TAI #11 Formation of Hypotheses

Explain how literature helped the formation of hypotheses 

After my literature search, my feelings about teaching writing to English learners were verified - that teaching writing to English language learners is difficult and will take time. However, I found the following evidence-based ideas very helpful for the effectiveness of teaching writing to English Language learners. They helped me in the formation of hypotheses for my inquiry.

• The importance of understanding the difficulties the learners face from their perspectives when teaching them writing.  

• To meet the ELL students' writing needs, the composition teaching activities should include not only cognitive/linguistic aspects of writing, but also psychological/emotional and socio/cultural aspects of writing. 

• One of the main goals of teaching writing to ESL students is to have a focused target on skills required and desired of the students and to produce a well-structured piece of writing which is recognized and accepted in their academic department.    

• The use of genre-based instructions framework may support ELL students' development of advanced literacy practices, therefore explicit instruction and teaching of certain writing genres required of them can be beneficial.

• The use of corrective feedback for ELL students does have a positive impact on improving writing skills and helps to motivate students as well.

• The positive and favourable effects of scaffolding of the teaching and learning of writing among weak ESL learners.

• The teaching of argumentative essay to English Language learners based on Toulmin Model for Arqument - Data, Claim, Wallant and other approaches to argument pedagogy.

Based on these findings from literature search, I feel that my hypotheses will be multi-faceted. This will be appropriate and necessary for teaching writing as a complex multifaceted skill. The following table shows hypotheses for my inquiry.

My Hypotheses
1)	If I know my learners’ difficulties in writing from their own perspectives and design my instruction to address them as needs, then they will learn more about writing and increase their proficiency.
2)	If I know my learners’ cognitive/linguistic, psychological/emotional, or social/cultural difficulties in writing and address them in my teaching, then they will learn more about writing and increase their proficiency.
3)	If I target my teaching of writing on particular genre-types required and desired by the academic department at school and use explicit genre-based pedagogy in instruction, then my learners will acquire the related writing skills in those genres and increase their writing proficiency.
4)	If I use an explicit scaffolding approach in teaching writing to my learners, then they will have a chance to better understand and acquire specific skills of writing proficiency.
5)	If I use the Toulmin Model as base for teaching the purpose and structure of argumentative essay, then learners will be able to increase their proficiency in this writing genre.
6)	If I use corrective feedback to help learners identify how to improve their writing, then learners will know how to improve and increase their writing proficiency.

TAI # 10 Literature and Generating Hypotheses

Share three pieces of academic or professional reading and explain how they and other sources helped your form hypotheses about aspects of teaching that might contribute to current patterns of learning.

In my previous post I wrote about professional perspectives and information offered by experts, researchers, trainers, and teachers on teaching writing to English language learners in variety of contexts. That was part of my literature search for information to help in generating my hypotheses about the most effective ways in providing teaching and learning experiences to help the learners in my inquiry group increase their writing ability. At the same time literature signposted some authentic and pragmatic approaches and strategies for teaching these learners. Central and driving my literature search were the profiled writing needs and challenges of these learners, which were already identified and shared earlier in this inquiry.

I found following information very helpful and relevant not only for formulating my hypotheses but to the writing needs of learners in my inquiry.

• Use of pragmatic approach with focused targets on skills required or desired by the learners ( Beare, 2019)
• Motivation is needed in teaching writing as a skill (Rhalmi Mohammed, 2018)
• Focus on productivity and must be fun (Croke, 2018) 
• Teaching writing is a necessity and takes time (Bonkowski, 2019)

I felt somehow I needed to continue searching the literature to tell me more about my hunch and effective approaches for teaching these learners.

Ismail (2010) in his study of 'Exploring Students' Perceptions of ESL Writing', came up with one key recommendation related to the importance of understanding students’ views and expectations about ESL writing. "Any decision about writing programs and textbooks should take into account not only students’ needs but everything that might affect their learning abilities such as the culture of L1 education in general and the convention of L1 writing in particular." As for the goals of teaching writing, Ismail identified two goals - to prepare ESL learners to become better writers and to learn to produce a well-structured piece of writing which is recognized and accepted in their academic departments. To meet these - learners need to be exposed to the writing process and situations where they can produce authentic piece of writing. 

Lin (2015) took on this issue of understanding the learners' views and their needs, but explored deeper into understanding the difficulties and the ELL students' experience in their writing development from their perspectives. She found that ELL students perceived their writing difficulties to fall into three main dimensions -  their highest writing difficulties in linguistic/ cognitive deficiencies, next highest in psychological/emotional deficiencies, and the third in sociocultural aspects of writing difficulties. Her study highlighted the importance of understanding the difficulties the learners face from their perspectives when teaching them writing. To meet these ELL students' writing needs, she reckoned that the "instruction strategies in ELL composition classes would need to differ from those in mainstream English composition classes.....also,... ELL composition teaching activities should include not only linguistic/cognitive aspects of writing but also psychological/emotional and sociocultural aspects of writing." This was a call for the ELL composition instruction to include linguistically, culturally, and psychologically responsive teaching. The study also discussed some of the influences of those writing difficulties on ELL writing and some implications for ELL teaching, which I found very helpful indeed and will incorporate into my inquiry. 

Ramos (2012) in her study on teaching persuasive argument essay writing to adolescents English language learners stated that "genre-based instructions framework may support adolescents ELL's progress toward the development of advanced literacy practices." For her, genre-based pedagogy recognizes that certain than others and is concerned with helping students from non-mainstream backgrounds to acquire and critique the genres required for success in school. ELL students therefore can benefit from explicit induction and teaching of certain genres required of them. 

I gathered some more interesting information from literature which can help me develop some more relevant hypotheses to explore in my inquiry.

• The need to identify the difficulties or needs ELL students have from their own perspectives
• Different dimensions to look at when identifying those learning needs and to focus the writing instructions on - cognitive/linguistic; psychological/emotional; and social/cultural
• Use of genres-based instruction
• Scaffolding.     

With these ideas from literature, they helped me generate my hypotheses for this inquiry. That will be the topic of my next post.  

TAI 2020 #9 Writing Skills for ELLs - Literature

Perspectives on teaching writing to English language learners

In my endeavours to deepen my understanding and focus on the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ to teach writing to my English language learners, I came across these perspectives about teaching writing in both EFL and ESL classrooms. These perspectives came from classroom teachers, teachers’ trainers, researchers, and experts in the field of teaching writing to ESOL students or ELLs (English language learners). I feel it may be worthwhile sharing their perspectives at this point, and more importantly on how their perspectives help and equip me to understand and appreciate the fact that teaching writing to ELLs is no doubt challenging yet achievable. 

Gilmore (2009) states that “Writing in the mother tongue is painful for many students, but when it comes to writing in the second language the students’ hardship and pain are worsened." I am sure this reference can be both applicable to the ELLs and the teachers of ELLs. I myself can identify with it as both a once upon a time ESOL student in an EFL context and now a teacher of writing of ELLs in an English speaking context. It was really hard, very tough, and sometimes painful to learn how to write in English as an ESOL student in an EFL classroom many years back. I started from basic English through to academic English and my successes took me to university. Now as a teacher of writing to ELLs in an English speaking classroom, it’s still awfully challenging but of a different nature. The challenge now focuses on how to teach writing to ELLs and to make sure they are successful. Being an ESOL student myself before somehow helps me understand and appreciate the challenges and hardship that my ELLs are going through.

Rhalmi Mohammed (2018) echoes a similar vein of thinking about the teaching of writing to learners of English as an additional language, “One of the headaches that the teachers of English in EFL and ESL classrooms face is how to teach writing. It is one of the skills that require from the students not only to be equipped with the necessary skills but also to be motivated. For most people writing is a painful process. It necessitates training and patience.” Again this perspective convinces me that teaching writing to ELLs is a great challenge - but it is a needed human activity which requires motivation, training, and patience.  

Beare (2019) adds on by saying, “Writing competence in a foreign language tends to be one of the most difficult skills to acquire. This is true for English as well. The key to successful writing classes is that they are pragmatic in nature targeting the skills required or desired by students." Beare endorses the difficult nature of teaching writing skills in any language, yet at the same time points out a pathway for its success. The key there is to be pragmatic in its teaching and specific in the skills required and desired by certain learners. As a teacher to my ELLs, Beare’s viewpoint is comforting knowing that there’s still a pathway forward for success despite the difficult nature of teaching writing skills.   

Croke (2018) raises another dimension to teaching of writing skills, “Of all the language skills that are taught in the ESL classroom, teaching writing skills is often seen as one of the least popular. Some teachers consider these lessons to be a bit boring, hard to evaluate and somewhat limited in what you can incorporate into them. However, this doesn’t have to be the case as teaching writing skills to your ESL students can actually be interesting, fun and productive.” One can understand that learning any new skill, including writing skill, is already difficult, but when it is boring and not popular, it is at a different level of intensity. The only remedy, as Croke suggests, is to make teaching of writing skills fun and productive. I feel that the ideas of fun and productive are ones I need to reckon with.   

Bonkowski (2019) first refers to the importance of teaching academic language as well as academic writing in today’s English language classroom. It has become an important part of the curriculum. To that, I quite agree with it as an English language teacher in today’s classroom. However, he goes on to say, “Research shows that academic English is a necessity for English language learners at any level for achieving success both inside and outside the classroom. However, attaining language proficiency is a long process. It takes three to five years to become orally proficient in English, and four to seven years to become proficient in academic English.” To that, I also acknowledge that teaching writing to English language learners takes time, and therefore for me as a teacher I need patience and resilience. 

After reading and learning about the perspectives of these experts, I feel well supported on the way I feel about the heaviness of teaching English writing skills to my ELLs. They make me realise that the questions I grapple with are common to teachers of ESL and EFL classrooms across the world. I somehow feel encouraged to be reminded that teaching writing is a needed human activity that needs motivation, training, and patience; it needs pragmatism and specific identification of skills required and desired by certain learners; it needs to be fun and productive; and above all it will definitely take time for English language learners to be proficient in their writing skills. 

References: 

Beare K. (2019): ‘Strategies for Teaching Writing’. https://www.thoughtco.com/strategies-for-teaching-writing-1209076 

Bonkowski F: How to teach writing to ESOL students.

https://www.off2class.com/how-to-teach-writing-to-esl-students/

Crocke M. (2018): Great Ideas for Teaching Writing Skills in the ESL Classroom. https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/great-ideas-for-teaching-writing-skills-in-the-esl-classroom-ittt-tefl-blog/

Mohammed R. (2018): How to teach writing skills to ESL and EFL students. https://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/how-to-teach-writing/). 

Crocke M. (2018): Great Ideas for Teaching Writing Skills in the ESL Classroom.

https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/great-ideas-for-teaching-writing-skills-in-the-esl-classroom-ittt-tefl-blog/

TAI # 8 Nature and Extent of Student Challenge

Share your findings about the nature and extent of the student challenge. Make sure it is clear what evidence from your inquiry supports each finding.

My posts in the month of April primarily focused on gathering and reporting detailed information on my learners' writing profiles using the inquiry tools that I chose. In a detailed way I showed both some quantitative and qualitative information about my learners' writing needs which helped unfilded the nature and extent of their writing challenge. In my last post, I expressed my burdensome feeling in identifying the gap and challenge in writing my English language learners have to bridge in order to have equity with mainstream learners or first speakers of English.

In this post I aim to share a key summary of my findings which should help reflect the nature of the student challenge in writing. Table 1 below shows a summary of quanitative information gathered about the learners. 

Table 1: Quantitative Information
Inquiry Tool	English Language Learning Progression (ELLP)
Findings
All learners in my inquiry group have similar background experiences to English language use before they arrived in New Zealand. They all had limited exposure to English in their non-English speaking countries, but they all started to learn English as a subject when they started formal schooling. Learners in my inquiry group are at different stages and abilities in their writing, ranging from foundation to stage 3 - 1 at foundation, 4 at stage 1, 2 at stage 2, and 1 at stage 3. These reflect their different abilities in the specific skills of - topic development, sentence development and language structures, vocabulary development, script development, editing, spelling, and punctuation.
Teaching & Learning	This information should be considered and incorporated into the teaching/learning classroom experiences.
Used as baseline data  at end of year	This baseline data will be used for comparison at the end of the year to identify any increase in the learners’ writing ability.

Table 2 below provides a summary of qualitative and formative information gathered using a questionnaire to survey the perceptions of my learners toward writing and formative assessment using their first writing drafts on writing an expressing opinions. These information are categorized using the achievement criteria of the NCEA English writing achievement standard offered and the areas of learners' perceptions and areas of needs. This unity identifies the extent and nature of writing needs to be addressed in order for the learners to increase their writing proficiency.   

Table 2: Qualitative and Formative Information
Inquiry Tool used: Questionnaire Survey  Inquiry Tool: Formative Assessment (Learners’ First Writing Drafts)
Cognitive Linguistic Focus
Achievement  Criteria 1	Areas for Teaching & Learning Focus	Specific Learning Needs (Problem Areas)		Perceptions toward writing
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing which develops, sustains, and structures ideas	Teach information and ideas on the topic	New Zealand Identity The Treaty of Waitangi Racism		- When I write in English, I stop many times to think about what to write - I have trouble focusing ideas (arguments) that are related to the points that I am trying to make Lack ideas - I have difficulty generating ideas for my writing
	Teach how to develop and structure ideas	Thesis statement Writing logically & systematically  Organizing ideas Writing introductions;  body paragraphs; conclusion Writing closing sentences or comments to paragraphs Summarizing ideas to conclusion Coherence Topic sentences   Paragraph structure		- 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 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 - It’s easy for me to keep my English writing going and write smoothly (20) - It’s easy for me to write my ideas into English paragraphs (20) - t’s easy for me to get started writing an English essay (21)
Achievement Criteria 2	Areas for Teaching & Learning Focus	Specific writing elements to teach		Perceptions toward Writing
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing using language features appropriate to the audience and purpose to create effects.	Teach language features appropriate for purpose and audience	Variety of sentences types  Sentence fragments Word choice (vocabulary) Run-on sentences Spelling Grammar - Prepositions, articles,  Sentence structure Transitional words and phrases Punctuation Metaphoric words - idioms		- I write short and simple sentences (6) - I am aware of what sentence fragments are, but I still use them (6)  - I have difficulty with word choice (9) - I know what run-on sentences are, (9) - I have difficulty spelling correctly...(11) - I have difficulty using prepositions (12) - I have difficulty using articles (15) - I have difficulty with word order in English sentences (15) - I find it difficult to go from one paragraph to another with smooth, well-connected transitions (15)  - I have difficulty using punctuation (16) - I use few idioms (22)
Psychological/Emotional Items
Other Teaching Approaches	Areas of Focus	Specific strategies for teaching		Perceptions to writing
The Total Learner	Psychology and Emotions of the learners	Teacher feedback Use of technology Confidence as an ESOL student Motivation on writing Confidence in writing		- I like to share my English writing with my English teachers...feedback - I like to use computer technology (such e-mail, online discussion or internet) in my writing class - I feel confident as an ESOL student at school - I have anxiety (worry) about writing in English - I have low confidence in English writing
Social/Cultural Items
Other Teaching Approaches	Areas of Focus	Specific strategies for teaching		Perceptions to writing
The Total Learner	Social and cultural contexts of the learners	Social relationships and connections with other ELLs First Language experiences Writing in the first language Connection with native English speakers		-  like to give feedback and suggestions to other people’s English writing - 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. - I am a skillful English writer - I feel comfortable with sharing my English writing with native English speakers

To sum up this post, I feel that the writing needs of English language learners (ELLs) in my inquiry group are multi-faceted. They are cognitive-linguistic, psychological-emotional, and social-cultural in nature and extent. That means the teaching and learning of writing by these learners should be related to those areas of their lives and experiences. On top of that, the achievement criteria of the NCEA writing achievement standard requires these ELLs to be able to write at a particular level with certain writing knowledge and skills. Most definitely, I can say that it is not an easy task to teach these learners to address theese needs and requirements. It is a complex process, it would take time, and most certainly challenging!