and learn writing.. In conclusion, even though writing is believed to be an important communicative activity, writing courses based on the communication approach have not been systematically developed as a theory or a method of ESL writing, and, regrettably, the idea of writing as an important communicative skill that has not been put into practice as much as it should have. The reason for this may be because there is no consensus on the method for teaching writing.. 8.

(13) 1.2 Approaches to the teaching of writing. Three approaches in writing emerged from composition studies: . Controlled composition.. . The paragraph pattern approach.. . The process approach.. In controlled composition, writing is regarded essentially as reinforcement for oral habits and as a secondary concern. Accuracy is the primary concern, and students are expected to adjust to the systematic process of English writing. This approach is also known as product or grammar based (Richards, 1990).As he states; the overall emphasis is on the form of the finished product that the learner produces rather than on the process of writing.. The paragraph pattern approach holds that the arrangement of sentences is the key element in effective writing, which means that following particular patterns is essential. These two approaches instruct certain formulas of writing, presupposing that adopting right ways of writing makes students good writers. Contrasting with these two approaches, in the process approach, the content of writing is important. Teachers have proposed methodologies which emphasize on the creativity and unpredictability of writing. They have been supported by a significant body of research which has examinated what happens while writers write, and there by contributing to the understanding of the processes of writing itself. The process approach has a widespread influence on the teaching of writing throughout the English speaking world.. The measurement of successful writing depends on whether one can convey the message effectively through writing. However, whether this approach improves students’ writing ability has not been conclusively proved. This confusion over different methodologies for teaching writing might make it hard for teachers to engage in writing classes.. The reason that teaching writing has not been actively engaged in English education is due to the primacy of speaking, limiting communication to oral activity, and having no consensus on teaching methodology. 9.

(14) Institutions, researchers, and teachers must work in harmony to provide students with appropriate opportunities to learn writing as a part of a holistic English learning experience because speaking and writing are complementary communication activities .. 1.3 The writing skill . Writing is a skill that has been neglected in the secondary school .That is why students are not motivated; however, with the teaching of writing other language skills can be reinforced. For example, students learn phoneme-grapheme relationship .Once they have a minimum mastery of it, it will be easy for them to write and learn new words and structures. In addition, it is so important to give a careful treatment to the teaching of writing in secondary school, because this skill is not achieved if it is not treated systematically. With respect to this Tricia Hedge(1996) in her book Writing provides a set of purposes aiming at teaching writing which includes the following points:. . For pedagogical purposes, to help students learn the system of tne language. . For assessment purposes, as a way of establishing learners’ proficiency or progress. . For real purposes, as a goal of learning to meet students’ needs.. . Etc…. Out of the purposes listed above, the first purpose is considered as an important aid to learning since it consolidates the learning of new structures, vocabulary and helps stu dents remember new items of language. This also allows them to see how they are progressing. For this purpose a lot of crafting or subskills would be necessarily included when dealing with classroom writing activities. These are:. . Getting the grammar right. . Having a range of vocabulary. . Punctuating meaningfully. . Spellig accurately. . Using a range of sentence structures, lay outs , etc .. 10.

(15) Nowadays, with the adoption of communicative language teaching, writing is considered and taught not only as a means but as an end as well. That is writing is not only used to reinforce the form of he language, but also as an end in the expression of communicative meanings .. 1.3.1 Types of writing. . Writing as a means: Writing is widely used within foreign language courses as a convenient means for engaging with aspects of language rather than writing itself. But writing as a means is focused on aspects of the written form of the language.For Antich(1975) writing as a means is synonymous of instrumental writing.. . Writing as an end: Here the emphasis is made on content and organization; tasks invite learners to express themselves using their own words, state a purpose for writing and often specify an audience.. Communicative Language Teaching does not disregard the usefulness of wri ting as a means, but considers its views towards writing as an end, that is as a vehicle for the expression of meanings through the written mode. This entails the fluent, coherent and free use of the forms of language, although if we want our students reac h this level, they need to go first through the controlled phase that is instrumental writing.. Encouraging students to use language accurately in the written mode helps them also produce whole pieces of communication, but disregarding context, audience an d purpose will be difficult to know what or how to write. Teachers should propitiate opportunities in which students use an appropriate context and have an audience in mind, that is, ident ify who their readers are to be, and try to make every piece of writing fulfil some kind of communicative purpose, either real or simulated.. When students understand the context and the audience, they are much likely to write effectively, accurately and appropriately.. All in all, a successful learner has to know what to write in a given context, what the reader expects the text will look like in a given context, and which parts of the language system 11.

(16) are relevant to the particular writing task in hand according to the class objective, then students might have the chance of writing something that will be effective.. 1.4 The teaching of writing in English in Secondary Schools. The achievements in the Cuban educational system facilitate the learning of the English language. It is a reality that the syllabuses designed for the teaching of the English language are aimed at the development of communicative skills in the students, but most of the teachers of English centre their attention on oral communication as a priority and disregard the writing skill. In addition the teaching materials lack appropriate activities for the development of language skills particularly writing skills.. What should be done to achieve communicative competence in our students from secondary schools nowadays?. According to Dr A. Camacho (2004) the English discipline in the secondary school should aim at the students’development of an elementary level of communicative competence due to the terminal character of this level. On the basis of this elemental level, students should be able to:. 1. Produce oral and written discourse with interactive purposes . 2. Have frequent strategic competence to compensate for the lack of lexico grammatical resources. 3. Have a certain control of the language system, emphasising on the simple form of the verb, the establishment of the phoneme –grapheme correspondence, and an intelligible pronunciation. 4. Have an understanding capacity higher than the the productive capacity, making the students understand the essence of texts and contents which are related to the areas of the curriculum.. 12.

(17) For the teaching of writing in 7th grade students should be able to: 1. Establish phoneme –grapheme relationships. 2. Plan what they are going to write. 3. Write answers to questions in class. 4. Write notes, postcards, e-mails, invitations, etc, following a model.. It is our concern through this paper to restate what Dr A.Camacho considers important with respect to pay a special attention given to phoneme –grapheme relationships, which can be achieved fundamentally through systematic realization of t he following activities:. 1. Presentation of communicative functions or grammatical aspects both orally and in writing.. 2. Looking at regularities between sounds and letters as part of the pronunciation activities.. 3. Taking dictation from the teachers and from other students.. 4. Realization of grammar and vocabulary and written exercises .. 5. Checking students´work including their notebooks, by the teacher an by their peers. Self-correction should be stimulated.. 13.

(18) 2. Needs Assessment 2.1 Population and sample . Of the whole population of seventh grade the author took a sample of 30 students who belong to the group seventh 3 .The students range between 12 and 13 years old they possess significant differences in their level of knowledge and abilities. They have good attitude in class and attendance too. This group was selected by the author because he has been working with it throughout this course. This group possesses different student’s learning levels because 15 students have high learning level, 10 students have me dium level and 5 have low level. This sample was selected in order to know the difficulties in writing and to look for a solution throughout instrumental writing.. 2.2 Conceptualization of the dependent variable. The dependent variable stated in this work is the development of instrumental writing skills in the English subject in seventh grade students which is enriched in the theoretical precepts and considered of a great importance since once the students have a minimum mastery of it , it will be easy for them to write and learn new words and structures .So it is essential to give a careful treatment to the teaching of writing in secondary school, because this skill is not achieved and treated systematically.. 2.3 Dimensions and indicators. In order to assess the needs, the following dimensions with their indicators are established:. 1. Guidelines for the teaching of the writing skill. •. Objectives and methodological guidelines for the teaching of writing .. •. Correspondence between the contents presented in writing and the students’ needs.. •. Possibilities the teaching materials offer for the development of writing as instrumental. skill.. 2. Present state of development of the writing skill in the students . •. Amount of exercises devoted to developing the writing skill. 14.

(19) •. Teacher’s level of preparation for the adequate work with this skill.. •. Amount of exercises included as independent study.. 3. Students’ outcomes in writing. •. Students’ motivation .. •. Establishment of the phoneme grapheme relationship.. •. Students’ accuracy with respect to the spelling of particular vocabulary items and. grammatical patterns.. 2.4 Methods used to determine students’ needs. Analysis of documents: It was used to analyze the 7th grade program and the students’ workbooks to know what is officially stated with respect to the writing ability.. Class observations: Some classes were observed in order to corroborate the teacher’s level of preparation for an effective work with the writing skill in class and the students’ behavior towards it.. Interview:. It was applied to teachers to compile information in order to know their. opinions about their methodological conception and the content of the teaching materials for the treatment of this skill.. Pedagogical test: Students were given a test in order to measure the level of proficiency of the students in the writing ability.. Guide for the specialists’ criteria of the proposal : The proposal was submitted to evaluate the quality of the proposal.. Pre – experiment: it was applied to a sample of 30 students who belong to the grou p seventh 3 from “ Ricardo Zenón” Secondary School to assert the effectiveness of the proposal in practice.. 15.

(20) 2.5. Analysis of the results before the implementation of the proposal. A careful analysis of all the teaching materials was taken into consideration including also the syllabus and the methodological guidelines (Annex 1).. Writing exercises are included among the activities planned in the video lesson and in the workbook, but they do not meet the students’ needs. In relation to the methodological conception and the contents of the teaching materials for the treatment of this skill the author considers that the writing activities in the seventh grade textbook are too difficult for the students of this level. They need to be adapted and adjusted to the students ’ need. For these reasons, teachers need to have creativity, imagination and preparation in order to adapt these activities. The quality and the quantity of the exercises is therefore, aff ected, because they are not adjusted to the current demand for the development of the teaching learning process of the English language, therefore motivation towards this skill is considerably affected.. The interview applied to teachers also showed that the exercises designed in the soft wares are not enough to develop the students’ writing skill, in the video lessons there are no written exercises aiming at developing phoneme-grapheme relationship, practicing grammar and using appropriate vocabulary acc ording to the content presented. The methodological guidelines do not give a precise information about how to work with this skill. Writing as an instrumental skill is not considered.. In the syllabus there is reference to the writing skill in each unit presented, but in a very general way. The students are asked to write simple messages but the necess ary “crafting skills” are not given an adequate treatment.. In order to analyze the present state of development of the writing skill in the students the author applied a diagnostic test (Annex 2).. The test consisted of a dictation using words and grammar aspects the students are familiar with. This confirmed a great level of difficulty they have with respect to the spelling of words and their appropriate rules. This shows that this aspect is not regularly worked out in class. 16.

(21) The teachers were interviewed in order to know their opinion about the students’ development in the writing skill (see Annex 3).. The teachers confirm that the students have difficulties when they do different writing activities, for example they have problems in the establishment of the phoneme grapheme relationship and in the use of the vocabulary and grammatical patterns presented in some units. Teachers give priority to the oral skill since its main objective is to achieve oral fluency. No opportunity is given to adapt the writing activities, share ideas among the students when writing and correct the text to the whole class on the bo ard because time is limited.. Through class observations some aspects related to the teachers’ performance in the different stages of the class were considered to determine the teacher’s level of preparation for the adequate work with this skill (see Annex 4 ).. Four teachers of 7th grade were observed. It could be observed that that only two teachers oriented the activities properly and worked in favor of the activation of the students ‘previous knowledge, and only one prepared the students in advance for the writing task. In general they did not include writing exercises in all the lessons and they only devoted their classes mostly to oral communication. Time was limited. to teach. grammatical or vocabulary aspects, they used exercises with a communicative approach without centering their attention on aspects of writing, the students’ performance in class when they were involved in writing exercises was not good because they did not have necessary tools to write in English , and the exercises did not contribute to the students’ development of writing skills because they were aimed at developing fluency in writing without first going through the stage of accuracy, besides that at the moment of checking written assignments from previous classes ,the teacher checked them only orally without considering the mistakes they made while reading the assignment. That clearly showed that the students did not feel motivated for the learning of writing because it was not taught systematically in classes.. 17.

(22) 2.6 Regularities of the diagnosis: •. There are writing activities in the student’s workbook but they do not adapt to the. characteristics, aspirations, necessities and interests of the age of the students, neither they have a communicative purpose.. •. The exercises do not contribute to the students’ development of writing skills because. they are aimed at developing fluency in writing without first going through the stage of accuracy .. •. It can be asserted that the students have serious spelling problems due to the fact that. they are not aware of the phoneme - grapheme relationship in English. They spell English words like in Spanish. They also have lots of problems writing the grammatical patterns and the vocabulary items, that is why the student’s motivation concerning writing activities is very low.. 18.

(23) 3. Proposal of the system of exercises. 3.1 Characteristics of the proposal . According to the basis of the theoretical position reflected in this paper and considering the regularities evidenced in the analysis of the results of the diagnostic techniq ues used and the suggestions given by the specialists in the proposal, the author decided to work with the first five units of the course. In every unit, some exercises related to vocabulary, grammar and establishment of grapheme phoneme relationships wer e included. In some units exercises using a set of questions were also included as a guide to help students write a short description based on a picture. All these exercises are based on the students’ needs. The proposal consists of a series of instrumental exercises aiming at developing accuracy in the students in such a way that they may be in a better position in the writing skill.They are conceived as a system, since they go from the general to particular,from simple to complex,they are also integrative,because the exercises relate new content to previous ones, and are closely related. This way the system maintains itself united.. 3.2 Proposal Unit 1.Hello.What is your name? Objective. To fill out simple texts providing personal information.. 1. Imagine that it is your first day at school and you should be registered with the secretary. Complete the following dialogue using the appropriate expressions in each case.. A -Student B -Secretary. A-Good morning B- Good morning. What is your name? 19.

(24) A ----------------------------------B. Where do you live? A. -----------------------------------What is your mother’s name? A. ---------------------------------What is your phone number? A.-------------------------B. What is your nationality? A.------------------------------B Thank you and welcome to our school.. 2. Greet your new classmate and complete the following conversation about yourself and other students.. A.Lestter B.Jim. A. Good morning Jim. B. Good morning Lestter, by the way, Jim where are you from? A. I’m from ______________________ . B. Lestter this is my new friend, _______. name is Maikel and he is from Spain he. speaks_________ . Ok Lestter, good bye. A. See you later.. 3. Your classmate does not understand the professor of English very well , you frequently help people in need. The teacher assigned to translate the following dialogue in English. Be ready to give a hand to your partner in class.. A. Buenos días. B Buenos días. A ¿Cómo estás? B Muy bien gracias. A. ¿Cuál es tu nombre? 20.

(25) B. John. A. ¿Qué edad tienes? B. 13 años. A. ¿De dónde eres? B. Soy de Santiago de Cuba. A. Bueno, te veo después. B. Adiós.. Unit 2. What is your town like?. Objective: to practice writing a paragraph using adjectives to describe places.. Activity 1. •. Close your eyes for a while and think of a place that you like very much (the place you. are thinking of is very common for you to visit on weekends). Write what there is in that place and why you like it. Read it to the whole class and have your classmates guess what place it is. •. Think about common places there are in your town and write about one of them.. Unit .3 What is your house like? Objective: To practice writing words associated with parts of a house and planning writing a descriptive paragraph in a logical order.. 21.

(26) Activity 1: •. The following words are part of a game from your computer. You need to complete the. blank spaces in order to guess what places and objects have been described in the picture. Complete them and check them with your partners.. s__f__ r__ __k__n__ch__ __ r s p__c t__r__ l__m__ ba__ __r__ __m k__t__ __e__ b__c__y__rd r__str__ __m c__i__ingf__ __ a__mc__a__rs. •. The objects you completed are presented again in your computer bu t they are not. placed in the correct room. Label them in the correct picture.. •. Have students examine the picture again and complete the following descriptive. paragraph.. Mary lives in a very nice room. In her room, there is a ———, a ———, and a ———. There are also several———. There are no ———, but Mary loves her room. She wants to get a ——— for her wall and a ——— for the desk this afternoon when she goes shopping.. •. Have students compare Mary’s room to theirs and write how similar or different they. are.. •. Share your paragraph with your partner and read it to the whole class. 22.

(27) Activity 2: Objective: to write a letter describing someone’s house using a set of questions. •. Have students examine a picture and use a set of questions as a guide to write a short. description of one part of the house.. The questions below are used as guide lines:. 1. Is it a nice room?. 2. What objects are there in the room?. 3. What do you like about the room?. 4. Do you have a room like this one?. •. Write about the room from the picture using your notes.. •. Now describe your room in a few sentences.. 23.

(28) Activity 3 Objective: To practice writing words associated with parts of the house through writing activities.. •. The teacher asks the students to make a list of objects that belong to their houses.. •. Then he /she checks their lists and asks some students to write the words on the blackboard.. •. Time is devoted to check grapheme –morpheme relationship.. •. Have students use the words from the list and locate them in a house plan.. •. The students describe in writing about their favorite room of the house .. Unit 4. What is Mum doing? Objective: to write simple descriptions in a paragraph. including the main vocabulary. areas related to family members providing information about things they are doing.. Activity 1 •. Identify the relationship among the members of the following family. Samantha is my uncle’s wife. She is my _________ Lestter is my Father’s brother. He is my _________ Bobby is my aunt’s husband ,he is Grandma’s __________ Jessica and Liss are my uncle’s children. They are my ________. •. How many members are there in your family?. .. Write about it and note down their relationships.. 24.

(29) Activity 2. You are having a good time with your family at a camping site. Today you decide to send a postcard to your friend in which you tell him where you are, where you are staying and what each member of your family is doing at the moment you are writing.. Unit .5 What’s your friend doing? Objective: to make notes out of a text and then elaborate them in a text of their own paying special attention on grammar and sentence structure in writing.. Exercise: •. Explain students they are going to have a kind of dictation which includes activities. people are doing. •. Tell them to listen to the text as the teacher reads it to get the general idea, but not to. write anything. •. Read the text a second time and ask students to listen and take notes.. •. Ask students to work in pairs, putting their notes together to create a text. Set a time. limit for this. •. Let students hear the text a final time to revise their text.. •. Give out the original text and let students compare their own version with it.. •. Have students write a similar text describing what they think people at home are doing. at the moment of writing.. 25.

(30) 3.2.1 Evaluation of the proposal by the specialists After considering the current state of the students with respect to the level of development they have in the writing skill, a system of exercises was proposed and submitted to be evaluated so as to put it into practice. A guide (see Annex 5) was given to five specialists including teachers from “Miguel de Cervantes” language school and from “Ricardo Zenón “ high School. A chart summarizes their personal profiles (annex 6).. In the analysis made by the specialists all of them agreed that the proposal was designed in correspondence with the objectives of the grade because the only way to fix phoneme – grapheme relationships is fundamentally through systematic realization of exercises in class so as to have students recognize and look at the regularities between sounds and letters as part of pronunciation, reading and writing activities. They also considered that the exercises provided a relaxing, friendly and cooperative classroom atmosphere that allowed the students to do away with their fear when writing .On the whole the proposal contributed to increase the students’ motivation toward this skill. No specialists pointed out negative aspects. However, they made suggestions for the improvement of the proposal such as:. •. The exercises should be organized within units according to the contents presented.. •. The exercises should include some essential troublesome counterparts the students. may find difficult when contrasting English and Spanish graphemes.. Taking into account the above suggestions, the proposal has been improved.. 26.

(31) 3.3 Analysis of the results after the implementation of the proposal The development of the investigation required the application of another pedagogical test after the implementation of the proposal, which was aimed at measuring the level of proficiency of the students concerning the development of the writing skill. (See Annex 7). A set of uncompleted sentences were given to have the students use their own ideas. From this test the author obtained the following results. The author confirmed after applying the proposal, the students had a considerable advance in the establishment of the phoneme grapheme relationship. 25 students (83,3) percent answered very well and only 5 students (16,6) percent had difficulties in this aspect. The students’ accuracy in spelling vocabulary items and their mastery in writing different grammatical patterns were also took in consideration. The following results were obtained 23 students( 76,6) percent answered,4 students (13,3 )percent did not answer some of the items and only 3 students (10 )percent could not do it.. The author considers that with a systematic work in the treatment of the instrumental writing in classes the students would be able to do the writing exercises easier, because they can develop a certain level of communicative competence that allows them to attain the objectives of the grade.. Apart from the application of the pedagogical test, some class observations were carried out in order to assert students’ behaviour in the writing classes. As a result of them, there was an outstanding progress in comparison with previous observations carried out before the application of the proposal. Students enjoy working in groups and pairs, so it makes them easier to correct themselves while working together.. 27.

(32) Conclusions 1. The theoretical and methodological foundations stated about writing were considered relevant when designing the proposal.. 2. The students of the sample presented a poor development in relation to the writing skill due to the fact that this skill is almost neglected in secondary school, teaching materials and official documents such as the syllabus and the methodological guidelines do not approach this skill properly and do not provide exercises according to student’s needs. This brings about that the students’ level of develop ment of this skill is very low.. 3. The proposal comprises a system of exercises aiming at developing accuracy in writing; to which some extent pave the way to communicative writing.. 4. The specialists considered that the proposal is suitable and applica ble since it takes into consideration students’ needs and interests, so it allows them to develop the writing skill.. 5. The implementation of the proposal proved its effectiveness concerning the development of the writing skill in the students of the sample.. 28.

(33) Recommendations The exercises proposed in this paper can be applied by other 7th grade teachers from the school and extended to the territory.. 29.

(34) Bibliography: 1. Abbot, Gerry. The Teaching of English as an International Language. A Practical Guide. Edición Revolucionaria. La Habana.1989.. 2. Acosta Padrón, Rodolfo et al. 2002. Communicative Language Teaching. (CD. Carrera de Lengua Inglesa. MINED. Primera Versión).. 3. Antich de León, Rosa.. The Teaching of English in the Elementary Intermediate Levels. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo y Educación. 1975.. 5. Antich de León, Rosa et al. Metodología de la Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo y Educación. 1986.. 6. Byrne, Donn. Teaching Writing Skills. Great Britain: Longman, 1979.. 7. Camacho Delgado, Alfredo A.. Programa de la Disciplina Inglés para la Secundaria Básica. ISP: “Félix Varela” 2004.. 8. Camacho Delgado, A. La enseñanza comunicativa del inglés en las transformaciones de la secundaria básica: Un modelo curricular para su perfeccionamiento en el territorio. Tesis en opción al grado de Doctor en Ciencia Pedagógicas, I.S.P. “Félix Varela”, 2003 .. 9. Canale M. M Swain. Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing. En Applied Linguistics. 1980.. 10. Cassany D. Enfoques didácticos para la enseñanza de la expresión escrita. En Comunicación Lenguaje y Educación. Madrid, España.1990.. 11. Colectivo de Autores. Curso de Inglés Séptimo Grado. Editora Política, La Habana 2001.. 12. Colectivo de Autores. Programa de 7mo Grado Secundaria Básica. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo y Educación. 2004. 30.

(35) 13. Enríquez O’Farril, Isora et al. Seventh Grade English Workbook. La Habana: Editorial Pueblo y Educación. 2004.. 14 Grijalbo Mondadori. Gran Diccionario Enciclopédico Ilustrado.Barcelona. 1997.. 15.Hedge, T. Writing. Oxford University Press.1988. 16. Hymes, D. On Communicative Competence. En Sociolinguistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1972. 17. Ibáñez Rivalta, M. La producción verbal escrita. Una propuesta metodológica para la preparación del maestro en las clases de Lengua Española en sexto grado. Tesis de Maestría. I.S.P. “Félix Varela”.2002. 18.Kay H y Tony Dudley Evans.Genre: what teachers think. En ELT Journal.1998. Vol.52/4. 19. Morales Calvo, A y otros. Estudio de una metodología para elevar el nivel de eficiencia de los alumnos en la Licenciatura en Educación a través de la asignatura Práctica integral de la Lengua Inglesa. Informe de investigación, I.S.P. “Félix Varela, 1985. 20 Nocedo, I. Y otros. Metodología de la investigación educativa. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 1996. 21. Oswald Ducrot. Diccionario Enciclopédico de las Ciencias del Lenguaje. Edición S.A,1972. 22.. Pica, Teresa .” An Interactional Approach to the Teaching of Writing”.. English. Teaching Forum 24/3. 1986. 23.. Pincas,A. Teaching English Writing. London: Macmillan Press. 1982. 24. Porto E. M y otros .English for seventh graders. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 1990. 25. Raimes, A. Why write? From Purpose to Pedagogy. En English Teaching Forum, Vol IV.1987. 26. Raimes, A. Teaching English Writing. London: Oxford University Press. 1988. 27. Raimes, A.. Techniques in Teaching Writing. London: Oxford University Press. 1993. Raimes, A.1983. Techniques in teaching writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rivers, W.1981. Teaching foreign language skills（2nd ed.）. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 31.

(36) Camacho Delgado, A .2003¨Program de la Disciplina Inglés para la Secundaria Básica. “Félix Varela”.. 32.

(37) Annex 1: Document analysis :. Objective: to assess the treatment given to the writing skills particularly related with the instrumental writing in 7th grade.. Aspects to consider: •. Writing exercises included among the activities planned in the video lesson and in the. workbook. •. Activities adjusted to the students’ needs.. •. Aspects of writing systematically treated in classes..

(38) Annex 2: Pedagogical test :. Objective: To assess the present state of the students’ needs in terms of writing .. Dictation .. My name is Luis Achion A-C-H-I-O-N. This is a Chinese name. I am eleven years old. My phone number is 22-56-46. I live in Santiago de Cuba. My mother’s name is Julie and my father’s name is Andrew. The name of my school is Osvaldo Herrera. Susana is the name of my English teacher. She is twenty years old. She is a nice person and we love her very much..

(39) Annex 3: Interview to the teachers :. Objective: To know the teacher’s opinion about the present state of the students’ development in writing.. 1. In your English lessons, which priority do you give to writing?. 2. How much time do you devote to writing?. 3. Students’ motivation when writing is: High _____. Medium ______ low _______. 4. When designing writing activities: a) Do you use all the exercises from the workbook? b) Do you include or adapt the exercises according to your students’ difficulties?. 5. When students write: a) Do you focus your attention on the establishment of phoneme - grapheme relationships and grammatical patterns? b) Do you correct their mistakes? c) Is time allowed to share ideas through group work or pai r work?. 6. How much time do you devote to correct a text in class?. 7. How do you do it?.

(40) Annex 4: Observation Guide :. Objective: To assess the teachers’ knowledge about the teaching of writing and how they implement writing activities in class. Aspects to consider: •. Activation of the students’ previous knowledge in advance for the writing task.. •. Consideration of the students’ needs to implement the writing exercises.. •. Priority given to the writing skill in the English lessons.. •. Instrumental skills taught systematically in classes by the teacher.. •. Students’ performance in class when doing writing exercises..

(41) Annex 5: GUIA DE CUESTIONARIO DE ESPECIALISTAS PARA VALORAR LA PROPUESTA :. Objetivo de investigador: Obtener la validación de la propuesta de los ejercicios por medio de las valoraciones de especialistas para trabajar la habilidad de escritura en las clases de inglés en séptimo grado.. Compañero: Nuestra investigación se ha centrado en una propuesta de ejercicios comunicativos pa ra trabajar la habilidad de escritura en la asignatura de idioma inglés en séptimo grado. Por su preparación profesional y experiencia en el trabajo educacional, lo hemos seleccionado para que ofrezca sus valoraciones. Por su colaboración,. Muchas gracias.. Emita sus reflexiones a partir del análisis de las siguientes interrogantes:. 1. ¿Considera usted viable la aplicación de la presente propuesta de ejercicios? 2. ¿Cree usted que la propuesta de actividades cumple con las exigencias del enfoque comunicativo? 3. ¿En su opinión, desarrollan estas actividades la habilidad de expresión escrita en lo s alumnos? 4. Emita sus consideraciones en torno a las dificultades que usted percibe en la presente propuesta y las consiguientes sugerencias que usted deriva de su análisis..

(42) Anexo 6: TABLA CARACTERISTICA DE LOS ESPECIALISTAS QUE VALORARON LA PROPUESTA :. NOMBRE. CAT.. CAT. AÑOS. DOC.. CIENT.. EXP.. Asistente. -. 35. Dtro Esc. Idiomas. Milagros Atanes Martínez. Instructora. -. 30. Prof. Sec. Básica. Justina Pérez Valdés. Instructora. MsC. 30. Profesora. Asistente. -. 30. Pro. Esc. Idiomas. Auxiliar. Dra.. 31. Profesora. Gilberto Céspedes Pedraza. Margarita Molina Veloz Norma Nodarse González. FUNC. ACTUAL.

(43) Annex 7: Final pedagogical test:. Objective: to assess the students’ progress in the writing skill after the application of the activities proposed.. 1. Complete the following sentences using ideas of your own. The house where I live is _______ and_______. There is a/an_______. , _______ and _______. I like it because _______________________________. My mother´s favorite room is _________________ . My favorite room is the ______________________ because___________________..

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