TAI #7 Analysis of Baseline data Con't

Learners' First Writing Drafts

Just to reinterate, I wanted to explore the nature of English language learners' writing proficiency as a student learning challenge, but based on the expectations and requirements of a NCEA English achievement standard I offered in our English language programme this year. My purpose is to identify any improvement in their proficiency against their performance on the ELLP as a standardized assessment, but more importantly on whether they can write according to the assessment criteria of the NCEA standard. 

English AS91101 - Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing
Assessment Criteria
Achievement	Achievement with Merit	Achievement with Excellence
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing which develops, sustains, and structures ideas.	Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing which develops, sustains, and structures ideas convincingly.	Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing which develops, sustains, and structures ideas effectively.
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing using language features appropriate to the audience and purpose to create effects.	Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing using language features appropriate to the audience and purpose to create convincing effects.	Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing using language features appropriate to audience and purpose to command attention

When I offered this writing standard in our programme, I was well aware that most of these learners would be challenged because of their limited language skills. But I was won over by the fact that if one manages a huge challenge well and succeeds, then the benefit and improvement followed would be huge too. I wanted to provide a chance to expand the knowledge and skills of these language learners so they can grow in their writing proficiency.

I explained in my previous posts how I developed a resource on "...yeah, write" with 'New Zealand Identity' as our main task topic and 'The Treaty of Waitangi' as our main focus of that New Zealand Identity. I started off doing some introductory reading on 'What is identity' followed by some discussions on the meaning of identity. I also did some brief introductory reading followed by discussions on the 'Treaty of Waitangi' and what New Zealand was like before the treaty was signed. My purpose here was to introduce my learners to the topic of our task, at least for them to have some ideas on the topic.

I then wanted to assess them on their writing skills by getting them to write at least two different essay types using the brief information from our readings. I intended these to be pre-assessment tasks which would provide me with writing drafts that I can use to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their writing skills. This, I hoped would provide me with their learning needs, what they know and do not know about writing which would guide me in what I need to focus my teaching of writing on. I gave them questions and topics relevant and appropriate for writing information and expressing opinions text types.

When learners submitted their writing drafts, I viewed and analysed them using the two main achievement criteria of the achievement standard. Those criteria are as shown on the table above. The table below shows the two criteria and issues the learners have in meeting the criteria of the standards. Those issues are the areas of needs learners need improve on in order to increase their proficiency in writing.

Achievement criteria and issues on students’ writing
Irrespective of essay type, the following issues are identified in learners’ writing in relation to the achievement criteria of the standard.
Criteria 1	What does it mean to develop and structure ideas	Some issues from students’ writing
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing which develops, sustains, and structures ideas.	Development (can also be referred to as elaboration) is the process of adding informative and illustrative details to support the main idea in a paragraph or essay.	Lack of ideas generated to develop the topic well. Insufficient of clear, specific, relevant evidence or examples to develop or elaborate the main ideas of the topic and support their development. Reflection of students’ lack of knowledge and understanding of  the topic.
	Structuring ideas is when ideas are presented in a linear format with one idea at a time, and they are presented in an order to be received and make sense by the readers. A structure introduces the main ideas of a topic, supported with evidence, and then connected back to thesis statements.	There are some relevant main ideas to the topic, but they are not well organized or structured - they are scattered throughout the paragraphs resulting in lack of coherence and repetition of ideas.  A real lack of structure to body paragraphs - no clear thesis statements or topic sentences to introduce the main ideas, weak or no evidence or examples to illustrate or support the main ideas, and no clear connection of those supporting ideas to the thesis statements. Few students still do not know how to write or develop ideas well or effectively in an  introduction and conclusion. No clear flow in the overall structure of the essay, lack of signposts for overall connection. Unclear thesis statements or topic sentences. Lack or weak sum up comments to conclude a paragraph.
	Ideas are sustained in an essay when they are clearly signposted, well structured in paragraphs so information the reader wants is presented clearly and easily digestible. A sustained argument is when the work is done for the reader, and a strong paragraph structure is crucible for that.	Some paragraphs - the ideas are to some extent developed and structured, while some paragraphs are not - so ideas are not sustained to the end of the essay. Some missing elements in structuring of ideas thus affecting the sustainability of ideas - thesis statement or topic sentence, no strong evidence or examples, and no connecting comments to link to the thesis statements. Writing not fully controlled for lack of structure or organisation and therefore no sustaining of ideas.

The table below shows some issues identified from learners' writing in relation to the second achievement criteria of the standard, the use of appropriate language features for auidence and purpose of writing. The information and examples on the table are only pertinent to their argumentative or expressing opinions first writing drafts. 

Criteria 2	What are language features appropriate to the audience and purpose to create effects.	Issues identified from learners’ first writing drafts in relation to the use of language features appropriate for purpose and audience of writing.
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing using language features appropriate to the audience and purpose to create effects.	Purpose of argumentative or expressing opinion essay. - argumentative essays must establish a clear thesis and follow sound reasoning. For that purpose to be achieved, ideas(as mentioned in criteria 2) must be structured or organised in a certain way - introduction (1st paragraph) setting the context, explaining the topic, and a thesis statement. Then body paragraphs (at least 3), each paragraph limited to the discussion of one general idea about the topic, with evidential support, and then link to the thesis statement. Then a conclusion which does not only restate the thesis statement, but readdresses it in the light of the evidence provided. Appropriate Language Features: - effectively appropriate sentence variety should be used; more formal constructions (passived) are more appropriate.  - effective use of specific vocabulary in expressing opinions should be employed; appropriate transitional words and phrases should be used to link ideas and their development between introduction and body paragraphs; appropriate words should also be used in showing evidential support especially using research evidence or proofs. - use of grammatical constructs such as use of action verbs in tenses; subject-verb agreement; pronoun references; and even punctuation must be correct and appropriate for the purpose and audience of essay type.	After viewing and assessing the learners’ first drafts of argumentative essays using the achievement criteria of the standard, these issues were identified in terms of purpose, structure, and language features. Purpose of writing was not clear, no clear structure, and therefore language features were not appropriately generated to suit the purpose. Introduction: - no clear context or explanation of the topic, no mention or unclear thesis statement on the topic. -  therefore lack of sentence variety and types, lack of more formal constructions used (eg passive verbs); lack or no appropriate use of vocabulary suitable for effective presentation of ideas in the introduction. Body Paragraphs: - lack of clear structural transitions from the introduction through to the body paragraphs as well as between the body paragraphs through to the conclusion.. - no clear structure or organisation used when developing ideas in each body paragraph. - no clear structure or organisation of ideas in writing the conclusion of the essay. As a result of those lacking in ideas, structure and organisations, the language features therefore lack appropriateness for the purpose and audience.  Issues with appropriateness of language features: - lack in the variety or different sentence types used - inconsistent use of more formal sentence constructions used throughout the essay eg use of passive constructions. - hardly any use of specific vocabulary for expressing opinions nor the use of appropriate transitional words to link and connect ideas throughout the entire essay. - hardly any use of appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures in giving evidence or examples to support the the ideas because there were no such relevant ideas or information used in the paragraphs - there were the use of simple short sentences or full- run- on ones and they reflect the lack of knowledge and writing ability of the learners. - grammatically, there were misuse of appropriate verb tenses used, lack of pronoun references leading to repetitions of words and phrases, ongoing issues with subject-verb agreement, and issues with sentence structures. - Some spelling mistakes and use of punctuation marks, and generally their lack of vocabulary was embodied in the lack of clarity on their ideas and explanation.

To sum up this post, I found it a very helpful and eye-opening exercise when I studied more and deeper the achievement criteria of the English writing achievement and use them to measure and assess my learners' writing ability using their first drafts on writing an expressing opinion essay. Undeniably, the formative information gathered are very useful to help me in teaching those learners to improve their writing ability. However, I honestly felt burdensome when realising the huge inequity and gaps these English language learners have in their writing ability. They have a great challenge in front of them!          

TAI #6 Baseline Data and Evidence Con't

Analysis of Perceptions Toward English Writing

I was so interested to have some ideas on the perceptions students have toward their English writing. These peceptions or student voice, I could say, complement really well the quantitative information I gathered so far from their ELLP results. I learn way more about my learners when they convey their views and feelings to me, rather than always relying on their assessment performance, which I believe can be impacted by their personal cirmcumstances and context at that time. 

In analysing students' perceptions on the survey items, I tried to stay as close as posible to the way Lin (2015) used in her study - where the instrument was modified from. However, I diverted and used the data in other ways that provided me with what I was looking for in terms of identifying their writing difficulties, but in also having specific information about my individual learners which was more important to me.

I used the descriptive statistics - frequency, means, and perceptages - to analyze the survey items and how they represent the student writing difficulty. I did not look at the standard deviation as I thought I only had a small number of students. The mean score for each item was measured by the average score for the total eight students. As in the previous study, I regarded the mean score of each item larger or equal to 4 to constitute placement in the most difficult (or positive) item category depending on the Likert-scale.

One diversion I had was simply putting together the scales of 'somewhat agree', 'agree', and 'strongly agree' as one scale - agree - and 'strongly disagree', 'disagree', 'somewhat disagree' as one scale - disagree - in the Likert-scale. I then simply calculated the percentages. I did that because I was simply interested in identifying individual learners who agree or disagree with an item of particular significance to my knowing them and the differentiated instruction approach to use. 

Results:

It is interesting to find that at the top of ranking the survey items are three psychological and emotional items which appear to impact the students' writing in very positive ways. They have the highest mean scores of 5 and above, and with the agree and disagree scales I created, there was 100% agreement. 

These items are:

• They like to share my English writing with my English teachers (highest)
• They like to use computer technology (such e-mail, online discussion or internet) in my writing class
• They like and learn to write better from the corrective feedback given by my teacher on my writing

For me the first and the third items indicate the importance of what teachers deliver in the classroom and their relationships with the student. They like and not shy or scare to share their English writing with the English teachers because they would surely learn from the feedback teachers give. Teacher's corrective feedback and use of computer technology are effective strategies to use in writing instruction. Refer to the following 2 tables for that information.

Table 1: Ranking of Survey Items/Dimension by Means
Rank	Survey Items								Dimension	Mean
1	38. I like to share my English writing with my English teachers....								Psych/Emo	5.63
2	35. I like to use computer technology (such e-mail, online discussion or internet) in my writing class								Psych/Emo	5.5
	43.  I learn to write better from the corrective feedback given by my teacher on my writing								Psych/Emo	5.5

 

Perceptions and Writing Difficulties 100% (8/8)
Psychological/Emotional
Technology	34	I like to use computer technology (such e-mail, online discussion or internet) in my writing class.....		agree
EL teacher	38	I like to share my English writing with my English teachers..		agree
Correct feedback	43	I learn to write better from the corrective feedback given by my teacher on my writing		agree

 

There were 2 other psychological and emotional items scored high in mean scores =ranking, one positive - ranked 4 (M=5.13) and one negative - ranked 5 (M=5). These items are: 

• I feel confident as an ESOL student at school
• I have anxiety about writing in English

It is great to see English language learners in my inquiry not shy or feel inadeguate in who they are, but very confident and accept that they are there to learning English as their second language. It is understandable that they have anxiety about writing in English. What is more important is for me to employ strategies which can help filtered their affective circumstances. 

There are two cognitive and linguistic items identified at the top 5 ranks. These explain two writing difficulties among learners of my inquiry group. They are:

• When I write in English, I stop many times to think about what to write - ranked 3 (M=5.38) - the top cognitive and linguistic difficulty for the learners.
• I have trouble focusing ideas (arguments) that are related to the points that I am trying to make - ranked 5 (M=5) - the second to the top cognitive and linguistic difficulty.    

These two difficulties are to do with a lack of knowledge or ideas they have to write about in their writing. More than that there is a reflection of difficulty they have in developing and structuring ideas. The lack of knowledge and ideas can be related to the limited exposure that they had in the language contexts they just came from, or perhaps they are made to write about content they are less familiar with. 

One social and cultural item ranked in the top 5 was:

• I like to give feedback and suggestions to other people’s English writing (M=5) 

This is really a reflection of cultural backgrounds they come from - the giving, expecatations, and how they watch out for each other in their families and societies. For me there is an implication here to employ instructional strategies which might engage this strength in the learning.

So far, one very important and interesting finding from this perceptions survey shows that the English writing difficulties of English language learners in my inquiry group have - cognitive and linguistic, psychological and emotional, social and cultural elements. They show the extent of the nature of their learning challenge and they also point to the nature of instruction perovided to help these learners.

Table A following also shows more survey items categorized using the same process of claculating their mean scores. These items have a range of means scores 4 - 4.75. As with items of 5 or above mean scores, these items still explain very strong learning difficulties. It is also important to point out that these writing difficulties have cultural, psychological, and linguistic implications for a responsive teaching.

Table A: Survey Items at ranks 6 - 12  Mean scores of 4 - 4.74)
Eighteen survey items were categorized in these ranks with a range mean scores of 4 - 4.74. They are still regarded as having a high range of writing difficulties or positive items.
Cognitive and Linguistic
Ideas	Grammar	Vocabulary
- I have difficulty generating ideas for my writing - I have difficulty writing a thesis statement - I feel that I have trouble writing logically and systematically in English. - I have difficulty organizing ideas - When writing an English essay, I have trouble writing an introduction, some paragraphs to make my points, and a conclusion.	- I write short and simple sentences. - I am aware of what sentence fragments are, but I still use them - I know what run-on sentences are, but I still use them Parts of speeches: -  I have difficulty using prepositions (such as ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘at’) - I have difficulties using verb tenses within a paragraph	- I have difficulty with word choice (such as ‘quarrel’ or ‘debate’ - I have difficulty spelling correctly -  I don’t have enough time to finish my English writing exams or assignments in a limited time period
Psychological and Emotional
32. I have low confidence in English writing (rank 11, M=4.12	- I am motivated to learn English writing in the future (rank 6 - M=4.75 - I am confident in my writing in my native language writing
Social and cultural
- I feel comfortable with sharing my English writing with other ELL students	- I have difficulty adjusting my way of writing in my native language writing to New Zealand thought patterns.

Table B below similarity shows more survey items from the online questionnaire which were also categorized into levels of difficulties using the same descriptive statistic of mean scores, but these range from low end of M=3.12 to M=3.87. These have similar nature as items in Table A or items with mean scores of 5 or above, except that they are with lesser degrees of difficulties. 

Table B: Survey Items at ranks 13 - 19   Mean scores of 3.12 - 3.87
Ten  survey items were categorized in these ranks with a range mean scores of 4 - 4.74. They are still regarded as having a high range of writing difficulties or positive items.
Cognitive and Linguistic
Ideas	Grammar	Vocabulary
- I have difficulty writing closing sentences for my paragraph - Sometimes I start writing something, then in the end I write something else. - I have difficulty summarizing my larger argument into a conclusion. - I find it difficult to go from one paragraph to another with smooth, well-connected transitions	Parts of speech - I have difficulty using articles (such as ‘a’, ‘the’, and ‘an’) - I have difficulty with word order in English sentences Punctuation - I have difficulty using punctuation
Psychological and Emotional
- I like to write English essays	- I feel my writing assignments are interesting and meaningful.	- I feel comfortable revising my writing in English

 

The mean scores of the nine survey items on the online questionnaire were similarily measured and rated and they were at the ranks of 20 down to 26 with mean scores of 2.75 down to only 2. They are regarded as items with lesser levels of difficulties. These items are shown on Table 1 at Appendix 1 below. 

In closing, the information on the students' perceptions toward English writing are very important complimentary information to quantitative data already collected about the learners' profile and the nature of the learning challenge explored in this inquiry. In summary, they show the following:

• What the learners' writing needs are many and they are at varing levels of difficulties depending on the learners - their exposure to language and knowledge and their individual characteristics.
• The learners' writing needs are not only cognitive and linguistic, but they are psychological and emotional, and they have some social and cultural implications.
• These writing difficulties have implications for a variety of cognitive and linguistic, psychological and emotional, and social and cultural responsive approaches to be used in teaching if these needs are to be addressed.    

  

Appendix 1

Table 1: Ranking of Survey Items/Dimension by Means
Rank	Survey Items								Dimension	Mean
1	38. I like to share my English writing with my English teachers....								Psych/Emo	5.63
2	35. I like to use computer technology (such e-mail, online discussion or internet) in my writing class								Psych/Emo	5.5
3	29. When I write in English, I stop many times to think about what to write								Cog/lin	5.38
4	44. I feel confident as an ESOL student at school								Psych/Emo	5.13
5	24. I have trouble focusing ideas (arguments) that are related to the points that I am trying to make								Cog/lin	5
	30. I have anxiety (worry) about writing in English								Psych/Emo	5
	40. I like to give feedback and suggestions to other people’s English writing								Soci/Cult	5
6	4. I write short and simple sentences.								Cog/lin	4.75
	15. I have difficulty generating ideas for my writing								Cog/lin	4.75
	17. I am aware of what sentence fragments are, but I still use them (for example, My school offers many subjects. Such as English, Maths, and Music.)								Cog/lin	4.75
	23. I have difficulty writing a thesis statement								Cog/lin	4.75
	42. I am motivated to learn English writing in the future								Psych/Emo	4.75
7	31. I am confident in my writing in my native language writing (such as Samoan, Filipino, Tongan, Burmese, Tuvaluan								Psych/Emo	4.62
	37. I feel comfortable with sharing my English writing with other ELL students								Soci/Cult	4.62
8	16. I have difficulty adjusting my way of writing in my native language writing to New Zealand thought patterns.								Soci/Cult	4.6
9	11. I have difficulty with word choice (such as ‘quarrel’ or ‘debate’								Cog/lin	4.5
	19. I know what run-on sentences are, but I still use them (for example, The boy showed us his tickets someone gave them to him)								Cog/lin	4.5
10	22. I feel that I have trouble writing logically and systematically in English.								Cog/lin	4.25
11	14. I have difficulty spelling correctly.....								Cog/lin	4.12
	25. I have difficulty organizing ideas								Cog/lin	4.12
	32. I have low confidence in English writing								Psych/Emo	4.12
12	8. I have difficulty using prepositions (such as ‘on’, ‘in’, ‘at’)								Cog/lin	4
	9. I have difficulties using verb tenses within a paragraph (such as ‘say’, ‘said’, ‘will say’								Cog/lin	4
	27. When writing an English essay, I have trouble writing an introduction, some paragraphs to make my points, and a conclusion.								Cog/lin	4
	33. I don’t have enough time to finish my English writing exams or assignments in a limited time period..								Cog/lin	4
13	6. I have difficulty writing closing sentences for my paragraph								Cog/lin	3.87
14	28. Sometimes I start writing something, then in the end I write something else								Cog/lin	3.75
15	7. I have difficulty using articles (such as ‘a’, ‘the’, and ‘an’)								Cog/lin	3.5
	10. I have difficulty with word order in English sentences (such as . ‘How are you?’, ‘How you are?								Cog/lin	3.5
	26. I have difficulty summarizing my larger argument into a conclusion.								Cog/lin	3.5
	21. I find it difficult to go from one paragraph to another with smooth, well-connected transitions (such as ‘As a result’, ‘In addition’, or ‘In fact)								Cog/lin	3.5
16	12. I have difficulty using punctuation (such as ...?)								Cog/lin	3.37
17	1. I like to write English essays.								Psych/Emo	3.25
18	41. I feel my writing assignments are interesting and meaningful.								Psych/Emo	3.13
19	34. I feel comfortable revising my writing in English								Psych/Emo	3.12
20	3. It’s easy for me to keep my English writing going and write smoothly.								Cog/lin	2.75
20	5. It’s easy for me to write my ideas into English paragraphs.								Cog/lin	2.75
21	36. I am a skillful English writer								Soci/Cult	2.63
22	2. It’s easy for me to get started writing an English essay								Cog/lin	2.62
	13. I use few idioms (such as ‘Butterflies in my stomach’ or ‘Hit the road								Cog/lin	2.62
23	20. I know what run-on sentences are,  and I don’t use them								Cog/lin	2.6
24	45. I feel shy walking around as an ESOL student at school								Psvch/Emo	2.5
25	39. I feel comfortable with sharing my English writing with native English speakers								Soci/Cult	2.38
26	18. I am aware of what sentence fragments are, and I don’t use them.								Cog/lin	2