Present findings from this inquiry about your teaching. Ensure qualitative data includes rich descriptions of your teaching and quantitative data is clearly presented.
In this post I will present the findings from my inquiry about my teaching. First, my learner's writing difficulties from their perceptions and compared to what I do or not do in my current teaching of writing.
Table 1 shows the six top items which are writing difficulties from the learners' perceptions. The strengths and areas for development in my teaching are also shown.
Table 1: Top Items from Learners’ Perceptions | |||
Psychological/Emotional | |||
Difficulties from learners’ perceptions | What I do in my teaching regarding this difficulty | ||
I like to share my English writing with my English teachers.. | A strength - This is a requirement that students share their work with me & other teachers for comments and marking. This indicates that my learners are comfortable in letting me read & give feedback on their work. Should continue to use this. | ||
I like to use computer technology (such e-mail, online discussion or internet) in my writing class | A strength - This is the main media used by students in their writing & for feedback from teachers on their writing. Students are comfortable and have skills to use this technology. Should continue to use this. | ||
I learn to write better from the corrective feedback given by my teacher on my writing | A strength - Students write their essay drafts, submit and I use corrective feedback consistently to identify errors, areas for improvement and by doing that students learn. It shows here that they learn better from this strategy. Should continue to use this. | ||
Psychological/Emotional | |||
Difficulties from learners’ perceptions | What I do in my teaching regarding this difficulty | ||
I have anxiety about learning in English | I constantly give words of encouragement to students. I need to develop more strategies to help my learners not to be anxious about their learning of English. They need success. | ||
Cognitive/Linguistic | |||
Difficulties from learners’ perceptions | What I do in my teaching regarding this difficulty | ||
When I write in English, I stop many times to think about what to write. | This could be a lack of general knowledge and ideas on topics, could be lack of vocabulary to use in writing, lack of knowing language skills for writing. Develop strategies to help in those areas. | ||
I have trouble focusing ideas (arguments) that are related to the points that I am trying to make. | This could be to do with critical thinking and reasoning; lack of structure in writing; again lack of vocabulary for expression. Important to develop strategies to help this lack. | ||
Table 2 below shows some more cognitive and linguistic writing difficulties from the learners' perceptions and the way I use them to self-observe my own teaching.
Table 2: Next to the Top Items from Learner’s Perceptions | ||
Cognitive and Linguistic Items | ||
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. - I have difficulty using prepositions(such as on, in, at) - I have difficulties using verb tenses within a paragraph. | I- I have difficulty with word choice - I have difficulty spelling correctly. - I don’t have enough time to finish my English writing exams or assignments in a limited time period. |
My Teaching | My Teaching | My Teaching |
The 5 items above are to do with ideas and structuring ideas in a paragraph as well as in an essay. In my teaching I have done work on developing and structuring ideas, but I feel I need to do more work and deepen those skills. Again there should be more work on reading about the key topic or them to help the generating of their ideas. Thesis statement should be a focus. | In my teaching I have briefly done some work on sentence writing and types of sentences - simple, compound, complex. I feel, however, that this should be a continuing practice. There should be a focus on run-on and fragmented sentences. There should be activities of use of verb tenses (a continuing problem for students) and prepositions. | I don’t think that I have spent enough time on vocabulary acquisition. There should be strategies to provide subject-related vocabulary to be used in writing. There should be linking and connecting words. |
Psychological and Emotional | ||
Difficulties from learners’ perceptions | My Teaching | |
- I have low confidence in English writing - I am motivated to learn English in the future | To me, it is expected that ELL students are bound to have low confidence in English writing because it’s an area lacking for them. But the motivation and their forward-looking is positive. There should be a focus on motivation in my teaching. | |
Social and Cultural | ||
Difficulties from learners’ perceptions | My Teaching | |
I feel comfortable with sharing my English writing with other ELL students | I do not do a lot of peer review in my class, especially allowing students to assess and comment on each others’ work - I have my doubts. But may be to use the strategy for pair-share and discussion. | |
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